Nonprofit Density and Distributional Equity in Public Service Provision: Exploring Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Public Park Access across U.S. Cities

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Yuan (Daniel) Cheng,Lang (Kate) Yang,Shuyi Deng
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13465

Research Article:

Race and Gender

Symposium

Nonprofit Density and Distributional Equity in Public Service Provision: Exploring Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Public Park Access across U.S. Cities 473

Abstract: Existing research on the distributional impacts of nonprofits and philanthropy focuses on how different

groups directly benefit from nonprofit service providers. Given the increasing roles nonprofits play in public service

provision and urban governance, it is critical to examine how the nonprofit sector may influence the distribution of

public services. Combining the literature from urban affairs and nonprofit studies, we propose a theoretical framework

to articulate various pathways through which communities with a larger nonprofit sector may create favorable

conditions for public services to be distributed to certain racial–ethnic groups. We further test this framework using

a unique geospatial dataset of public park access by different racial–ethnic groups in 2,392 U.S. cities. Our findings

indicate that communities with a higher density of park-supporting nonprofits generate better park access for all

racial–ethnic groups. However, more benefits accrue to whites than to other racial–ethnic groups.

Evidence for Practice

• The distributional impacts of the nonprofit sector depend not only on how nonprofit services are

distributed. As nonprofits play an increasingly important role in financing and shaping public services, it

is imperative to develop better theories to assess how the nonprofit sector may influence the distribution of

public services.

• In the context of public park services, while the nonprofit sector promotes park access of all racial–ethnic

groups, more benefits accrue to whites than to other racial–ethnic groups.

• Because of the complicated realities of the relationship between the nonprofit sector and racial–ethnic equity

in public service access, public managers need to design better policies and institutional structures to ensure

both equitable public service provision and active participation of nongovernmental actors.

• Public managers need to conduct distributional impacts analysis when selecting nonprofit partners for public

service provision.

• Compared to nonprofit organizations, local government investments do not widen the disparity between

whites and people of color groups in public park access in cities. Governmental institutions have an

indispensable role in safeguarding racial–ethnic equity in public service provision.

Charles Clotfelter(1992), in his provocative

book, Who Benefits from the Nonprofit Sector,

regarded the distributional consequences

of nonprofit activities as the central yet less studied

topic of nonprofit and voluntary studies, especially

compared to the field’s focus on how nonprofit

organizations helped society achieve efficiency

gains and the accountability challenges in the

contracting regime (Smith and Lipsky2009). Julian

Wolpert(2001, 123) concluded in his provocative

essay that “our knowledge of the incidence of benefits

or who benefits and how (from the nonprofit sector)

… is almost entirely lacking.” Given the central

position of social equity in the public management

scholarship (Cepiku and Mastrodascio2021;

Frederickson2005; Guy and McCandless2012;

Wright and Merritt2020) and the increasing roles

of nonprofits in financing and influencing public

service provision (Cheng2019a; Fyall2016; Gazley

et al.2018), this question about the distributional

impacts of the nonprofit sector becomes more salient,

particularly with its connection to a more equitable

provision of public services.

In the last 30 years, while scholars have made

significant strides toward understanding the

distributional impacts of nonprofits and philanthropy,

existing studies that examined the relationship

between the nonprofit sector and social equity tend

to focus on where nonprofits are located—whether

communities that are whiter and more resourceful

are more likely to have nonprofit service providers

(Gazley et al.2020; Garrow2014; Paarlberg and

Gen2009). However, with a recent surge in the public

Nonprofit Density and Distributional Equity in Public

Service Provision: Exploring Racial/Ethnic Disparities in

Public Park Access across U.S. Cities

Yuan (Daniel) Cheng

The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the

University of Minnesota

The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public

Administration at the George Washington University

Lang (Kate) Yang

Shuyi Deng

The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the

University of Minnesota

Shuyi Deng is a doctoral candidate at

the Humphrey School of Public Affairs,

University of Minnesota. Her research

interests lie in racial equity and nonprofit

organizations.

Email: dengx413@umn.edu

Lang (Kate) Yang is an assistant professor

at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy

and Public Administration at George

Washington University. Her research interest

is in state and local government budgeting

and finance, education finance, and

government transparency.

Email: langyang@gwu.edu

Yuan (Daniel) Cheng is an assistant

professor in the Humphrey School of Public

Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

His research focuses on government-

nonprofit relations, coproduction, and the

distributional and performance implications

of cross-sectoral collaboration.

Email: cheng838@umn.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 3, pp. 473–486. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13465.