Number of Charities and Foundations in U.S. Drops Sharply

The number of charities and foundations registered with the Internal Revenue Service fell by 16 percent in 2011, mostly because more than 272,000 organizations lost their tax-exempt status after failing to follow the law by filing informational tax forms.

New figures released by the tax agency show that the number of groups classified under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code totaled nearly 1.1 million in 2011, down from nearly 1.3 million in 2010.