You know what they say about stats. Still, this report caught my attention. I don't have a stake in which country gives the most, America or Canada. It's just good news that people are charitable. But it's surprising to hear a local news flash announcing that "Utah is more generous than Canada!" Right away I wondered whether these figures include tithes to the Mormon Church. That would definitely skew the stats (at least for me, as I do not consider that donating to a religious organization is "charitable" on the face of it. It depends what is done with the money).

Two articles about it and excerpts from each:

MacLeans Magazine:

“Charities would receive an extra $8 billion a year if Canadian taxpayers donated as much as their American neighbours, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute. It found that Americans give about 1.38 per cent of their income to charities, while Canadians donate only half that, about 0.73 per cent. Manitoba is the most generous province, with its residents giving an average of 0.94 per cent of their incomes, while residents of Utah, the most generous American state, gave away a full 3.2 per cent of their annual wealth.”

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/12/20/u-s-is-more-charitable-than-canada-report/


Fraser Institute:

“In comparing Canada and the United States on a national basis, monetary generosity in the U.S. far surpasses that of Canada with 30.6 per cent of U.S tax filers donating to charity compared to 25.1 per cent of Canadian tax filers and 22.5 per cent of Quebec tax filers.

“Canada makes its poorest showing in terms of the average value of charitable donations in local currency. The average U.S. donation was $4,388 US, almost four times more than the average donation in Canada ($1,345 Cdn.). Top-ranked Wyoming recorded an average charitable donation of $10,066 US, more than five times the average in Alberta ($1,836 Cdn.), Canada's top-ranked province. Even in Rhode Island, the lowest ranked U.S. state, the average donation ($2,594 US) is nearly $750 more than the average donation in Alberta. These differences are more pronounced when currency differences are taken into account.”

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/news/display.aspx?id=12636



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2010 04:34PM by Nightingale.

A few years ago, my mom insisted there were more Katrina refugees in Utah than anywhere else, because the people there are so generous. She'd be validated by this.

If the stats include tithing it's easy to see that Utah would come out looking good.

Coincidentally, there are threads here and elsewhere lately discussing how lacking in charity, relatively speaking, the Mormon Church is (as measured by percentage of giving in comparison to total donations) and that often they concentrate on helping Mormons and not so much the community at large. To me, that isn't "charity" in the accepted sense.

Just what I suspected - skewed stats and faulty conclusions.

My guess would be that fewer Canadians tithe(?). Therefore, actual charitable donations could line up with the generous spirit I observe, especially at this cold, wet, snowy, holiday time of year when there is daily media coverage of poverty issues and many special events and business/office/private collections of money, toys and goods to donate to those living in poverty amongst us and the agencies that support them.

Compare that to giving to a church organization that uses donations to fund commercial endeavours.

As I said, not my definition of charity.

Just to set the record straight. The Mormon church donated massivly to 58 different countries last year alone. This included millions of dollars worth of food, clothing, medical supplies and of course cold hard cash to Haiti, Chili, and Pakistan. None of these places are even close to being predominately Mormon. Charity is charity. The only difference is that the Mormons are very organized about it. Don't be a hater.

Although I'd guess that most morg members like to believe complimentary gossip about their cult.

If you look at the statistics, Mormon charity is insignificant. There is a LOT of patting themselves on the back and examining their own naval, but between 1984 and 1996 they gave an average of 2.1 million dollars per year per their numbers. How much was that per member?

funny how tithing never bothered me until well after my testimony collapsed...
...but now I see it as a BIG drain.
SAHM DW still pays on my income (single income household), and I tentatively pretend to ignore it, but it get's REALLY hard to keep quiet when she complains about money (I make 90k, and honestly me as a HS dropout NEVER promised her the moon). Yes, she complains about money, yet pays 10% of GROSS to the church! Then, as you'll see TBMs do, she pays like $20 for a fast offering...mm hmm...month after month after month.
Do we give to any other charities? Are you kidding?
OK, I gave $20 to Wikipedia, and I signed up for the Combined Federal Campaign, a whopping $10 per month...compared to fully $600 per month to the church! They're fleecing us like a freakin'...sheep.

So, sorry, Mormon tithing doesn't count, because it actually drains money from the charity pool.

We were rarely able to donate to charities when we were full-tithe payers. There just wasn't enough money left over.

Now it is true that we could claim our 5K as a charitable donation, but since Tithing technically is used for the church operating fund, it isn't really charity. It's a membership fee.

As non tithepayers, we do get to and find greater joy in donating to our local foodbank, the soup kitchens and whatever seems worthwhile at the moment. Anyone who can build dozens of temples, buy up lots of land and build a multibillion shopping plaza without a second thought can't possibly need it as badly as those who care for the poor and the needy.

