Study Finds Charitable Giving Most Generous in Bible Belt
Generous giving to charities mostly comes from individuals in the Bible Belt, according to an annual index, while the stingiest givers are found in the New England region.
Generous giving to charities mostly comes from individuals in the Bible Belt, according to an annual index, while the stingiest givers are found in the New England region.
A recently released report measuring charitable donations among households in America found that individuals in New England are the most tightfisted in the country. New Hampshire was ranked as the least generous state followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and Michigan.
Based on average adjusted gross incomes and the value of itemized charitable donations reported to the Internal Revenue Service on 2003 tax returns, the index considers both how much one has and how much one gives.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"We believe that generosity is a function of how much one gives to the ability one has to give," said Martin Cohn, a spokesman for the Catalogue for Philanthropy, a Boston-based nonprofit that publishes a directory of nonprofit organizations, according to The Associated Press.
According to the Generosity Index for 2005, income rose by 2.6% and charitable giving increased by 7.2% - the highest rate of increase since 1998-99.
Charitable contributions mainly came from the Bible Belt with the ten most generous states listed from the top as Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, South Carolina and West Virginia.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University released a similar new study and found that individuals in New England give less, on average, to charity than people in other regions. However, the percentage of New Englanders who do give is higher than the national average with contributors favoring secular causes more than religious ones.
The Catalogue for Philanthropy is a charitable organization sponsored by individual donors, foundations and corporations, whose support helps fulfill its mission: donor education. Through an annual Catalogue published each November, it provides support to small charities with operating budgets of $2 million or less. Each year, the Catalogue features 65-70 charities and provides evidence of their excellence. It is then mailed to wealthy individuals, encouraging them as potential donors to think creatively about their charitable giving.
