Thursday, April 24, 2003

Ever hear of the Generosity Index? Compiled every year by the Catalogue for Philanthropy, the index ranks charitable giving, state by state, by U.S. citizens and companies. The index accounts for the amount of wealth that citizens and corporations in all 50 states can give, and how much they actually do give, to charities on an annual basis. The good news is that, overall, the Catalogue for Philanthropy reports that charitable giving held up fairly well during the economic woes of 2002, especially among individual charitable givers. The bad news is that affluent states like Massachusetts (44), New Jersey (48) and Virginia (37) rank at the bottom of the index, outpaced by less well-off states like Mississippi, Arkansas and South Dakota, which top the index. See where your state ranks.