Birmingham Named As Most Generous City

By Bettina Boateng

Published: July 6, 2008

According to a study conducted by a New Mexico based organization, Birmingham tops the list as being the most generous city when compared to sixty others cities in the United States

A new study by the Tijeras Foundation, an organization aimed at helping churches with financial management; found that people who live in the Birmingham Metro area gave 3.6 percent of their house-hold income to charity.
Local organizations like the United Way of Central Alabama tells NBC 13 HD News that they can agree with the report since 75 percent of their donations come from individuals in the area.

“It was not surprising to us to see a study that says Birmingham ranks so highly in charitable giving.  Here at United Way we have felt that for a long time. In fact when we look at those who give to us…people in the Birmingham area are number one,” United Way of Central Alabama President Drew Langloh.

Memphis followed Birmingham in the number two spot with 3.4 percent of household income given to charity; while Columbia, South Carolina ranked third with 3.2 percent.

The study named a number of factors to why folks give, among the factors, communities with strong faith based association and involvement was listed as the number one reason to why people typically gave more to those in need.