There is increasing interest in the concept that philanthropy, the giving of money and time, can be considered a commons: a resource system that can be self-reinforcing and additive. Historically, philanthropy has been place-based whether channeled through faith institutions or community agencies. In the American context, philanthropy grew steadily over the course of decades to represent a major force in prosocial community action, yet in recent years this trend has substantially changed: the average donor gives less, while the wealthy donor gives much more. This paper asks the question: what are the implications for the philanthropy commons as giving becomes more concentrated across socioeconomic strata, with particular concern for the geography of this giving?
Using data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) Core Files, we document the increasing geographic concentration of nonprofit contributions across American metro areas. Measured by two means – a Gini coefficient and a Moran’s i statistic – there is a statistically significant increasing concentration in nonprofit contributions as the population of a metropolitan area increases. In effect, as the size of a city increases, the nonprofits who receive the sources of philanthropy become more geographically concentrated.
The paper considers how philanthropy might be better construed as a club good in large American cities, where the ‘haves’ of philanthropy are able to crowd out of a geographic neighborhood the ‘have nots’ in the nonprofit sector. At the same time, smaller municipalities have been able to maintain a philanthropic resource system that better fits with the definition of a common pool resource. Conclusions are drawn as to the impact of this concentration effect on the ability of diverse communities to be represented in large American cities as compared to their smaller metro areas.
