According to the Urban Institute:

The Almanac is the latest in the Urban Institute’s series of statistical profiles of the nonprofit sector and focuses primarily on 501(c)(3) public charities. We also highlight key findings on private charitable contributions and volunteering, two vital components of the nonprofit sector. This brief includes the most recent available data (2005 and 2006).

Full Report: Facts and Figures from the Nonprofit Almanac 2008

According to the report:

A state-by-state examination of trends in income inequality over the past two business cycles finds that inequality has grown in most parts of the country since the late 1980s. The incomes of the country’s highest-income families have climbed substantially, while middle- and lower-income families have seen only modest increases.

Full Report: Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends

In 2004, 36.6 million people—or 12.6 percent of the U.S. population—were poor. The “poverty gap”—the amount of additional income required to remove all Americans from poverty—was $105.6 billion. Poverty rates were highest for African Americans, Hispanics, women, and persons under 25. Without government benefits, 61 million people would be poor. Social Security and other social insurance programs remove 21 million people from poverty. Means tested programs remove 3 million people from poverty. If food and housing assistance were counted as income for poverty purposes, an additional 7.6 million people would be counted as not poor.

Full Report: Poverty Facts, 2004

According to the report:

Youth services in Philadelphia, including out-of-school time programs, community
based prevention efforts, youth development programs and programs for older
out-of school youth have grown enormously over the past decade. The result,
however, has not been a coherent system that effectively meets the needs of
youth, their families and their communities. Instead, it has been a patchwork of
networks and clusters of programs, some of them apparently successful, but
often disconnected and difficult to evaluate. In some case the members and
boundaries are clear; in others they are not.

Full Report: Delivering Youth Services in Philadelphia: The Integrated Youth Services Project

“With data supplied by the Foundation Center and analyzed by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the study provides a benchmark of how Pennsylvania giving compares to national philanthropic trends. The report also presents a comparison of charitable giving in the Central, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest regions of Pennsylvania.”

Full Report: Commonwealth Giving: A Report on Pennsylvania Philanthropy

“SAMHSA homeless programs award grants across the U.S. to improve the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders for those experiencing homelessness. These grants go to community-based public and private nonprofit organizations that provide substance abuse services and mental health treatment for homeless individuals.”

Full Report: SAMHSA Homeless Programs FAQ

“This report examines the effect charter schools are having on student achievement in Philadelphia. In addition to the schools’ effect on reading and mathematics achievement, it looks at such questions as what types of students charter schools attract and whether charter schools have higher student turnover rates than traditional public schools. The authors find that students’ average gains when attending charter schools are statistically indistinguishable from the gains they experienced while at traditional public schools.”

Download: Evaluating the Performance of Philadelphia’s Charter Schools

“Almost one million children call Southeastern Pennsylvania home. They are very rich and they are very poor, most are healthy but some are not; most of them are able to find good pre-school programs to help them get ready for school and attend schools that are ready for them, but some miss out on one or both of these; they live in luxury, and they live in poverty. They are more alike than they are different, but their life circumstances vary dramatically. Like children everywhere, they look to adults to nurture, support, protect, and teach them. Like adults everywhere most of us try to fulfill the needs and desires of our children. The challenge then for all of us in this region is to understand that all of them are our children.”

Download: The Bottom Line is…Children

“This report focuses specifically on the ways in which the regional rail system can be seen as a community asset. It provides the background for a more extensive report, due out in the first quarter of 2008, which systematically assess the gains to property values, household budgets, and community vitality.”

Download: Focus: Regional Rails as Community Asset