nonprofit

American  

[non-prof-it] / nɒnˈprɒf ɪt /

adjective

1. not established for the purpose of making a profit; not entered into for money.

   a nonprofit institution.

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noun

• nonprofits
  plural

1. a nonprofit organization, institution, corporation, or other entity.

nonprofit British  

/ nɒnˈprɒfɪt /

adjective

1. another word for non-profit-making

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noun

1. an organization that is not intended to make a profit

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• nonprofits
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nonprofit

First recorded in 1900–05; non- + profit

Compare meaning

How does nonprofit compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• nonprofit vs. not-for-profit
• for-profit vs. nonprofit

Explanation

A business or organization is nonprofit if its main purpose isn't making money for its owners. Nonprofit companies usually raise money for charities. You can use the word nonprofit as an adjective or a noun — a nonprofit is an organization that benefits some public good, rather than raising revenue for stockholders or owners. There are educational nonprofits, religious nonprofits, public health nonprofits, and many others. The word's been around since the 1920s, combining non, or "not," with profit, from the Latin root profectus, "advance, increase, success, or progress."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nonprofit nonprofits

I’m on the board of the American Society of Journalists and Authors nonprofit, which includes some mentoring.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026

In 2010, he filed a habeas petition to challenge his detention with assistance from the Innocence Center, a San Diego-based nonprofit law firm dedicated to freeing people who have been wrongly convicted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

In this case, the National Trust, a private nonprofit organization, plainly lacks the standing mandated by the Constitution.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Panettiere's decision to publicly share her struggles is worthy of respect, said William Moyers, the vice-president of public affairs for Hazelden Betty Ford, the largest nonprofit addiction treatment provider in the US.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Richard signed up for a job-training program conducted by the Unity Council, an Oakland nonprofit, which led to an internship.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

George Weiner, a nonprofits expert who runs the marketing consultancy Whole Whale, was made aware of Microsoft’s grant retractions from the very beginning, only by happenstance.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

The sweeping majority of American nonprofits operate with annual budgets under $1 million; the value they got from Microsoft’s free business software equated to about 30 percent of their IT spend, he told me.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

Code Pink is purportedly funded by Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based financier who has directed hundreds of millions of dollars into a global network of nonprofits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Experts say the vast majority of nonprofits cap the amount of vacation time an employee can accrue, most often to one-and-a-half times the vacation hours allotted to them for a single year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Many nonprofits consumed 20 to 25 percent of their donations for overhead.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Related Words

• unsuccessful
• worthless