How Charitable is Needham?

Massachusetts is one of the stingiest states when it comes to non-profit giving, a new study shows, however Needham ranked in the top 1,000 zip codes for giving.

According to a new study from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, New England is one of the stingiest areas when it comes to non-profits. A typical Mass. household gives only around 3 percent to charities, compared to 7 percent in states like Utah and Mississippi.

Needham ranks 765th of 28,725 zip codes ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy for giving, with residents contributing $28.8 million in 2008. Needham residents gave 3 percent of their income that year, which however ranks 22,046th out of 28,724 zip codes.

Among the trends discovered by the survey, which is based on numbers from 2008, was that Red States (those which voted for John McCain in the last presidential election) give more than the Blue States (voted for Barack Obama). Massachusetts ranked near the bottom, 47th with 2.8 percent of discretionary income going to charity, and was joined by other New England states – all of which made the bottom six.

The study also explores the impact of religion on giving, and found that, at 4 percent of discretionary income, New England is at the bottom when religious giving is taken into account — but when looking at secular giving only, the region shoots to the top with 1.4 percent.

Following the wealth, the study also notes that most of the money going to charities comes out of the middle class — people making between $50,000 and $75,000 are giving 7.6 percent of their discretionary income, while those getting $100,000 and more are closer to 4.2 percent. When a zip code has 40 percent of its populace making over $200,000, that giving number drops to 2.8 percent.

Bear in mind, the data was looking at pre-2008 tax returns for people earning $50,000 or more. The charitable givings are also pulled from itemized tax returns, as non-itemized returns typically don't show charitable donations.