WATERTOWN, Mass. – Wyoming residents with incomes of $200,000 or more per year gave the most to charity in 2005, followed by residents of Oklahoma, South Dakota, Arkansas and Utah, the nonprofit Catalogue for Philanthropy said in its 11th annual report. Their peers in Rhode Island gave the least, followed by New Jersey, Alsaka, Hawaii and West Virginia.
The nonprofit’s Opportunity Index ranks states based on federal tax data, comparing each state’s average income to its average giving to charity. It has been criticized in the past for failing to take into account regional differences in cost of living and other factors. (“New England is Not Stingy After All, New Hampshire Public Radio has declared.) This year, for the first time, it measures only donations of residents with incomes of $200,000 and up.
“It’s our contention that, at that income level, many of the differentials are gone,” Martin Cohn, a spokesman for the Catalogue for Philanthropy, said in a telephone interview today. “What we are reporting is a ranking of the itemized charitable contributions by that income level across the country. … Over the past 11 years nationwide, in the over-$200,000 income bracket, income increased 17.9 percent and charitable giving increased 24.6 percent. In Rhode Island, that income bracket increased by 6 percent, while its charitable giving increased 7 percent.”
In Wyoming – first nationwide in both income and giving – the wealthiest residents, with an average adjusted gross income of nearly $880,000, gave an average of not quite $95,000 to charity in 2005, the nonprofit found.
Massachusetts was ninth in “having” and 27th in giving in 2005. Its wealthiest residents had an average adjusted gross income that year of more than $586,000 and average giving of not quite $29,000.
“Rhode Island is 40th in average gross income,” Cohn said, but the state’s top income group ranked 50th in charitable giving. Rhode Island’s wealthiest residents, with an average adjusted gross income of nearly $490,000, had average donations of just over $12,500 in 2005.
Asked about the legal precedent that has caused some accountants to urge their clients not to give in Rhode Island, Cohn replied: “Regardless of where they’re spending their money, they’re still itemizing their charitable contributions. The IRS doesn’t look at where they’re making those donations.”
He added: “What we’re suggesting is, if that folks in that income bracket – and kudos for giving – would give to their income level, that would be an additional $6,536 dollars, which is 52 percent more. … That differential, by giving to their income rank, would greatly increase the philanthropic pie in Rhode Island.”
In a statement today, the Catalogue for Philanthopy said: “Let us be very clear: we are cheering for Rhode Island’s giving, and especially for our increases over the past 11 years.
“Here, we are simply providing some numbers that help put its charitable giving in perspective with its high income, as those compare roughly with other high-income states. Rhode Island is already philanthropically generous, and it has the opportunity to do even better.”
Additional information about the Catalogue for Philanthropy, a nonprofit organization that promotes charitable giving, is available at http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy.org.
