“Greater Los Angeles is not as generous as it used to be and not as generous as it could be,” UCLA Luskin’s Bill Parent wrote in an op-ed printed in the Los Angeles Times.

Parent, associate dean for Strategic Initiatives, also serves as the director of the Center for Civil Society, which produces an annual regional nonprofit survey that reports on the state of charitable giving. This year’s report was released in November.

According to the report, charitable giving in Los Angeles County is 12% lower than it was in 2006, the year before the Great Recession hit. And the majority of residents give less than 2% of their household income.

“As the end-of-year charity appeals pick up, it’s important to remember what a difference just a little more giving can make,” Parent says.

A summary of some of the report’s more salient points can be found in this news story.