The COVID-19 pandemic did not blunt the generosity of Americans. Giving USA reported that donations to charity increased 5.1% to $471 billion, when compared to 2019. One reason for this may be the surge in stock prices and appreciation in home values. However, giving by foundations was the engine of the increase. It was up 17% to over $88 billion.
LawnStarter’s recent “2022’s Most Generous Cities” study covered 130 American cities. Among the yardsticks used were the share of people who volunteered in each city, residents who gave more than $25 to a charity, nonprofits per 100,000 people, number of homeless shelters and food banks, and number of animal shelters. Numbers were pulled from AmeriCorps, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelter Directory, Internal Revenue Service, Little Free Library, SoupKitchen411 and Yelp.
The highest overall score possible was 100. No city had a score of over 55 or a score below 8.
The city with the highest score was Minneapolis at 52.65. The primary reasons it did so well were individuals who volunteered who gave money. The region also did well. The authors reported:
The baseball team isn’t the only saintly thing in the Twin Cities. Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, truly embody the meaning of “neighborly.” Minneapolis landed in first place both overall and in the Individual Generosity category, while St. Paul finished not far behind in seventh place.
Seattle ranked second, followed by Portland, New York, Baltimore and Washington. These are the 25 most generous cities in America:
- Minneapolis (52.65)
- Seattle (50.47)
- Portland, Ore. (50.15)
- New York (49.61)
- Baltimore (49.05)
- Washington (43.59)
- St. Paul (43.02)
- Indianapolis (43.01)
- Vancouver, Wash. (42.65)
- Chicago (42.48)
- Boston (42.43)
- St. Louis (41.84)
- Denver (40.99)
- Milwaukee (40.79)
- Cincinnati (40.25)
- Salt Lake City (40.22)
- San Francisco (39.61)
- Houston (38.83)
- Detroit (38.8)
- Tacoma (37.77)
- Pittsburgh (37.17)
- Raleigh (36.39)
- Rochester, N.Y. (35.88)
- Phoenix (35.23)
- Kansas City, Mo. (35.15)
Click here to read about America’s most generous billionaires.
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