Politics & Government
How Charitable is Acton?
The Town ranks 2,648 out of over 28,000 communities nationwide. Does this surprise you?
Massachusetts is one of the stingiest states when it comes to non-profit giving, a new study shows.
According to a new study from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, New England is one of the stingiest areas when it comes to non-profits--a typical Massacusetts household gives only around 3 percent to charities, compared to 7 percent in states like Utah and Mississippi.
Acton, however, is ranked 2,648 out of 28,725 communities according to Philanthropy's interactive giving map. In total, in 2008 (the year from which the information is culled), Acton gave $14.1 million, compared to $88 million from Concord.
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The study found red states to be more generous than blue states. Comparing the states which went to Pres. Barack Obama to those which went to Sen. John McCain in the last election, McCain picked up the top eight states in terms of giving, while the bottom seven —Massachusetts included — went to Obama.
The study also explores the impact of religion on giving, and found that, at 4 percent of discretionary income, New England is at the bottom when religious giving is taken into account--but when looking at secular giving only, the region shoots to the top with 1.4 percent.
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Following the wealth, the study also notes that most of the money going to charities comes out of the middle class--people making between $50,000 and $75,000 are giving 7.6 percent of their discretionary income, while those getting $100,000 and more are closer to 4.2 percent. When a zip code has 40 percent of its populace making over $200,000, that giving number drops to 2.8 percent.
Bear in mind, the data may be incomplete or out of date: the study was looking at pre-2008 tax returns for people earning $50,000 or more. The charitable givings are also culled from itemized tax returns, as non-itemized returns typically don't show charitable donations.
See more about the study on the Chronicle of Philanthropy page.
What do you think of these statistics and how stingy New England appears to be? Is it an accurate picture?
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