Study highlights thousands of jobs, local business spending and development contributions, but underfunding and weak institutional capacity threaten the sector’s potential.
The report gives a broader plausible range of ₦14 billion to ₦22.5 billion.
It also estimates that the organisations support between 3,100 and 6,900 full-time-equivalent paid positions, alongside volunteer contributions equivalent to approximately 2,700 additional positions. The findings offer a new perspective on the place of nonprofit organisations in Nigeria's economy, suggesting that their contribution extends beyond charitable interventions to employment, commercial demand, skills development and the delivery of essential services. However, the figures require careful interpretation. They represent the estimated economic footprint of organisations within one network, rather than a comprehensive measurement of every nonprofit operating in Nigeria.
Beyond Charity: Nonprofits as Economic Actors
Nonprofit organisations in Nigeria are frequently discussed in the context of poverty alleviation, humanitarian assistance, human rights, healthcare, education and community development. Yet their daily operations also generate economic activity. An organisation implementing a rural health programme may hire community health workers, engage local facilitators, purchase medical supplies, rent meeting venues, contract transport providers and pay for printing, communications and professional services. A women's economic empowerment programme may purchase training materials from local businesses, hire vocational instructors and connect participants with opportunities to develop income-generating enterprises. Similarly, an organisation providing digital skills training to young people may engage technology professionals, purchase internet services, rent facilities and create opportunities for participants to acquire skills relevant to employment and entrepreneurship. Each of these activities creates expenditure that can support other parts of the economy. The NNNGO report attempts to capture this wider economic relationship by looking beyond nonprofits' immediate operating income to include additional activity associated with their spending and wages. Its findings challenge the perception that nonprofits are merely recipients and distributors of charitable funds. They are also employers, purchasers of goods and services, organisers of economic activity and, in many communities, important contributors to local development. According to the report, the organisations examined are present throughout Nigeria, giving the sector a geographically dispersed economic footprint
How Nonprofit Spending Circulates Through the Economy
Thousands of Jobs, Skills and Volunteer Contributions
Volunteers also contribute economic value
The NNNGO report estimates that volunteer effort among its member organisations is equivalent to approximately 2,700 additional full-time positions. Volunteers may participate in public awareness campaigns, community outreach, humanitarian response, environmental activities, fundraising, advocacy and other interventions. Their contributions can extend the reach of organisations that cannot afford to employ a large workforce. However, volunteer effort should not be confused with paid employment. Assigning an economic value to volunteer hours helps make unpaid contributions more visible, but it does not mean that volunteers receive equivalent wages or that their labour can be treated as a substitute for adequately funded professional staff. The finding instead highlights an often-overlooked component of civil society's contribution: the time, expertise and community relationships that people contribute without receiving a conventional salary. For Nigeria, where many community organisations operate with limited resources, understanding this contribution is important when evaluating the actual resources mobilised for development.
Local Businesses Benefit From Nonprofit Operations
The economic effects of nonprofit organisations in Nigeria also extend to businesses that supply their operational and programme needs. According to the NNNGO report, these organisations generate recurring demand for hospitality, aviation, catering, transportation, printing, professional services, commercial premises and telecommunications. The report estimates annual commercial-space expenditure at between ₦1.3 billion and ₦3.2 billion. It also estimates that events organised by nonprofits generate between ₦900 million and ₦2.7 billion in annual local spending. These activities may involve conferences, training programmes, stakeholder meetings, community consultations, advocacy campaigns, workshops and public awareness events. For example, a two-day training programme may require a meeting venue, catering, accommodation, transport, printing and internet access. The expenditure supports the businesses providing those services and can create additional demand for their own suppliers. The report also identifies telecommunications and internet connectivity as near-universal operational requirements across the organisations examined. This is particularly significant as nonprofits increasingly use digital platforms for programme coordination, reporting, community engagement, fundraising and communication with donors. Nevertheless, the figures should be interpreted as estimates reported by the study, not as independently audited national accounts for the hospitality, property, aviation or telecommunications industries. The report's importance lies in demonstrating the breadth of the sector's commercial relationships and providing a basis for more detailed measurement of the expenditure involved.
