Who are the nation's 'cheapstates'? Try the blue ones. | csmonitor.com

Who are the nation's 'cheapstates'? Try the blue ones. | csmonitor.com: "Who are the nation's 'cheapstates'? Try the blue ones.

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

At this time of the year, charities of every shape and size are hunting for the most generous donors. To find them, the Catalogue for Philanthropy has a counterintuitive suggestion: Look in the nation's poorest states. That's because the Catalogue's Generosity Index for 2004 shows that giving as a percentage of income is highest in states where folks have the least to give. Mississippi - the nation's poorest in terms of average household income - ranks No. 1 in generosity, followed by Arkansas, Oklahoma, and"