CORPORATE : CSUF Launches Study of Nonprofit Groups

Data crunchers know a lot about the size, shape and composition of Orange County profit-making industries (even the ones that don’t always make profits). But there is a good-size nonprofit sector out there, part of a multibillion-dollar industry nationally, that has long escaped scrutiny.

Now researchers at Cal State Fullerton have launched a mission to rectify that. A study of the size, characteristics and economic impact of the county’s nonprofit sector has been launched by Cal State Fullerton’s Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies.

Individual service organizations have done studies of their own operations in hopes of showing how valuable they are to the community. But this is the first independent assessment of the nonprofits--from giants like United Way and Goodwill Industries to smaller organizations like the Garden Grove Community Adult Day Center--says project director Kathleen Costello.

Anil Puri, co-director of the economic studies institute and head of Cal State Fullerton’s economics department, says that there are as many as 8,000 nonprofit organizations here.

John O’Dell covers major Orange County corporations and economic issues for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at john.odell@latimes.com.