Why local procurement matters
The location of nonprofit expenditure can influence how much economic value remains within a community. When an organisation purchases printing services, food, transport, training materials and other supplies from local businesses, some of its expenditure directly supports nearby enterprises. Local procurement can also improve access to contracts for small businesses and service providers that may not have the capacity to compete for large commercial tenders. However, local procurement should not be assumed to happen automatically. Some organisations rely on suppliers based in major cities, while others purchase imported equipment or obtain specialised services from outside their operating areas. The economic benefits can therefore vary according to an organisation's procurement practices, the availability of local suppliers and the nature of its programmes. For state governments and development agencies, this presents an opportunity to encourage transparent procurement practices that enable qualified local businesses to participate without compromising quality, value for money or accountability.
Education Attracts the Largest Resource Pool
The NNNGO report identifies education-focused organisations as holding the largest pool of resources among the thematic categories examined, at approximately ₦4.84 billion. Advocacy organisations have the highest average capitalisation, estimated at ₦3.67 million per organisation. These findings offer insight into the distribution of resources within the network's membership.
Education-focused organisations may support learning opportunities, school retention, scholarships, vocational training, literacy and other interventions aimed at improving access to education and skills. Their activities can have economic implications beyond the immediate cost of programme delivery. When young people acquire relevant skills, remain in education or gain access to employment opportunities, they may improve their future earning prospects and productive capacity. Similarly, programmes supporting girls' education may help address barriers that limit participation in schooling and economic life.
Advocacy organisations perform a different but complementary role. They may engage public institutions, promote legal reforms, monitor government performance, support citizens' participation and draw attention to gaps in public services. Effective advocacy can contribute to improvements in public administration, institutional accountability and the use of public resources. However, the report's resource figures should not be interpreted as proof that one thematic area produces better outcomes than another. The amount of money available to an organisation does not automatically establish its effectiveness, while the highest average capitalisation does not necessarily mean that advocacy organisations have the greatest total economic impact. The outcomes depend on the quality of implementation, the needs being addressed, the evidence supporting interventions and the sustainability of the results.
Nonprofits and Nigeria's Sustainable Development Goals
The report maps documented impact features from member organisations against 12 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goals cover interconnected challenges, including poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, decent work, reduced inequalities, environmental sustainability and accountable institutions. Nonprofit organisations can contribute to these objectives by addressing gaps in service delivery, testing new approaches and reaching populations that may have difficulty accessing existing programmes. Their work can include maternal and child health outreach, livelihood training, educational support, protection services, environmental conservation, civic education and assistance to vulnerable households.
In some locations, nonprofits operate in partnership with public institutions. In others, they provide complementary services or raise concerns about shortcomings in existing systems. Their grassroots presence can also help organisations identify needs that broad national statistics may not reveal in sufficient detail. However, a distinction is necessary between documenting activities that align with the SDGs and demonstrating measurable progress towards the goals. An organisation conducting a health awareness campaign has contributed an activity relevant to public health. Whether that campaign reduces preventable illness, improves health-seeking behaviour or produces lasting improvements requires additional evidence. Similarly, the number of people attending a training programme does not, by itself, establish how many secured employment or increased their incomes. The NNNGO report's mapping provides evidence of the range of development priorities addressed by its members. A stronger national assessment would also measure outcomes, costs, long-term changes and the proportion of results attributable to nonprofit interventions.
