Nonprofit revenue totals surge amid growing scrutiny after major fraud cases

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Jesse Watters: The Minnesota fraud faucet keeps on dripping

Fox News host Jesse Watters assesses the snowballing Minnesota fraud allegations on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

Hundreds of billions of dollars flowed through U.S. nonprofit organizations in 2024, tax filing data show, as major fraud cases — including in Minnesota — put new focus on how taxpayer-backed funds are overseen.

The figures come from ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and were independently reviewed by Fox News, which confirmed the state-by-state revenue totals.

According to the data, California’s 213,720 nonprofits reported a collective $593.4 billion in revenue, the highest total of any state.

For nonprofit organizations, revenue refers to total income reported on tax filings – not profit or money pocketed by individuals – and can include government grants and reimbursements, donations, service fees, investment income and contracts for public services.

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The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) headquarters building in Washington DC (Getty Images)

Following California was New York, where 132,097 nonprofits reported a collective $445.8 billion in revenue. Pennsylvania’s 85,346 nonprofits reported $247.3 billion, while Texas’ 157,840 nonprofits reported $219.6 billion.

Other notable states include Washington, where 44,332 nonprofits reported $139.5 billion in revenue; New Jersey, where 56,332 nonprofits reported $113 billion; and Minnesota, where 41,267 nonprofits reported $124.2 billion — placing the state among the top revenue totals nationwide despite its smaller population.

The figures circulated widely on social media on Monday after an X user highlighted the totals using the term "NGOs." The "NGO" label is oftentimes applied to international organizations but is sometimes used online to describe domestic nonprofit groups, which are the focus of the ProPublica database.

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Nonprofit revenue figures are based on tax filings and include grants, donations and fees. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Although nonprofit revenue does not indicate wrongdoing, the heavy reliance on taxpayer-backed federal and state programs has drawn scrutiny as investigators uncover fraud in multiple publicly funded initiatives.

That scrutiny comes as the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced it is sending additional federal prosecutors to Minnesota to help crack down on large-scale fraud involving taxpayer-funded programs, following a series of high-profile cases tied to nonprofit organizations and social services spending.

"The Department of Justice is dispatching a team of prosecutors to Minnesota to reinforce our U.S. Attorney’s Office and put the perpetrators of this widespread fraud behind bars," Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday, vowing "severe consequences" in Minnesota.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department is ready to deploy prosecutors nationwide to combat fraud. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

She also said her department stands "ready to deploy to any other state where similar fraud schemes are robbing American taxpayers."

Bondi’s remarks come as the DOJ continues a sweeping welfare fraud investigation that began under former Attorney General Merrick Garland.

In 2022, Garland announced the first wave of indictments in what he said was a $250 million scheme involving the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which authorities accused of exploiting taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs and described at the time as the largest pandemic-related fraud uncovered to date.

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The Feeding Our Future nonprofit was at the center of a sweeping federal fraud investigation in Minnesota. (Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Under Bondi, the DOJ has continued pursuing cases tied to Feeding Our Future, along with related investigations involving alleged juror bribery and health care fraud. Bondi has said the scope of the misconduct is larger than previously understood and warned that additional criminal charges are expected, bolstered by the deployment of more federal prosecutors to Minnesota.

To date, the department has charged 98 people in fraud-related cases in Minnesota and secured 64 convictions. The vast majority of defendants have been of Somali descent.

Health and Human Services said this month that it froze billions of dollars in federal funding for childcare programs and other social services in five Democrat-led states, including Minnesota, while it investigates their use of taxpayer dollars.

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A viral video posted by YouTube creator Nick Shirley in December amplified the attention on fraud in Minnesota. In the video, Shirley is seen visiting Somali-run daycare centers and finding they were closed. The videos have attracted millions of views on social media.

Some of the daycare centers have since disputed the suggestions in Shirley's video and said they have never committed fraud.

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ProPublica’s data reflect reported tax filings and does not allege wrongdoing.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.