Community Profiles:  Indianapolis

To develop solid information on nonprofits in the Indianapolis metropolitan area we included a special sample of nonprofits from the region in our 2002 survey of Indiana nonprofits along with similar samples from the eleven other communities profiled in the project and drawn from our comprehensive listing of Indiana nonprofits (see below). Most of our full survey reports include regional data in appendix tables. We have also presented some Indianapolis area data in our separate series of reports on Indiana nonprofit employment.

Comprehensive Profile of Nonprofits in the Indianapolis Metrolitan Region

Read our special survey report on Indianapolis Nonprofits: Scope and Dimensions (Nonprofit Survey Series, Community Report #5, November 2006). This report is based on our survey of Indiana nonprofits completed in 2002 and compares the profile of Indianapolis nonprofits to those in the rest of the state and to nonprofits in other metropolitan regions.

Comprehensive Listing of Nonprofits in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Region

The Indianapolis community includes Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Morgan and Shelby Counties. For our most recent listing of nonprofits in the Indianpaolis region, please see information and links available at our Searchable Database.

Supplementary demographic and economic data on the Indianapolis community is available from the Indiana Business Research Center.  Click on the following communities for more demographic information.

There is a growing list of websites with complementary county-level information. These include the following:

  • Indiana Business Research Center: county overviews of demographic and economic information for the state of Indiana (select the county of interest).
  • Pennsylvania State University: maps with county level economic indicators available from Amy Glasmeier (select the state of Indiana and then county of interest).
  • Census Scope: maps and charts with county demograpic data (select a particular type of data, click on the state of Indiana and then "change location" at the lower left corner to select the county of interest).
  • Data Place: maps and charts with a variety of county level housing-related data (click on "build maps" and then type in the county in the search field at the top).
  • Mumford Center at the U. of Albany: maps showing the distribution of census-related data by county (select a variable of interest in the upper left corner and then click on Indiana to see distribution across counties).

The data presented in the tables below are based on our comprehensive listing of nonprofits developed in 2001 and 2002 from project sources. These included the IRS list of tax exempt entities, Indiana Secretary of State list of nonprofit incorporations, phone listings of congregations, supplementary local listings, and personal affiliation survey data.

Based on these sources, the Indianapolis region has a total of 16,395 nonprofit organizations, or about 102.0 per 10,000 residents (some may be defunct or otherwise inappropriately included). We report the density of nonprofit organizations (per 10,000 residents) for each area to allow comparisons of nonprofits across region.

 

BY LOCATION:
Population
Total Count of Organizations
Density*
City
 Indianapolis City
791,926
9,820
124.0
County
 Boone County
46,107
610
132.3
 Hamilton County
182,740
1,497
81.9
 Hancock County
55,391
730
96.6
 Hendricks County
104,093
303
70.1
 Johnson County
115,209
909
78.9
 Madison County
133,358
1,121
84.1
 Marion County
860,454
10,106
117.4
 Morgan County
66,689
536
80.4
 Shelby County
43,445
351
80.8
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Indianapolis Metro
1,607,486
16,395
102.0
Sources: Indiana Nonprofit Project Database Date: 02/015/02
*Number of Organizations per 10,000 Residents to allow for easier comparisons across communities. 

Classifying nonprofits into major categories further enhances our understanding of the local nonprofit sector. Using the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) classification system, the project staff has tentatively classified local nonprofits to show the composition of the region’s nonprofit sector by major nonprofit field and by geographic area. The classification was based primarily on the names of the organizations and is known to be inaccurate, so the profile information below should be interpreted with caution.


Nonprofit Field: NTEE "Major Category" Codes


I: Arts, Culture, Humanities
VI:
International
II: Education
VII:
Public Societal Benefit
III: Environment/Animals
VIII:
Religion
IV: Health
IX:
Mutual Benefit/Membership
V: Human Services
X:
Unknown
Indianapolis Community
By Organization Type
Total Count
Density*
I. Arts, Culture, Humanities
652
4.1
II. Education
2,009
12.5
III. Environment/Animals
260
1.6
IV. Health
623
3.9
V. Human Services
3,747
23.3
VI. International
96
0.6
VII. Public Societal Benefit
3,550
22.1
VIII. Religion
3,794
23.6
IX. Mutual Benefit/Membership
1,092
6.8
X. Unknown
572
3.6
Total
16,395
102.0
Sources: Indiana Nonprofit Project Database
Date: 2/15/02
*Number of Organizations per 10,000 Residents to allow for easier comparisons across communities.
Nonprofit Densities* by Field (NTEE Category) and Location
Locale
I.
II.
III.
IV.
X.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
TOTAL
Indianapolis City
5.0
17.8
1.6
5.5
26.7
0.7
28.4
26.7
6.7
5.1
124.0
Boone County
5.6
13.7
3.9
2.6
36.9
0.4
27.1
27.3
11.9
2.8
132.3
Hamilton County
3.7
8.8
1.9
2.6
22.4
0.4
19.4
16.3
3.8
2.6
81.9
Hancock County
3.4
7.8
2.7
2.2
21.7
0.7
22.6
24.4
8.5
2.7
96.6
Hendricks County
3.2
7.0
1.2
1.3
18.7
0.4
11.6
18.8
6.1
1.6
70.1
Johnson County
3.2
8.9
0.9
1.7
20.7
0.1
14.6
20.6
5.8
2.4
78.9
Madison County
2.8
5.7
1.3
3.2
17.5
0.8
14.3
26.8
9.5
2.0
84.1
Marion County
4.7
16.7
1.5
5.2
25.3
0.7
26.8
25.3
6.5
4.8
117.4
Morgan County
1.8
5.2
2.2
2.1
20.1
0.4
14.1
24.7
8.1
1.5
80.4
Shelby County
3.7
5.1
0.7
2.5
15.4
0.9
16.1
23.7
11.7
0.9
80.8
Indianapolis Metro
4.1
12.5
1.6
3.9
23.3
0.6
22.1
23.6
6.8
3.6
102.0
Sources: Indiana Nonprofit Project Database
Date: 2/15/02
*Number of Organizations per 10,000 Residents to allow for easier comparisons across communities

Updated: November 30, 2006

Home | Back to Top | Citing and Terms of Use | Restricted Access