The Wider Economic Case: Jobs, Health and Human Capital
The immediate economic footprint of nonprofit spending is only one part of the sector's potential contribution. Some programmes may also generate longer-term economic benefits by improving people's health, education, skills, safety and ability to participate in economic life. Consider a community health intervention that helps pregnant women access antenatal care or supports early identification of childhood illness. Its immediate economic footprint may include staff salaries, transport costs, medical supplies and community outreach expenditure. If the programme also improves health outcomes, it may help reduce avoidable illness, prevent some household expenditure on emergency care and support greater participation in education or work. Likewise, a vocational programme may generate direct spending through training contracts and materials. If participants subsequently obtain jobs or establish viable businesses, the longer-term effects may include increased earnings and household purchasing power. These are plausible pathways through which nonprofit programmes can create wider economic value. Their actual magnitude must be established through appropriate monitoring and evaluation rather than assumed from programme expenditure alone.
A 2022 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on domestic philanthropy for development and gender equality in Nigeria also highlighted the importance of understanding the resources supporting development activities. The OECD noted that Nigeria received approximately US$192 million annually from large international foundations between 2013 and 2018. That estimate did not include all domestic foundation funding, reflecting the limitations of available data on local philanthropy. The figure covers a different period and a different funding measure from the NNNGO report. It should therefore not be added to the latter's estimates or treated as a current annual total for Nigeria's nonprofit sector. Nevertheless, it illustrates why a comprehensive assessment of nonprofits must consider multiple funding sources, including international philanthropy, domestic donations, foundation support and other locally mobilised resources.
A Critical Question: How Much Does Nigeria Know About Its Nonprofit Economy?
The multiplier requires careful interpretation
The report applies a multiplier of 1.4 to estimate the wider economic effects associated with operating income. A multiplier is a recognised economic-analysis concept. Its reliability, however, depends on the assumptions and evidence supporting its application. Ideally, researchers would explain how the selected multiplier relates to the structure of Nigeria's economy, the spending patterns of nonprofits, local supply chains, household consumption and imports. They would also clarify how direct expenditure, indirect effects and induced effects were separated to avoid counting the same economic activity more than once. These details are especially important when policymakers, journalists and the public use the findings to compare the nonprofit sector with other industries. The estimated ₦16.4 billion to ₦17.5 billion footprint should therefore be understood as a model-based estimate, not as ₦16.4 billion to ₦17.5 billion in additional government revenue, profit or independently verified value added to GDP. That distinction does not diminish the report's significance. It clarifies what the findings establish and what further research needs to determine.
An Emerging Policy Context: Nigeria's Economic Statistics
The discussion comes at a time when Nigeria is revising how it measures and understands economic activity. In 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics updated the country's GDP estimates using 2019 as the new base year, replacing the previous 2010 base year. The exercise expanded coverage and incorporated more recent information about the structure of the economy. Better measurement can help policymakers identify activities that have previously been inadequately captured or classified. However, it is important not to overstate the implications of the rebasing exercise.
The NNNGO report's estimate of the economic footprint of 4,234 member organisations is not itself a measure of the nonprofit sector's contribution to national GDP. Nor does it establish that the full estimated footprint has been separately recorded in official national accounts. To understand the sector's contribution to GDP, statisticians would need to distinguish the value of services produced by nonprofit institutions from the money they receive and spend. For example, an organisation's expenditure on office rent, salaries and programme materials cannot simply be added together and treated as its value added to GDP. Some of those payments are intermediate inputs used to deliver services, and adding them indiscriminately could result in double counting. A more robust national assessment would examine nonprofit institutions' output, operating costs, compensation, capital formation and other relevant national-accounting measures. This would help establish how the sector contributes to economic production, rather than merely how much money passes through its organisations.
The Underfunding Problem: A Sector With Economic Potential but Limited Capacity
The NNNGO report's findings become more significant when considered alongside another study of Nigeria's civil society landscape published in 2026. The report, Trapped in Fragility: An Assessment of the Civil Society Landscape in Nigeria, was commissioned through the West Africa Civil Society Institute's Nigeria node and led by NNNGO. It draws on a survey of 693 civil society organisations across the country's six geopolitical zones, alongside interviews, case studies and a review of relevant literature.
According to the study's published findings:
-
86 per cent of surveyed organisations had no written fundraising plan.
