Who Benefits from Charitable Expenditures? The Distribution of Charitable Resources by Cause

Charities may be perceived as organizations that are funded entirely from private donations, but which charitable causes receive funding from which sources of income? This chapter analyses the distribution of the income of the charitable sector by main sphere of activity (charitable causes) and by funding streams (private donations, government, etc.). One particular feature of the logic of charity is the degree of concentration of income in general, and of income from particular funding streams, within relatively small numbers of organizations. Major shifts in the distribution of resources therefore seem unlikely to be achieved — for instance, even small-scale reductions in government funding would require some areas of charitable activity to double their private fundraising — which suggests some challenges in the context of the current shrinkage of the state. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.