What Are The Most (And Least) Charitable U.S. States?

NPR ^ | 05/10/2014 | Bill Chappell

[SeekAndFind]

A map of the U.S. shows the states where residents were the most and least likely to say they had recently donated to charity.Gallup

There are only two U.S. states where at least 50 percent of residents say they've recently given either money or time to charity: Utah and Minnesota, according to a new Gallup poll. Nevada and Kentucky tied for the lowest rate of charitable giving.

The poll was conducted in the last six months of 2013, when at least 600 residents of each state were asked whether they had donated money to a charity or volunteered at an organization within the past month.

Gallup produced a map based on the poll results, which found that after the top two charitable states, Hawaii, South Dakota, and New Hampshire rounded out the top five (see the full list of states below).

One finding held true for all 50 states: People were more likely to have donated money than time, Gallup says. Even in the states that ranked lowest in the findings, more than 50 percent of the residents said they had donated money to charity.

Here are the states that were ranked lowest in the poll:

"The percentage of those donating [both] money and volunteering time was below 30 percent in 10 states — Nevada, Kentucky, New York, Mississippi, Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina, West Virginia, Rhode Island, and Louisiana."

The results jibe with what Gallup called "well-being" scores in a recent study, as the organization says that people who are thriving are also more likely to give back to their communities.

Gallup also notes that "Americans as a whole do show impressive figures for their acts of kindness compared with the rest of the world." It cited a 2011 study that found U.S. residents were more likely than many others to give to charity or to help a stranger.

[crusty old prospector]

Do they consider the tithe as part of charitable giving? It would be a different graphic. Since Obamao began to steal more and more from me, I give less and less to organizations like United Way and more to missions.

[PoloSec]

Makes sense for Utah, since young mormons are supposed to go on two year missions, if they count that, it would add up fast.

[Haiku Guy]

Since the Federal Government does so many wonderful things to help so many people, am I being charitable when I pay my taxes?

[SgtHooper]

Same here. Stopped most all contributions to orgs other than my church. We do, however, support close friends of similar political ilk who are on hard times. For example, our pet sitter is a Christian single mom (made a mistake) working two jobs to support her child. Father is a total loser. :-)

[RegulatorCountry]

Define “charity.” Doesn’t include tithing and church mission work, or that map would look very different.

[Islander7]

From a far more reliable source: The Chronicles of Philanthropy

[fullchroma]

Thanks for that link. Makes much more sense for what I know here in Tennessee, the Volunteer State and the Bible Belt buckle.

[bgill]

Givers and takers.

[ealgeone]

Do they consider the tithe as part of charitable giving? It would be a different graphic. Since Obamao began to steal more and more from me, I give less and less to organizations like United Way and more to missions

Was that an option on the survey?

[who knows what evil?]

I'm glad I checked that link out first...far more rreliable, indeed. I knew I had seen a chart in the past that showed Red Hampshire dead last in giving; then I see this rot from NPR showing them near the top???

I call BS on the lib chart.