The groups, which serve hundreds of food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens, are seeking $15-million in state support in fiscal year 2013, up from $11.5-million this year.

Reductions in Department of Agriculture food aid are set to worsen with the failure of the congressional “super committee” to reach an agreement on federal spending, said Catherine D’Amato, head of the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Advocates say state money, which has remained flat since 2007, has declined in value as the cost of staple foods has risen and demand has gone up by nearly a quarter.

Scott Soares, the state’s commissioner of agricultural resources, said the state’s emergency food-assistance program already takes up two-thirds of his office’s budget, leaving little room for an increase.

“There are a variety of programs impacted: food programs and environmental programs,” by the federal cuts, Mr. Soares said. “We are all in a period where we are managing to do less with less. It is a reflection of the state of the economy.”

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California has shrunk welfare payments, trimmed the period recipients can get aid from 60 to 48 months, and cut spending on job-training and education programs for people on welfare. Some Republican lawmakers have called for further cuts, saying the state can’t afford what has been one of the nation’s most generous welfare programs.

“By the time someone is on welfare for 48 months, I think they’re trained to be on that system,” said Assemblyman Brian Jones. “I think we need to make it more attractive in California to get folks off of welfare instead of onto it.”

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Most states have adopted or are proposing new limits on benefits and reduced payments to doctors via the federal and state program to provide medical care to the poor and disabled.

Federal aid for the $427-billion program has thus far escaped from the congressional spending and deficit battles, but Arizona, California, Maine, New Jersey, and other states have enacted or are considering far-reaching reductions that have prompted protests and legal challenges from advocacy and doctors’ groups.

Six million people have joined the Medicaid rolls nationwide since the start of the economic downturn four years ago, pushing enrollment to more than 50 million. Federal stimulus money helped states maintain services, but the last of those funds dried up this year.

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Likening the financing to the federal practice of earmarking funds for favored projects, Gov. John Kasich will send a vastly reduced capital budget for the next two fiscal years to state lawmakers in early 2012.

“We’ve just survived Ohio’s worst fiscal crisis in more than 200 years and we’re beginning to get back on track,” said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for the Republican governor. “Now’s simply not the time for non-essential repairs or other unrelated projects.”

The proposed budget allocates no state money for projects in the Cincinnati area, which routinely received $80-million to $90-million from capital budgets in better economic times. The cuts put at risk projects ranging from an unfinished riverfront park to $31-million in repairs to University of Cincinnati buildings.

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The nonprofit organizations take on development projects and other activities for local governments but face less oversight and are not subject to audits by the state comptroller, as are government agencies.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office released details of its examination of two such groups, the Multi-County Community Development Corporation and the affiliated Rehabilitation Support Services, which provide residential and community-based mental-health services.

The attorney general’s office questioned loans between the two groups, which receive significant proportions of their revenue from state coffers, and their ties to a for-profit company founded by William DeVita, president of Multi-County and executive director of Rehabilitation Support. Mr. DeVita’s wife and sister are also employed by the organizations.

Mr. DeVita did not return calls for comment. William Young, president of  Rehabilitation Support’s board, declined to discuss specific issues but said, “I think we provide excellent services.”

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Crossroads Rhode Island says contributions dropped by $100,000 in October and November compared with the same months last year, a decline of more than 50 percent, said Karen Santilli, the charity’s vice president for marketing and development.

Crossroads was among several nonprofit groups that backed EngageRI, a business alliance that pushed for a pension overhaul. The state legislature last month approved a measure raising the retirement age for many state workers and suspending cost-of-living pension increases.

A local affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, which represents Rhode Island government employees, had urged its 1,000 members not to give to charities that supported the pension bill.

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Following the passage of a state law lowering hurdles for setting up public-private parks partnerships, nine of the 70 facilities California said it would close have been rescued by foundations, philanthropists, community organizations, and the federal government. Officials say the state is in talks with outside groups in connection with 27 other parks.

Jerry Emory, a spokesman for California State Parks Foundation, said his group is concerned “that Sacramento will see the philanthropic community stepping forward as a substitute for public funding” and eliminate money for parks altogether. Other activists say officials have not figured out how to prevent criminals or drug dealers from paying for the parks so they can grow marijuana or embezzle revenue.

Roy Steans, a state parks spokesman, said safeguards are in place to keep unscrupulous characters and nefarious activities out of park operations.

“Could anyone step up?” he said. “Sure, but we would consider them based upon what kind of an entity they are and whether or not they can provide proof they have the ability to operate the park with a funding stream and management infrastructure.”

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Janet Harman

Editor’s Note: The following post was written by Janet Harman, president and founder of the KDK-Harman Foundation, a family foundation in Austin, Tex.

Education grant makers in Texas, as in most states, have largely avoided public-policy debates. But as state governments chisel away at spending on public education, we no longer have that luxury.

The KDK-Harman Foundation surveyed 54 representatives of education grant makers in Texas to gauge their concerns about the state’s schools.  One of their biggest fears: the impact of massive budget cuts. That beat out even the perennial challenges of a sky-high dropout rate and concerns about accountability and testing.

For decades, foundations in Texas and nationally have worked with the state to support public education. Some of the state’s most creative and successful educational efforts were started by or in cooperation with leading philanthropists and foundations, including cutting-edge charter schools, critical physical-education research, and high-quality early-childhood education.

Foundations have provided millions of dollars to reward and encourage innovation in public schools, understanding that neither the state nor local school districts have the resources or political freedom to take risks or try new and promising strategies. They have stepped in to make sure promising research does not languish in academic journals but instead is put into practice in public schools.

But this long and successful history of public-private partnerships is in jeopardy.  In 2011, the Texas Legislature cut more than $5-billion from public education. Education grant makers have been forced to reassess previous commitments and consider shifting support to programs that have lost some or all of their state money.

However, foundation resources—even when you include the country’s largest donors—pale in comparison to these massive cuts.

The survey also asked education grant makers about their advocacy grants. Even though state budget cuts were among their biggest concerns, more than half said they had not made any grants in advocacy or public policy in the past three years.

Foundations have the tools to help stop the budget cuts by making strategic grants and using our own coordinated voices.  The question becomes: Do we have the vision and courage to do all we can to protect public education?

The court ruled last week that the state Division for Children, Youth, and Families ignored contractual obligations to cover rate increases for housing delinquent, abused, and other needy children in fiscal years 2004 through 2006.

Lisa Snow Wade, a lawyer for the nonprofit groups, said they are seeking similar repayment for 2007 through 2010 in separate proceedings.

Ms. Wade said that from 2004 state law required that care rates reflect “the reasonable actual costs of providing the services.” A lawyer for the state said it did not shift funds to cover the increases because New Hampshire legislators did not approve money to cover the rate hikes.

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Activists say poor people’s lack of political clout make such programs more vulnerable in tough budget times.

“Programs for the poor are often the first on the chopping block, because they’re an easy target,” said Jennifer Sherman, an assistant professor and poverty researcher at Washington State University. “But they’re the ones, in my opinion, who need protection the most.”

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