UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Comparing county residents’ 2006 and 2013 tax returns shows a $1 billion drop in charitable giving to local causes.

Local charitable giving has been on the decline in Los Angeles County, with the amount declared in residents’ tax records dropping from $7.16 billion in 2006 to $6.03 billion in 2013, according to a new study conducted UCLA researchers.

The report commissioned by the California Community Foundation and conducted by researchers at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs shows that in many L.A. communities donations are ebbing as needs surge, particularly for families in poverty, youth, the elderly and the homeless.

To conduct the study, researchers combined IRS data with a first-of-its-kind survey that asks Angelenos about their charitable giving to local causes.

The report was drawn from a research project developed by Bill Parent, a lecturer in public policy, and urban planning professor Paul Ong. The primary authors of the report are Luskin Civil Society Fellow J. Shawn Landres and Shakari Byerly.