New study : Lower-income Americans DONATE MORE to charity than those in upper-income

[bullwinkle428]

(as a percentage of total income)

"Ever wonder how charitable the people are who live in your state or community? It turns out that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people do. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich.

That's according to a new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which breaks charitable giving down by ZIP code. It found that generosity varies greatly from one region of the country to another. (Explore charitable giving in your state, city and neighborhood using the Chronicle of Philanthropy's new interactive.)

The Chronicle found that it's the same across the country. High-income people who live in economically diverse neighborhoods give more on average than high-income people who live in wealthier neighborhoods.

Piff says it's not that rich people aren't generous. They're often just isolated. They don't see a lot of poor people in their daily lives."

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/20/158947667/study-reveals-the-geography-of-charitable-giving

Hey, David Brooks - stick THAT in your crack pipe and smoke it!!

[BumRushDaShow]

1. K&R

This is what they mean by being out of touch.

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. I just listened to that segment on NPR...

quite interesting.

[brewens]

4. I do what I can being a $35 thousand or so per year guy. Of course I work

for a blood center and depend on people donating blood to earn my living. If I had trouble saying no before I got this job, it would really be bad form now.

I am slightly annoyed by charities that get us in the checkout line now. I still usually kick them a buck or so.

One thing I do is never walk by a bell ringer at Christmas time without donating. Then I make sure and go out the same door if there is another bell ringer at the other entrance. I can't have that guy thinking I'm a tight ass.

One that gets me is out local veterans home doing food drives. I think it really sucks that they need to do that. You'll see a couple of them set up with a table outside a grocery store. They hand you a list of items/suggestions they can use. I always get them something good. The last time it was fortunate that I had just come from Costco. I gave them a 15 pack of tuna I'd just bought. That would have cost me twice as much in the store they were at.

We have a bin every year for our local food bank Christmas drive at the blood center. I always try and get it started by throwing a case of canned milk in there. I time it so everyone sees me do it. If the 3/4 of employees that make at least a little more than I do see me do that, they may make a little more effort to chip in.

[Overseas]

5. As a percentage of income. Right wingers talk about the dollars and not the percentage.

[BrooklynBoy]

6. No Surprise To Me

My first full-time job was with NY Telephone (as it was then called), and I worked in Harlem doing "disconnects". People had canceled their telephone service, and my job was to go their apartments and disconnect and retrieve their phones.

The people whose apartments I visited were friendly and generous. Many would offer me a cup of coffee or a soda. Some would even tip me.

A year later I was transferred to the upper East Side, where I did installations. I was treated like utter shit. Not by all, some were very nice, but most treated me like the dregs of the earth. I was required to use the "service entrance" and the freight elevator, and the tips were few and far between.

No, that article doesn't surprise me one bit. It bears out what I personally experienced first-hand 45 years ago. And I'm sure nothing has changed.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I think a lot of poor people have received help from charities before and live on the

principle of paying it forward. I do that myself and know others who do the same. None of our donations are terribly large, but they are pretty reliable.

[madamesilverspurs]

8. Pocket change.

That's what I donate, when I can. My SS is less than $800/month, so there are times when the pocket change stays in the pocket. Around the holidays, I try to drop a few coins in the various donation buckets and a part of me hopes that small action might encourage others to do likewise.

A couple years back I was at the store with a friend. On the way out I dropped some change into a bucket and my friend just shook her head. She gives to charity, both time and money, but she doesn't give if she doesn't get a receipt for her taxes. I explained to her that those of us who aren't in her tax bracket don't get to claim charitable giving as a deduction, but we give anyway. In a way, I think she believes our "poorer" status is partly voluntary because we don't take advantage of deductions. Oh, well.

-

[FirstLight]

9. compassion

is cultivated by the humility of 'being there' ... I think this is true for many people and the more who have lost work or homes etc over the past few years the more who 'get it'

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. Heard that on NPR this morning on my drive to the stable. While this study is new, the information

is very, very old and has not changed in all that time. This fact is what the revivalists and televangelists prey on. I think you have to have been poor to understand what it is to be poor.

I'd like to see a study on who does more for the world, relatively poor people giving more than they can afford, or giant perpetual foundations such as Carnegie, Gates, Mac Aurthur, the whole letter salad of NGO's.