Giving USA Puts Spotlight on Regional Variations in Charitable Giving; Differences Abound Across America

Giving USA Puts Spotlight on Regional Variations in Charitable Giving; Differences Abound Across America: "GLENVIEW, Ill., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Examining both new and existing data, Giving USA Foundation researchers have discovered that when it comes to giving, regional differences abound across the United States. Therefore, when it comes to donating to charity, 'Americans are not one size fits all,' said Henry 'Hank' Goldstein, chairman of Giving USA Foundation. In fact, he added, 'there are marked differences that must be understood before assigning terms such as 'generous' or 'stingy' to residents of any particular state or region.' In the first-ever use of data that examined differences in participation rate and the average total amount contributed per household and the average amounts contributed for religious giving and for secular giving researchers discovered that 'in some regions, religious giving predominates, in others, secular giving is higher,' said Gene Tempel, Ed.D., executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the organization that researched and wrote the report for the Foundation."