The findings from Patterns of Generosity in America, a recent Twentieth Century Fund study, shows how far- fetched it is to expect that charities can fill the gaps left by the less generous state and local governments. Overall, donations to charities are a meager 2 percent of personal income, despite the fact that contributions are tax deductible. And, contributions have remained at that level for two decades, whether the economy was in boom or recession. With our communities increasingly becoming segregated by income level and most charities doing their work closest to home, little of what is raised crosses over community or ethnic lines except in cases of temporary disasters. It also is true that contribution levels do not correlate with the affluence of a community or the depth of distress there.
Some communities are, for whatever reasons, generous.
They raise much more for the United Way, Jewish Federation, and Catholic Charities for local services than do others. Cities in Ohio, for example, are twice as generous as cities in Texas in their contributions per employee to the United Way. The typical beneficiaries of most are community churches and synagogues, YMCAs and related organizations, museums, public radio and television, universities, and parochial schools. In short, donors tend to give to charities for services the donors themselves use, and not to sustain safety nets. Those charitable agencies that do provide assistance to the economically needy and the handicapped rely overwhelmingly, not on individual largesse, but on money from federal, state, and local government.