THE INFLUENCE OF DEMOGRAPHICS AND DISTANCE ON NONPROFIT LOCATION

This article investigates the relationship between socioeconomic chara cteristics and the provision of nonprofit services for census block gr oups in Dallas County Texas. We find that the number of health, educat ion and social service nonprofits in a given area is positively influe nced by block group income, age, percentage minority, and racial heter ogeneity, and negatively influenced by income heterogeneity and age he terogeneity. On further examination, we find a complex pattern of rela tionships between income and age and number of providers that suggests researchers should exercise caution when using these variables. Also, in all of our results the effects of the demographic variables are by far the strongest far nonprofits within one mile of the block group c entroid; they weaken as they get farther from the centroid. This shows that nonprofits are most heavily influenced by the characteristics of the neighborhoods directly around them.