-
3 per cent had not conducted a formal programme evaluation in the preceding two years.
-
2 per cent had no dedicated budget for staff training and development.
-
7 per cent reported significant challenges relating to board development.
The researchers describe the wider problem as a systemic funding and capacity crisis in which limited resources weaken organisational systems, making it more difficult for organisations to demonstrate results and secure further funding. These findings are particularly relevant to the economic contribution highlighted in the new report.
An organisation cannot reliably expand employment, retain qualified personnel, invest in technology or maintain high-quality programmes if its funding is unpredictable. Similarly, inadequate resources for monitoring and evaluation can make it harder to establish whether programmes are producing meaningful and cost-effective results. The implication is not that every nonprofit is poorly managed or financially weak. Rather, the findings point to structural challenges within a substantial part of the sector. If Nigeria wants nonprofits to contribute more effectively to employment and development, it must consider both the resources available to them and their capacity to manage those resources responsibly.
Why Funding Nonprofits Is Also an Investment in Institutional Capacity
Development funding is often discussed in terms of how much money reaches programme participants. While direct services are important, organisations also need institutional systems that allow them to deliver programmes consistently and account for their expenditure. These include financial management, human resources, procurement, safeguarding, governance, data protection, monitoring and evaluation, technology and staff development. Such functions are sometimes grouped under administrative or overhead costs.
However, an overly narrow focus on minimising administrative expenditure can undermine the very systems required to protect funds, maintain programme quality and demonstrate results. For example, a nonprofit implementing a girls' education programme needs more than money for school materials and community meetings. It may also require trained staff, reliable financial records, child safeguarding procedures, referral arrangements and a system for tracking school attendance and retention. Similarly, a community health organisation may need qualified personnel, secure data systems, effective referral pathways and regular programme evaluations.
The challenge for funders is to distinguish necessary institutional investment from inefficient expenditure. Responsible funding should therefore balance direct programme delivery with the core capacity required to achieve results. For Nigeria's nonprofit sector, a more sustainable funding environment could support better employment conditions, stronger local procurement, more credible reporting and greater continuity of essential community services. But funding alone is not sufficient. Organisations must also demonstrate integrity, responsible leadership, transparent financial management and measurable results.
What Governments, Donors and Nonprofits Should Do Next
The findings present an opportunity for public institutions, development partners, private businesses and civil society organisations to reconsider how the sector's economic contribution is measured and supported. Several steps could strengthen the evidence and improve the conditions under which nonprofits operate.
-
Establish a more comprehensive nonprofit economic database - Nigeria needs a clearer picture of the number, size, activities, employment levels, revenues and expenditure patterns of active nonprofit institutions. A national database could help distinguish registered organisations from those actively operating and identify differences between large national organisations and smaller community-based groups. Such a database would also improve the ability to assess employment, geographic distribution and development expenditure.
-
Improve the measurement of nonprofit employment - Future research should distinguish permanent employees, temporary project staff, consultants, part-time workers and volunteers. It should also examine wages, employment duration, staff turnover, professional development and opportunities for career progression. This would help policymakers understand not only how many positions nonprofits support but also the quality and sustainability of the employment they generate.
-
Measure local procurement and economic linkages - Nonprofits and funders could improve reporting on the proportion of programme expenditure spent on local suppliers, small businesses and service providers. Such information would help establish where the sector's economic benefits occur and identify opportunities to strengthen local supply chains. It would also support more informed discussions about the role of nonprofits in state and local economic development.
-
Invest in independent programme evaluation - The sector needs more evidence about the relationship between expenditure and outcomes. Independent evaluations can help determine whether programmes improve learning, health, livelihoods, environmental conditions or other intended outcomes. They can also identify interventions that do not work as expected, allowing organisations and funders to redirect resources more effectively.
-
Encourage sustainable and transparent funding - Funders should consider predictable multi-year grants where appropriate, alongside project-based funding. Longer funding horizons can give organisations greater scope to retain qualified staff, strengthen internal systems and plan programmes beyond short implementation cycles. In return, nonprofits should maintain credible financial records, disclose relevant information, comply with applicable laws and demonstrate the results of their activities.
