What it looks like
The IRS master file listed 1,975,975 tax-exempt organizations in October 2026. That count covers many kinds of exempt organization, not only 501(c)(3) charities. A registry can show how many organizations exist; it cannot show whether they duplicate useful work or coordinate well.
Why it happens
One possible mechanism is that separate funding and reporting systems make shared work harder. That is a hypothesis, not a conclusion about founders’ or donors’ motives. Humanity’s Checklist argues that coordination is a source shared by many problems: people who could work together may lack a way to find each other.
Why it’s debated
The count is documented. What it means is not. A plural sector has real strengths: many experiments, local knowledge and room for new ideas. Not every overlap is waste, and the registry count does not establish the right number of charities or when consolidation helps rather than hurts.
No one is to blame
The question is whether shared services, networks or funding rules would help organizations coordinate. It does not require a judgment about anyone’s motives.
What we don’t know yet
Is the sector over-fragmented, and when do mergers, shared services or coordination layers improve outcomes? That is Open Problem 11, the Fragmentation Question.
Organizations working on the same problem share data, services and strategy, and coordinate like parts of one system.