Forgot password?
|
|
AGM
Reports on Massachusetts Charitable Giving
Giving in Massachusetts
Understanding the components and relationship of individual, foundation
and corporate giving in our state is important to the work of funders
and nonprofits alike. In May 2005, AGM published the Giving in Massachusetts
report, a compilation of data on charitable giving in the year 2002.
We invite you to read the report and contact us with any questions.
A copy of this report is available in PDF
format or at the AGM office.
Data Notes on Giving in Massachusetts
The staff of AGM developed the Giving Report from available and
widely used data sources. However, it is important to note that
there is no single, comprehensive data set encompassing all annual
charitable giving in the United States by organizations, corporations
and individuals. Information sets such as the Foundation Statistics
maintained by the Foundation Center, the IRS Master File, and lists
produced by the Boston Business Journal are vital research resources,
but are not always complete. Limitations of the data used in creating
the Giving Report include:
- The age of the data – because much of the data is drawn
from tax returns, data are usually at least a year, if not two
years, behind the current time.
- Lack of information on charitable donations by non-itemizers.
For individuals, the most comprehensive data available are drawn
from tax returns. However, many individuals make charitable contributions,
but do not itemize their returns.
- Incomplete data on foundations
- Some information on grant giving within the Foundation Center
is confined to grants of $10K or more
- Some is confined to sample of larger foundations, and there
are fewer large foundations in Massachusetts, which means
we’re possibly under-represented in the sample
- There are estimates that a significant number of charities,
including some private foundations, aren’t filing their
annual 990-returns
- Lack of information on Corporate Philanthropy and Giving Programs
- There is no legal mandate to report giving from corporate
contribution programs, unless the company has set up a separate,
private foundation
- With many Massachusetts companies having headquarters in
other states, even if there is reporting, it may not be captured
in the Massachusetts data. For example, the Boston Globe is
owned by the New York Times. The Boston Globe Foundation makes
significant contributions to the Boston area each year, however,
a portion of the Globe’s annual charitable giving is reported
in the Times’ tax-return, and therefore not included in
statistics about Massachusetts-based givers.
- Data on non-cash corporate giving has been difficult to obtain,
and indeed there is much discussion within the corporate community
about how to track and report these data.
However, despite these limitations on the data, we believe the
Giving Report provides a valuable snapshot of the charitable giving
landscape in Massachusetts – providing us a starting point
for discussion and work as we increase giving and the quality of
life in our state.
Understanding the Giving Landscape (A
report by Professor Ross Gittell, Ph.D, and Edinaldo Tebaldi, Whittemore
School of Business, University of New Hampshire, 2004.)
Individual charitable giving is tremendously important to the health
and vitality of our communities and citizens. Annually individuals
and households contribute billions of dollars to charitable causes.
Various national indices such as the Generosity
Index have noted that there appear to be distinct state-specific
patterns to giving – some states being more "generous"
than others – based on measures that compare average per capita
income against charitable donations. However, there has been, to
date, relatively little research attempting to explain the variations
in giving between states.
In 2004, New Ventures in Philanthropy commissioned The University
of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business to undertake a rigorous
analysis of IRS data and other key national data sets to look at
these differences. A report of specific state analysis was made
available to each regional association of grant makers. The summary
report on Massachusetts, requested by AGM, includes comparisons
to four other states of similar income levels. Their research, presented
below, identified how state economic and social context can influence
giving. They identified seven factors that tend to positively influence
giving, and three factors that appear to negatively influence giving.
Please note that this report does not attempt to explain individual
giving behaviors. Rather, it looks at an entire state in comparison
with other states.
Click here to download a PDF
of Understanding the Giving Landscape-Massachusetts.
Data Notes on Understanding the Giving Landscape
The University of New Hampshire undertook a rigorous analysis of
data around individual giving and state-to-state comparisons of
giving. In the course of doing so, a number of variables were tested
using the statistical analysis approach known as Ordinary Least
Squares (OLS). The best model specification explained 92 percent
of the variation in average giving across the 50 states (as measured
by adjusted R-squared). The variables described in the Report available
on our website are those with the highest explanatory power. These
variables include personal income, volunteerism rates, education
(percent of adults with a graduate degree) and the percentage of
baby boomer populations (ages 35-54).
- Among the variables that were tested via OLS, but discarded
as having lower explanatory powers were:
- Tax burden (taxes as a percentage of income)
- Housing costs
- Percent of population living in the same county for the last
5 years
- Percent of population below the Poverty Threshold
- Percent US native born
- Wages
|