Posted by: Adam McCann

’Tis the season for giving. And the latest World Giving Index shows that Americans are among the world’s most generous people, ranking No. 4 out of 140 countries. U.S. donors in 2017 gave more than $410 billion to charity, with 70 percent of the funds coming directly from individuals, according to the National Philanthropic Trust.

But Americans do more than reach in their pockets to help others. They also contribute their time — and plenty of it. Nearly 63 million people volunteer in the U.S., serving a combined total of 7.9 billion hours per year, the equivalent of $184 billion of service.

Not everyone is equally selfless, however. In the spirit of inspiring altruism, WalletHub determined the most charitable of the 50 states by comparing them across 18 key indicators of charitable behavior. Our data set ranges from volunteer rate to share of income donated to share of sheltered homeless. Read on for our findings, additional insight from our panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.

Want to give back instead of receiving this holiday season? Use WalletHub’s Charity Calculator to help you determine how best to pitch in, depending on your resources and availability.

1. Main Findings
2. Generosity of Red vs. Blue
3. Millennial Volunteer Rate Over Time
4. Ask the Experts
5. Methodology

Main Findings Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/8555/charity-geochart.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2DZKeSb>

 

Most Charitable States in America

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	‘Volunteering & Service’ Rank	‘Charitable Giving’ Rank
1	Minnesota	69.14	1	4
2	Utah	67.76	4	5
3	New York	67.74	21	1
4	Maryland	66.73	8	6
5	Connecticut	64.93	7	14
6	Virginia	64.26	23	3
7	Georgia	64.05	26	2
8	Washington	63.40	9	23
9	New Hampshire	62.90	2	27
10	Wisconsin	62.63	11	21
11	Pennsylvania	62.32	17	12
12	Wyoming	61.37	3	35
13	Ohio	61.18	24	15
14	Maine	60.97	10	28
15	Colorado	60.47	27	13
16	Illinois	60.07	35	7
17	Oregon	59.69	14	29
18	New Jersey	59.61	25	22
18	Oklahoma	59.61	12	31
20	Kansas	59.35	28	20
21	Alaska	59.04	15	30
22	South Dakota	58.60	6	46
23	North Carolina	58.58	36	16
24	Delaware	58.47	5	48
25	Missouri	58.38	34	19
26	Massachusetts	58.23	41	8
27	South Carolina	57.95	31	24
28	Arkansas	57.78	42	9
29	Vermont	57.19	18	37
30	Nebraska	57.11	16	42
31	Tennessee	57.06	32	25
32	Florida	57.03	40	17
33	North Dakota	56.71	22	36
34	Iowa	56.60	20	39
35	West Virginia	56.18	13	45
36	Michigan	56.01	44	18
37	Mississippi	55.94	30	32
38	Idaho	55.61	19	44
39	California	55.46	47	11
40	Alabama	55.28	48	10
41	Indiana	54.68	29	41
42	Kentucky	53.95	43	26
43	Texas	53.83	33	38
44	Montana	52.16	39	40
45	New Mexico	51.23	38	47
46	Hawaii	50.02	45	43
47	Louisiana	49.79	49	34
48	Arizona	48.86	37	50
49	Rhode Island	48.81	50	33
50	Nevada	47.91	46	49

*No. 1 = Most Charitable

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/8555/charity-columnchart.html" width="780" height="450" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:780px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2DZKeSb>  

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/8555/charity-bubblechart.html" width="700" height="450" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:700px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2DZKeSb>

Generosity of Red vs. Blue

Millennial Volunteer Rate Over Time

Ask the Experts

Not all charities are created equal. Choosing among them — in addition to deciding whether to give money, time or both and how much — can be a challenge. To help donors plan ahead and to provide insight on various charity issues, we asked a panel of experts to share their thoughts on the following key questions:

1. What are the biggest challenges facing U.S.-based charities in the current economic environment?
2. What percentage of income should households donate to charity?
3. What advice do you have for choosing the right charity?
4. Do you believe charities should face increased regulations and scrutiny in order to reduce fraud?
5. How would the current Tax Reform plan affect charitable giving?
6. Should all nonprofits be able to receive tax-deductible contributions regardless of their mission?

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• Jennifer Siebenthaler Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky
• Steven Utke Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut

Methodology

In order to determine the most philanthropic states, WalletHub compared the 50 states across two key dimensions, “Volunteering & Service” and “Charitable Giving.”

We evaluated those dimensions using 18 key metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the “most charitable.”

Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Volunteering & Service – Total Points: 50

• Volunteer Rate: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Volunteer Retention Rate: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Volunteer Hours per Capita: Triple Weight (~14.29 Points)
• Community-Service Requirement for High School Graduation: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Residents Who Do Favors for Their Neighbors: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Amount of Money that People would Lend their Neighbors in Need: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Population Collecting/Distributing Food: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Population Collecting/Distributing Clothes: Full Weight (~4.76 Points)
• Share of Population Fundraising or Selling Items to Raise Money: Half Weight (~2.38 Points)

Charitable Giving – Total Points: 50

• Share of Income Donated: Double Weight (~11.11 Points)Note: “Income” refers to aggregate gross income.
• Share of Population Donating Time: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)Note: “Donors” refers to the percentage of the population who claim to have donated time.
• Share of Population Donating Money: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)Note: “Donors” refers to the percentage of taxpayers who donated money to charity and the percentage of the population who claim to have donated money.
• Public Charities per Capita: Half Weight (~2.78 Points)Note: “Public Charities” is based on the Internal Revenue Service’s definition of the term. Among others, these charities include “churches, hospitals, qualified medical research organizations affiliated with hospitals, schools, colleges and universities.” They do not include private foundations, most of which do not engage in “the direct operation of charitable programs.” However, religious organizations were included in the data for the following reasons: 1) the available data does not differentiate between secular charities and religious organizations, and 2) many donors and volunteers consider their contributions to such entities as “charitable giving.”
• 4-Star Charities per Capita: Half Weight (~2.78 Points)
• Charity Regulations: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
• Google Search Interest for “Charitable Donations”: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)Note: This metric measures the real intent of the population to find information using the following search terms: “volunteer”, “non profit organizations”, “charity”, “charitable donations” and “charitable organizations”. “Real intent” is measured using the average monthly search volumes for those specific terms.
• ‘Feeding America’ Food Banks per Capita: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)
• Share of Sheltered Homeless: Full Weight (~5.56 Points)

 Videos for News Use:

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 Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Corporation for National & Community Service, Education Commission of the States (ECS), Fraser Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, Cogency Global, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Internal Revenue Service, Feeding America, Charity Navigator, Windows USA, Google and Gallup.

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