VANCOUVER – Rhode Island lagged other U.S. states in total charitable giving by residents in 2007, but still outpaced even the most generous of Canadian provinces, according to the nonprofit Fraser Institute’s latest Generosity Index.
In local currency, the average U.S. donation per taxpayer was $4,403 – almost three times the average Canadian donation of $1,470, the group found.
“Even in Rhode Island” – the lowest-ranked U.S. state for total giving in local dollars, and No. 51 out of 64 U.S. states, Canadian provinces and the District of Columbia – “the average donation ($2,698 U.S.) is over $600 more than the average donation in Alberta,” which had Canada’s highest average donation of $2,057, the Fraser Institute said. “These differences are more pronounced when currency differences are taken into account,” the group added.
Donations reported by American taxpayers amounted to 1.66 percent of aggregate personal income, more than twice the 0.76 percent of personal income that Canadians donated to charity in 2006, the latest year for which data was available.
In Rhode Island, local taxpayers’ donations to registered charities amounted to 1.17 percent of total personal income, giving the state a rank of 48 out of 64. In Massachusetts, taxpayer giving amounted to 1.56 percent of personal income, giving the state a rank of 32.
Both states ranked higher in the share of tax returns reporting any charitable donation: The Ocean State was 13th with charitable donations reported by 34.3 percent of those filing returns. The Bay State was 5th out of 64, with donations reported by 37.3 percent.
In the overall “Generosity Index,” based on both the extent of giving (the percent of local taxpayers who report donations to charity) and the depth of that giving (the percentage of aggregate local personal income that is donated to charity), Utah came in at No. 1 – followed by Maryland, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, Minnesota, New York, Virginia and No. 10 Colorado – while Massachusetts was No. 11 and Rhode Island No. 26.
The top-ranked Canadian province was Manitoba, at No. 41 in the Generosity Index, followed by Ontario (47), Saskatchewan (49), Alberta (51), Prince Edward Island (52) and British Columbia (53).
Canada also had the lion’s share of spots in the survey’s bottom 10: Nunavut (No. 64), the Northwest Territories (63), West Virginia (62), North Dakota (61), the Yukon (60), Quebec (59), Newfoundland and Labrador (58), South Dakota (57) and New Brunswick (56).
“Many Canadians like to believe that we are a more generous and giving nation than the United States,” Niels Veldhuis, the institute’s director of fiscal studies, said in unveiling the new analysis. “But the data clearly show that in most instances, Americans give more of their income to registered charities than Canadians.”
The Fraser Institute – with offices in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and Bradenton, Fla. – is a nonpartisan public policy research and education group focusing how markets and government interventions affect the welfare of individuals. Additional information, including today’s full report, “Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2007 Generosity Index,” is available at www.FraserInstitute.org.
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