Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.
I know you won’t believe this, but I swear it’s true. You can look it up.
In 1931, The American Red Cross turned down a federal grant of $25 million arguing that it had all the money it needed. It went on to say that such government grants to private charities would, to a large extent, destroy voluntary giving. Did they get it right or what?
Can you imagine that happening today? Not only have individual Americans taken to the public trough to fund our charitable giving but many organizations are doing the same. Does anyone remember the buzz about Planned Parenthood and the amount of federal dollars being flushed down the abortion drains.
Everybody wants to be a philanthropist but nobody wants to pay. We love being charitable with other people’s money but not our own. But I have a theory, and IRS records back it up. The generosity index of giving by states is quite remarkable.
Mississippi ranked No. 1 when evaluating how much its residents gave to charity compared to how much they earn. At No. 2 was Arkansas, ranking 47th in income but fifth in giving. Rounding out the top 10 were South Dakota, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Utah, South Carolina and Idaho.
On the other side of the spectrum, New Hampshire was once again ranked last on the index, with Rhode Island next to last. Rounding out the rest of the “stingiest group” is Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and Michigan.
I remember reading that the top 20 states, in charitable giving, all went for George W. Bush in the 2000 election–while 15 of the 20 least generous went for Al Gore. This suggests that those in red states are more generous with their own money while those in blue states are more likely to be generous with other people’s money.
Do you see a pattern here? Areas of the country where residents are more conservative and more religious are the most generous. The areas of the country where residents are more liberal and believe strongly in the role of government, charitable giving is less. In other words, “it’s the government’s job.”
Another study shows that people with high religious involvement are twice as likely to be “very happy.” So does the link between happiness and well being lead to religious involvement or does religious involvement lead to happiness and well being. Does it matter?
I’m proud of the fact that most of the states throughout the South are part of the most generous group, my state of NC ranked 16. The “Bible Belt” states are well represented in this prestigious group despite the fact that most are below the national average on income.
The South has risen again. I know some Yankees around the country who look at this index are saying, “Those dumb southerners, don’t they know they don’t need to spend their own money for that.”
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Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.