-
Strengthen domestic philanthropy and private-sector partnerships - Nigeria's development financing should not depend exclusively on international grants. Domestic businesses, foundations, high-net-worth individuals and community philanthropists can support nonprofit activities through grants, donations, technical assistance and carefully structured partnerships. Stronger domestic funding may help organisations diversify their income and reduce exposure to changes in international aid priorities. However, private-sector support should not compromise the independence of nonprofit organisations or weaken their ability to scrutinise public and corporate conduct.
-
The findings should not be taken to mean that Nigeria has no relevant training in these subjects. Rather, the report highlights the absence of a dedicated degree programme among the university offerings it reviewed.
What the Findings Mean for Community-Based Organisations
The report also has implications for smaller organisations operating outside Nigeria's major commercial centres. Community-based nonprofits may have relatively modest budgets but maintain close relationships with local communities, traditional institutions, schools, health facilities and grassroots groups. Their work may include helping women develop livelihoods, supporting vulnerable children, improving access to education, conducting health outreach, promoting environmental protection and facilitating civic participation. Such activities may generate less visible commercial expenditure than large national conferences or major development projects. Nevertheless, their value may lie in reaching communities that larger institutions struggle to serve efficiently. Smaller organisations can also help identify local priorities, build trust and connect participants with public services.
However, their potential can be constrained by limited funding, inadequate technology, weak institutional systems and difficulties accessing competitive grant opportunities. If funding arrangements disproportionately favour organisations with established fundraising teams and extensive compliance infrastructure, smaller groups may struggle to secure resources even when they have valuable local knowledge. The policy challenge is to maintain appropriate financial and safeguarding standards while ensuring that funding mechanisms remain accessible to capable grassroots organisations. This requires proportionate due diligence, capacity-building support and opportunities for local organisations to demonstrate their effectiveness.
Perhaps the most important distinction emerging from the NNNGO report is that a nonprofit's economic contribution cannot be fully understood through its financial transactions alone. The report estimates a measurable economic footprint, but nonprofits also work on issues whose value is difficult to express in monetary terms. These include protecting children from abuse, improving access to justice, supporting survivors of violence, strengthening public accountability, promoting inclusion and helping communities participate in decisions affecting their lives. Such work may produce long-term benefits that are not immediately reflected in organisational revenue, employment figures or procurement expenditure. For example, effective civic education may help citizens understand their rights and responsibilities. Public-interest advocacy may contribute to more transparent institutions. Protection programmes may help vulnerable individuals access services and exercise their rights.
-
Economic contribution: employment, expenditure, services produced and links to local businesses.
-
Development outcomes: measurable changes in health, education, livelihoods, environmental conditions and other programme objectives.
-
These dimensions overlap, but they are not interchangeable. The objective should be to understand how they interact without counting the same benefit more than once.
Recognising the Sector Requires Better Evidence and Greater Accountability
The next step is to strengthen the evidence through broader coverage, transparent methodologies, better employment data and independent assessments of programme outcomes. At the same time, the sector's economic potential cannot be separated from the quality of its institutions. Predictable funding, capable personnel, sound governance, transparent financial management and credible impact measurement are essential to sustaining public confidence and delivering results. For government, the findings raise questions about how nonprofit activity can be better understood within economic planning and development policy. For donors, they underline the importance of supporting not only individual projects but also the institutional capacity required to deliver them effectively. For nonprofits, they reinforce the need to demonstrate that resources are managed responsibly and translated into meaningful results.
The central issue is no longer simply whether nonprofits contribute to Nigeria's economy, but how that contribution can be measured more accurately, strengthened sustainably and held to standards of accountability that justify public trust. The new report provides a starting point. A comprehensive national assessment would help establish the full scale of the sector's economic activity and offer a stronger basis for policy decisions, funding priorities and public debate.
