How changing local economic structures can undermine community philanthropy when it is needed most.

The global economic crisis and the Great Recession that accompanied it had huge effects at both the national and the local level. In new research, using United Way as a case study, Laurie E. Paarlberg, looks at the effects of changing local economic structures on community philanthropy. She finds that giving to community organizations stagnated or fell between 2000 and 2010, a trend that can be partially ascribed to increases in the numbers of retail employees, who are often less well paid. The outsourcing of business ownership, on the other hand, is associated with greater philanthropy, though at the expense of local social capital.