Charitable assistance from nonprofits and charities plays an important role in helping vulnerable population relieve burdens, but current research provides limited evidence on the factors explaining the receipt of charitable assistance. This study constructs a conceptual framework and empirically tests three groups of factors—from the need, capital, and contextual perspectives—as the antecedents of charitable assistance using data from China. Multilevel logistic regression results show that having needs lays a foundation for charitable assistance, but capital and contextual factors are also important. Higher financial and social capital are associated with higher charitable assistance. Political and social capital strengthen the positive relationship between needs and charitable assistance. Economic development has a positive relationship with charitable assistance, while the relationship between government spending and charitable assistance is negative. This study suggests the inequality of receiving charitable assistance among the disadvantaged groups.
