When It Comes to Generosity, America Is Number One
By Jordan Candler · Jan. 21, 2016
A new study by The Philanthropy Roundtable provides some interesting statistics on the charitable giving habits of Americans. The takeaway is unequivocally clear: America is the most generous nation on the planet. The Roundtable’s Almanac of American Philanthropy reports that as a percentage of GDP the United States donated 2.1% to private philanthropy, or nearly double that of second place Canada, which gave 1.2%. Furthermore, Americans are “up to 20 times as charitable as the residents of some other developed nations,” and they “also volunteer more than almost any other wealthy people,” according to the almanac. Ninety-three percent of households with incomes greater than $162,501 donated to charities, the highest among the brackets listed, whereas just 37% with incomes under $25,000 gave to charity (that bracket was also the only one under 50%). As for the heavily criticized wealthy one-percenters, the report notes, “High-income households provide an outsized share of all philanthropic giving. Those in the top 1 percent of the income distribution (any family making $394,000 or more in 2015) provide about a third of all charitable dollars given in the U.S. When it comes to bequests, the rich are even more important: the wealthiest 1.4 percent of Americans are responsible for 86 percent of the charitable donations made at death, according to one study [emphases added].” Despite this country’s difficulties, there’s much consolation to be found in the fact we are the world’s number one giver. But that trend will continue only so long as the individual, not government, is trusted to spread the wealth as they see fit. Just imagine what we could do if everyone gave 10%.
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