All you need to do is flip through the newspaper to know just about everyone’s feeling an economic pinch right now, and it’s no different for charities that provide important help for our neighbors in need.

Earlier this month, Communities in Schools of Lee County cut its executive director as a way to cope with fiscal challenges. Until the economic slide, its effort to support local education and prevent dropouts was going strong. But fundraising stalled as the economy tanked.

And that’s just one example.

In her June 28 piece in The Sanford Herald, reporter Erin Zureick outlined some other problems facing our local nonprofits. The Lee County Partnership for Children was expecting a 10-percent budget cut in More at Four, which provides money for at-risk children to attend preschool. The Coalition for Families was expecting to cut staff working to prevent teenage pregnancy and help parents be more effective in their homes. Nobody, it seems, has been spared.

It may not be any consolation, but what’s happening here is happening all over the country, according to “Giving USA 2009.” The annual report is produced by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and considered by many to be the “bible” of charitable giving statistics.

On the positive side, contributions topped a whopping $307 billion last year for just the second time in history. That’s the good news. The actual total, though, was a drop of 2 percent in current dollars from the year before. While that may not seem like much, it’s actually the first decline in overall charitable giving since 1987 and just the second since the report was first published in 1956.

Two-thirds of public charities saw their donations drop, and some of those came in areas most critical during any economic downturn. As you might expect, people have been turning in mass for help from charities providing “human services” — a broad category that includes programs for youth and children, as well as basic needs like food, shelter and clothing.

More than half of those organizations surveyed reported an increase in need last year at a time when donations actually dropped by 12.7 percent.

Some other interesting facts about giving last year:

* Giving to health and arts/culture/humanities organizations each decreased by roughly 6.5 percent.

* Corporations contributed 4.5 percent less than the year before, with individual donations falling not quite as much, by 2.7 percent.

* Interestingly enough, giving remained steady or increased in three areas — religion, international affairs and something called “public-society benefit,” a category that includes combined funds like the United Way.

Given the fact that this economic downturn has been more severe than others, there may be a silver lining in the cloudy outlook.

“What we find remarkable is that individuals, corporations and foundations still provided more than $307 billion to causes they support, despite the economic conditions,” said Del Martin, leader of the Giving USA Foundation, which sponsors the annual report. “It would have been easy to say ‘not this year’ when appeals came their way, and we definitely did see belt-tightening.

“This drop in giving means that nonprofits have had to do more with less over the past year, but it could have been a lot worse.”

And that’s the lesson for local charities, too. Belt-tightening is inevitable, but thanks to a strong community spirit, things are not as bad here as they could have been. The challenge is continuing to meet the urgent need this year, until the economy turns around again and makes life easier for everyone.