“It’s so much better for me to live here,” Kirk said recently from the sunny one-bedroom apartment she moved to in May.

Her rent is capped at roughly 30 percent of her income, as are the rents in Highland Park’s other 54 subsidized apartments. The average income in the complex is less than $1,000 per month. Most residents depend on Social Security.

“We’re all here for the same reason,” Kirk said. “And I love it here.”

Developed by Columbia Non-Profit Housing, Highland Park Apartments reflects the most common public view of what nonprofit organizations do. They find a community need and do the work to meet it.

But a Columbian analysis of Clark County nonprofits, using database GuideStar and information provided by the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, reveals that the real realm of local nonprofits is much more complex.

More than 1,000 of these organizations are incorporated across the county. They range from all-volunteer 4-H Clubs with no reported revenue to the Southwest Washington Medical Center, which employs 2,539 people and is supported by a number of interrelated nonprofit groups.

A third of Clark County nonprofits have incomes of $25,000 or more, and thus must open their books to public scrutiny. These 329 largest organizations have revenues of $1 billion each year, with money coming from government funding, foundation grants, fees for services, sales, donations and investment gains.

The service agencies that get the most attention, groups such as Columbia Non-Profit Housing, Clark County Community Food Bank and Arc of Clark County, collectively account for only 13.4 percent of all nonprofit revenues, about $164.1 million.

Nearly three-quarters of every dollar of revenue annually reported by Clark County nonprofits goes to large health care organizations and deep-pocket foundations.

Expectation versus reality

The discrepancy between what people expect of nonprofits and the reality is a factor of whom we choose to call nonprofits, more than anything else, said Putnam Barber, senior adviser at the University of Washington’s Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, and senior researcher at Idealist.org.

“The word ‘nonprofit’ doesn’t have nearly as much content as people think it does,” Barber said.

“When you look at the nonprofit world, hospitals, foundations and schools have the big financial numbers,” he said. “The rest of the world is much, much, much smaller in comparison. If you look at the number of organizations, the social service groups and street-front benefit organizations, which are small individually, add up to a large portion of the total number in operation.”

So, if the definition is so broad, what’s the point of becoming a nonprofit?

Much of it comes down to money.

The money advantage

“The primary advantage of being a nonprofit is not paying federal or state income taxes,” said Cam Groner, senior vice president and chief legal officer for Legacy Health System, parent organization to Vancouver-based Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital.

That’s not to say nonprofits don’t pay taxes.

“What we saved on taxes because we are nonprofit was $12 million in 2006,” said Ken Cole, manager of public affairs and communications at Southwest Washington Medical Center.

Despite the corporate income tax savings, however, Southwest still paid sales tax, payroll tax, business and occupation tax and property tax, totaling $32 million, that year, Cole said. “Even as a nonprofit you’re still paying the tax man.”

Nonprofits also have access to federal funding that is not available to local government agencies, said LaVon Holden, deputy director at the Vancouver Housing Authority.

“There are sources of housing development funding that are only available to nonprofits,” Holden said.

“In the ’80s, we didn’t have any nonprofits that did housing development, and there were programs with money that could build housing for seniors and the disabled that Clark County couldn’t get access to,” Holden said. “That’s what led the housing authority to work with others to create Columbia Non-Profit Housing.”

Today CNPH is a distinct organization, with a board and staff that are separate from the VHA, although it does receive some financial support from the government agency.

Because of its nonprofit status, CNPH has been able to develop eight federally-funded housing projects for low-income seniors and the disabled — projects that by law could only be developed by a nonprofit.

Nonprofit status also brings another advantage to groups that must raise money to fund their programs, Barber said.

“Individuals can deduct the donations they make to organizations with 501c3 status from their personal income taxes,” he said, referring to the tax code that defines nonprofit groups. “Foundations are usually forbidden by their bylaws to make contributions to organizations that are not 501c3, and individuals usually resist.”

Deep pockets

Those foundations, which are often deep-pocketed, occupy a distinct tier in the world of nonprofits. Although they fall under the 501c3 tax code themselves, they often play a crucial role in funding nonprofits in a community. And they must play by slightly different rules.

Unlike other nonprofits, foundations are required to spend at least 5 percent of their assets through grants and gifts every year, Barber said.

Foundations in Clark County have assets of $999 million, which results in nearly $50 million in required spending, $43 million of it by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

“Some years we put out a bit less, and then we make up for it the next year,” said John Van Zytveld, senior program director for grants at the Murdock Trust.

