The Charitable Law Section by the Numbers
May 20, 2022
The filings made by Ohio’s charities during 2021 have been counted and compiled. Here is a snapshot of the Buckeye State’s charitable sector.
Despite the countless challenges that COVID created for charities throughout the country, the number of charities in Ohio has continued to grow – to 58,975 registered charitable organizations in 2021, up from 56,287 in 2020 and 53,765 in 2019. Counting the organizations that received filing exemptions, the Charitable Law Section’s database lists 68,729 charitable organizations.
Although a COVID-induced increase in closures of charitable organizations might have been expected, the opposite has been true in Ohio. The Charitable Law Section recorded 747 dissolutions in 2021, less than the 798 in 2020 and 1,003 in 2019. Growth in the number of new organizations has been strong, with 3,296 new organization filings last year, compared with 3,093 in 2020 and 3,952 in 2019.
Professional solicitors are entities hired by charities to raise funds on their behalf. Ohio law requires annual filings by the solicitors, as well as reports on each campaign they handle for charities. There has been a steady number of solicitors filing in Ohio in recent years, with Ohio receiving filings from 108 professional solicitors in 2021, 100 solicitors in 2020 and 105 in 2019.
The number of campaigns conducted by solicitors in Ohio increased some last year but remained well below the 2019 total. The office received reports on 791 campaigns in 2021, compared with 729 in 2020 and 1,169 in 2019.