River Dell Towns More Charitable than State Averages

Based on a recent study by the Council of Philanthropy and published on Monday's frontpage of The Chronical of Philanthropy, the River Dell towns were found to be more charitable than the New Jersey median in their look at How America Gives.

The six month-long data research and on the ground reporting reveals several aspects of Americans’ ‘giving habits;’  the report ranks the generosity of  the 50 states, all 366 metropolitan areas, and every zip code in America.

River Edge was ranked 5,808 out of 28,725 with a total contribution of $6.6 million in donations with the median household giving at least $2,273 or 3.4% of their discretionary income. While Oradell, which gave $8.9 million overall, was 2,431 out of 11,522 and had residents donating $3,217 to charity, or 3.6% of their income.

Bergen County was ranked 33rd nationwide with residents handing over 4.6 percent of their income while New Jerseyans gave 3.7 percent. Overall Bergen County donated $680.9 million with approximately $2,413 per household. As a state, New Jersey came in 8th out of 51 (including Washington, D.C.) on a scale of giving, with a grand total of $4.5 billion in contributions ($2,181 per household) but the share of discretionary income donated by typical households is relatively low, at 3.7 percent and pushes the state back to 42nd.

In both towns, the largest percentages of donors came from residents that are under 20 years old (approximately 28%) and the baby-boomers crowd, ages 45 to 64 (approximately 30%). The least generous age group in River Edge and Oradell were college graduates and young professionals (approximately 6.5-8%).

That trend held true across the entire state and Bergen County with the under 20 crowd making up 28.2% (state) and 24.8% (county); 20 to 29 years olds were 13.7% (state) and 10.8% (county); and the babyboomers at 26.7% (state) and 29% (county).

According to the study, lower-income people give a far bigger share of their discretionary income to charities than wealthy people. People who make between $50,000 and $75,000 give an average of 7.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity, compared with an average of 4.2 percent for people who make $100,000 or more. The median discretionary income in River Edge is $66,310 while Oradell's median income is closer to $88,567.

The study uses data from 2008, based on a year’s worth of IRS 1040 forms from households nationwide, the most recent available, and provides detail down to the ZIP-code level about the relative generosity of states, cities, and towns based on the share of discretionary income they give after.

Utah was found to be the most generous state, with residents giving 10.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity, primarily religious in nature. Manhattan’s Upper East Side was the most generous zip code, giving $478 million. On the other hand though, New Hampshire residents gave the least of all states, 2.5 percent of their discretionary income.

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