Nonprofit workers fill holes in the social safety net, but millions are financially insecure themselves

• A new report shows what jobs are typically held by asset-limited, income-constrained, but employed Americans.
• Nearly a quarter of US nonprofit workers live just above the federal poverty line.

Many of America's nonprofit employees fill gaps in the social safety net, helping people access housing, food, and healthcare where government programs fail.

But a chunk of these workers are barely getting by themselves. A report published in September by the policy and research firm United for ALICE found that 3 million US nonprofit employees — nearly a quarter of the total nonprofit workforce — are living just above the federal poverty line. The report examined Americans who have identified as nonprofit workers on the Census' American Community Survey, including many employees in healthcare, educational services, and social assistance.

The ALICE demographic is people who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. The ALICE threshold varies based on local cost of living and household size. If an individual lives above the federal poverty line but can't afford survival necessities — like housing, food, and healthcare — where they live, they are considered ALICE. This might be $702 a month for a parent and school-age child in El Paso, Texas, or $2,158 a month for a parent and school-age child in Alexandria, Virginia.

The cohort's financial experience is marked by a catch-22 — their household income is often too high to get help but too low to comfortably afford daily life.

Lisa Kelley, for example, lives paycheck to paycheck in Cincinnati. Often, the 47-year-old feels like she's "doing everything right" and is still unable to access the assistance she needs.

"There's no help," she previously told BI. "If you make too much, there's no help; if you are healthy, there's no help; if you don't have kids, there's no help."

Nonprofit workers provide help, but they're also struggling

About 13% of Americans live at or below the federal poverty threshold, meaning their annual household income is below $15,060 for one person or $31,200 for a family of four. Access to many assistance programs, like SNAP, Medicaid, and housing vouchers, is based on this measure, which largely hasn't been updated since the 1960s. This measure was calculated when Americans spent about a third of their paycheck on food, whereas Americans now spend only 13% of their income on groceries.

ALICEs, however, make up another 29% of Americans who feel like they are living in poverty but are out of reach of these resources because their paychecks are slightly too high. This leaves some choosing between putting food on the table, paying bills, or going to necessary doctor's visits. It's led some to take extra part-time jobs or rely on gig work — especially if they live in a high-cost-of-living area.

"We need help, especially those of us that are trying to go to work every day," Cherie Tobias, a 48-year-old Applebees server in Michigan who lives on $25,000 a year, previously told BI. "No matter how we feel, no matter how much pain we're in, we're going to try to push through to provide — but we go home defeated."

Younger nonprofit workers are particularly struggling. According to the report, 37% of nonprofit workers under the age of 25 fall into the ALICE category. This follows larger ALICE trends, which show that workers under 25 are one of the main cohorts living out of reach of most assistance programs. Similarly, 23% of nonprofit workers ages 25 to 44 are considered ALICEs.

Single parents working for nonprofits are also facing grim prospects: According to the report, over half are living below the ALICE threshold. And, while 16% of white nonprofit workers were below the ALICE threshold, 35% of Black workers in the sector were struggling to make ends meet.

It's an irony that addresses some of the larger struggles ALICE workers face in the US: Many of the larger support structures do not see them as in need, which exacerbates the need further. Without adequate income or access to resources, these Americans are stuck in the middle.

"I'm not homeless enough to get certain help because I have a roof over my head," Melissa Hedden, 41, previously told BI. "But I'm too homeless to get a job because I don't know where I'm going to live in three weeks. What do you do?"

Are you an ALICE or nonprofit employee struggling to afford daily life? Are you open to sharing your story? If so, reach out to allisonkelly@businessinsider.com, nsheidlower@businessinsider.com, and jkaplan@businessinsider.com.