Philanthropy Across America
Have you ever wondered how charitable your neighbors are ? Your town? Your state? A new study by The Chronicle of Philanthropy compares tax returns of taxpayers who earned $50,000 or more in 2008 to determine their levels of giving. The trends were that those that had less gave more. States that voted Republican in 2008 gave more. People in states considered deeply religious gave more, too. As for volunteering, the statistics show that more than one in four Americans volunteer. The families studied gave $135 billion or almost two-thirds of the $214 billion donated by all individuals in 2008. Giving was calculated after major expenses like taxes, housing and food to level the playing field . The median charitable donation was 4.7 percent of discretionary income. The state with the highest percentage of giving was Utah at 10.6 percent. The people of Utah also topped the chart for volunteering at a rate of f orty-five percent. That’s almo...