Clark County’s largest foundation, the trust was created in the will of Tektronix co-founder Melvin J. Murdock. Its mission is to enrich the quality of life across the Pacific Northwest. It does not take new donations.

Instead, its endowment is carefully managed by investment professionals who aim for high returns that will allow the trust to continue growing even as it disperses funds each year, Van Zytveld said.

The trust’s spending patterns show one limit to examining the impact of nonprofits in any given community. It gave away $35 million to nearly 200 organizations in 2007. Only $927,400 stayed in Clark County.

“There might be organizations that are based in Portland or in Omaha that do important work in Clark County, and you’ll never find them from the data that’s available,” Barber said. “And the reverse is true as well. There is no source for how much public benefit activity is happening on my block or in my county.”

Still, it’s clear that foundations do make a difference in Clark County.

The recently endowed Tod and Maxine McClaskey Foundation, established to honor the legacy of the Thunderbird and Red Lion Inn & Hotel co-founder, this year gave $1.5 million to Washington State University Vancouver’s Child Development Program.

The Ray Hickey Foundation, whose founder is actively engaged in operations, is also prominent locally. The organization has given $4.5 million over several years to the Ray Hickey Hospice House, which now bears its donor’s name, and more recent gifts have gone to the YWCA Clark County and to Oregon Health & Science University.

“We have a lot of issues tax money doesn’t take care of,” Hickey said.

Healthy community

Nonprofit status allows health care providers to address needs that aren’t being funded by tax dollars. In Clark County, that takes a lot of money, $506 million, or 41.4 percent of all nonprofit revenues in the community.

Dominating health care is the Southwest Washington Medical Center, which has yearly revenues on $391.1 million across three inter-related nonprofits. Legacy Salmon Creek, with income of $106.1 million, makes up most of the difference.

“Part of the reason we’re a nonprofit is that we provide services to the community that provide value to the public, but don’t generate revenue,” said Ken Cole, with the medical center.

In 2006, the organization used more than $58 million of its income to offset money-losing programs and to subsidize unpaid bills.

“Extra revenue can also be used to support other programs that are important to our community but don’t make a profit, for example the in-patient mental health beds at the hospital,” Cole said. “The program lost $3.6 million in 2006. If you’re a for-profit hospital, it’s not likely you’ll support a program that loses $3.5 million per year.”

Smaller groups

Health care is a large, expensive need provided by a small number of large nonprofits, but most other community needs are met by smaller, more focused groups.

For example, 87 Clark County nonprofits focus on housing, human services and social benefits, according to the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. Collectively, their yearly revenues total about $164.1 million, with much of the money from the government and another good share from foundation grants.

Even so, making ends meet can be a challenge.

For example, Columbia Non-Profit Housing has sponsored or developed $70 million worth of housing projects for low-income elderly people and for people with disabilities. Federal funds largely paid for these projects, but money for CNPH’s day-to-day operations is harder to secure.

“These types of nonprofits are always looking for money,” said Karen Ciocia, president of CNPH and volunteer board member at several Clark County nonprofits. “Operating funds are difficult to come by.”

The Vancouver Housing Authority spends $5,000 a month to support CNPH, but because of pressures on the VHA’s budget the organization has asked the nonprofit to work to become self-sufficient.

“Columbia Non-Profit has been tremendously successful at getting funding for housing projects,” said Christine Hermann, executive director of CNPH. “Now, out of necessity, we’re looking for other sources of revenue to support the organization. We will find a solution, but it’s a work in progress.”

Meanwhile, Hermann said, the organization continues to focus on its mission: developing housing for low-income families and individuals across Clark County.

“One of the most difficult things nonprofits face is connecting with the level of resources they need,” said Jeanne Kojis, executive director of Nonprofit Network Southwest Washington.

But despite the challenges that hundreds of Clark County’s smaller nonprofits face each year, Kojis finds inspiration when she surveys the diversity of the sector.

“The nonprofit sector rallies people around their vision of a common good,” Kojis said. “Very frequently that common good centers on a minority cause — the people in Clark County who care about disabilities, or classical music, or who want a particular historic building preserved. And that’s why it’s so great. It’s not driven by a popularity contest. We don’t have to get everybody in Vancouver to vote that we should help these people, we should save this building. A small group of people can get together through this vehicle of a nonprofit, and they can make a difference.”

COURTNEY SHERWOOD is a Columbian business writer. Reach her at 360-735-4553 or courtney.sherwood@columbian.com.