Dude, seriously, if that is the way you feel about tithing then don't pay it. How can you say any organization is fleecing you over a completely voluntary donation? It's not like they are the mob that will come knocking on your door if you don't pay up. The law of Tithing is based on a biblical teaching. If you don't believe it, then don't pay it.

"dude",
I'm paying tithing to placate my wife.
She believes the church...and the bible...are true, which they are not. She believes that if we mess up our temple covenant, then God will separate us from each other...forever. That's worse than any hellfire and brimstone damnation. No tithing...no temple. No temple, no family. THAT'S the extortion of it.

BTW...I turned in my temple recommend.

I suspect that a lot of charities in the US provide services that in Canada are provided by the government (healthcare being a biggie). There is a more of a social safety net in Canada - we donate via our higher taxes.

For those in the know:

3.2% Utah Charities = 10% Required Tithing to LDS Corp = Real Estate Investments

As a professional fundraiser, these statistics came out every year and Utah's charitable giving (and it is based on tax returns) skews mightily to religious giving. It's an anomaly that we would all remove to find out where our states compared.

As for the US/Canada comparison on charitable giving, there really isn't one. Canada has much more comprehensive government programs, not just in health care but in social services as well and therefore doesn't give as much away in tax breaks for charitable giving as the US. Many studies have shown that, while non-profit charitable programs thrive in the US, it is because many of those needs are not met adequately by the government, which has chosen over the country's history to "allow" the US citizenry to take care of what they see fit in a manner that doesn't meet up to other developed countries' standards of government assistance. Such is philanthropy, often.

I've lived in countries with regulated and/or government health insurance programs, government -supported and -run arts organizations, comprehensive national social welfare programs. Yeah. Our taxes were higher, but man, those countries had a better standard of living, better schools, healthier people, and they seemed to think America was nuts. I don't think America is nuts, but there have been wheels invented out there that work well and from which we could learn much.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2010 07:24PM by Jenny.

So I was just bouncing around the MSN homepage and found an article that listed the top 100 most charitable cities in the US. No cities in Utah even made the list. My city is in the top ten, and surrounding cities in my state occupy several spots on the list. Go figure.

http://money.bundle.com/article/slideshow-charitable-cities/12

I seem to remember some studies that indicated that nearly 50% of the donations to charity were contributions to churches. [American Association of Fundraising Councils?]

And that if you break down the amount of money contributed in the U.S. to churches by sect, the LDS contributed on average about 5% of their income compared to 3% for Jehovah's Witnesses, and 2% for most Protestants and Catholics.

I'm looking for the source for these numbers.

I'm sorry for contributing this but I thought it was interesting and provides perspective. Charitable contributions by religious denominations from July 1994 to 2009

Catholic: 90.64%

Baptist: 5.01%

Buddhist: 3.57%

Episcopal: 0.50%

Non-Denominational: 0.19%

Seventh-day Adventist: 0.10%

Mormons not listed.

Site is "Matt Brundage" click on the religion link. I do not know where he got these figures. But I found it interesting and related to the topic.

Catholics are listed at 90.64%. Could it be 9.64 instead? :)

Thanks for the numbers, Ken. (Don't be sorry - your input is welcome!)

I just wanted to set the record straight -- those charitable contribution numbers are solely what I have donated over the years to various religious denominations.

http://mattbrundage.com/2009/10/18/charitable-contributions-by-religious-denomination/

So who cares. Besides, "charitable" merely means that more Utahns give to a charity, and TSCC is that "charity."

If serving a mission is called "humanitarian aid and service" on an RM's resume, I have no trouble believing that tithing is standing in for "charitable donations" as reported by the LDS church.

It says that you donated to charity. And yes you did- technically.

Not out of concern or charitable feelings, but out of obedience and out of fear.

Without those charitable donations we would not be able to attend the temple and thus unable to save our ancestors, and since our salvation is found in their salvation, we could very well lose our eternal families. Not to mention being burned at the last coming.

In truth, the only charitable donations are those made to the Fast Offerings and to the Humanitarian Aid funds. The rest is membership dues.

So let's say that like many people you were paying about 4000 a year in tithing, if you paid the usual 20 for Fast Offerings once a month- your true charitable donation for the year is 240 dollars.

And like it says in the report that the church files in the UK where reporting is mandatory, these charitable contributions (tithes) are used for providing free educational materials to the members.

Its charitable mission is to spread the gospel.

I am an accountant and checked into this several years ago. This is based on the IRS records of allowable deductions for charitable contributions, which does include contributions to religious organizations.

Being conned into tithing is hardly charity. If you don't tithe then LDS Inc. withholds "sacred services" to you and you become a target for scorn.
The world would be a better place if we actually gave to charities of our choice instead of churches.