15 Surprising Things You Can Thank a Nonprofit For

Are you getting excited about watching the upcoming Olympics? Have you ever browsed Wikipedia? Do you listen to All Things Considered in your car? Guess what? You can thank nonprofits for all of the above. You might be surprised by how much we owe to nonprofits. Check out our list of 15 surprising things we have nonprofits to thank  for:

Central Park first opened in 1857 and is managed by the Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit.

The famous San Diego Zoo, housing over 3,700 animals, is managed by the nonprofit Zoological Society of San Diego.

Microfinance started gaining momentum in the 1970s, through the efforts of such pioneers as Grameen Bank, which led to the American offshoot Grameen Foundation USA.

Most canine search and rescue teams are managed by nonprofits with volunteer dog and people pairs, such as the American Rescue Dog Association, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, Inc and the Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States.

Earth Day, first taking place on April 22, 1970, was created by the Earth Day Network.

The Smithsonian Institute, established in 1846, runs the largest museum complex in the world.

Barney, Masterpiece Theater, The Teletubbies, and numerous other educational and kids’ TV shows are broadcast to American audiences by the nonprofit Public Broadcasting Service.

Emergency Contraception was originally developed in the 1960s, but in 1995, a group of seven international nonprofit organizations formed The International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC) to encourage its use. One of these organizations was the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health. ICEC receives funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

National Geographic magazine, the journal of the nonprofit National Geographic Society, published its first issue in 1888.

The Appalachian Trail, extends for 2,184 miles across 14 states. It is administered in part by the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

GreatSchools.net, a website providing parents and student comments on schools and school test scores, aims to help parents make a smart school choice.

More than 10% of US workers are employed in jobs working for nonprofits, according to a study by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies.

Cancer Research is often performed by nonprofits, such as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, founded in 1975.

Women’s Suffrage in the United States was won in 1920, with much help from the nonprofit National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Thin Mints and their cohorts Samoas were created by the nonprofit Girl Scouts of the United States of America.