From The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Chronicle of Philanthropy released its “How America Gives” study yesterday, a look at which areas of the country give the most to charity.
This new study is similar to the previous study that ranked Austin #48 among the 50 most populous metropolitan areas using 1997 data — the study I Live Here, I Give Here uses to measure Austin’s generosity.
For the 2012 study, which uses 2008 IRS data, there’s good news and bad news.
THE GOOD NEWS
The new study ranks Austin #32 among the top 50 largest cities, using IRS data from 2008. That is an improvement among the top 50 largest cities. But let’s look at more data…
THE BAD NEWS
According to the previous study, Austin as a city (rather than a metro area) gave 5.8% of its discretionary income. That’s income after cost of living expenses, based on 1997 IRS data.
According to the new study, Austin as a city gave 4.2% of its discretionary income in 2008, down from the 5.8% in 1997.
See the table I made from these sets of data below.
|
Austin, TOWN |
Austin, City |
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|
2008 IRS Tax Records |
1997 IRS Tax Records |
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|
Total contributions |
$790.8 million |
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|
Median Contribution |
$2,800 |
Average charitable donation |
$3,913 |
|
|
Median discretionary income |
$66,248 |
Average discretionary income |
$67,879 |
|
|
Median percent of discretionary income given |
4.2% |
Average donation as a percent of discretionary income |
5.8% |
|
|
FOR PERCENTAGE OF DISCRETIONARY INCOME |
FOR PERCENTAGE OF DISCRETIONARY INCOME |
|||
|
Rank among 50 most populous METRO AREAS |
32 |
Rank among 50 largest CITIES |
48 |
|
|
ALL U.S. percent of income given |
4.7% |
6.4% |
Of course, there’s a caveat: These are not precise apples-to-apples comparisons, and the data collected for both studies has its limitations. You can read the details of how the Chronicle of Philanthropy performed the study here.
THE BIG QUESTIONS
Can you say our work to engage more people in local philanthropy is failing? Were we better at fundraising in 1997 than we were in 2008?
In fact, the percentage of discretionary income given across the United States between those two dates went down, too: from 6.4% in 1997 to 4.7% in 2008.
What’s going on? You can get some insight about the study from an AP story today.
We’ll have more information and local input about this study in our GivingCity Austin Fall 2012 issue, due out in November. In the meantime, there’s lots to think about.
