Taking our charity to a new level

When you’re in the Maine charity business, you’re always looking for indications that people here are generous with their hard-earned money.

That’s why Janet Henry, the president of the Maine Philanthropy Center in Portland, derives at least a little satisfaction from the latest “generosity index” released by the Ellis L. Phillips Foundation, a Boston-based organization that tracks national patterns of giving based on charitable deductions gleaned from itemized tax returns. This year, Maine ranks 32nd in the country overall for the amount of money its people give to charity in relation to how much they earn. While most people might not see that paltry ranking as a reason to celebrate, Henry is quick to point out that Maine was ranked 33 last year.

“So, yes, we still have a long way to go, but at least we’re not losing ground and we’ve even inched up a bit,” Henry said Monday. “That’s hopeful.”

She also takes some comfort in the fact that the level of Maine’s charitable giving is second only to Vermont among states in New England, a region consistently regarded as one of the nation’s most tightfisted. Connecticut and Massachusetts rank first and second nationally in per capita income, for instance, and yet both rank below Maine in the amount those populations give to charity in relation to how much they earn. New Hampshire, the sixth-wealthiest state per capita but only 45th in charitable contributions, came in last place.

“What we are most glad to see, though, is the increase in charitable giving among those people in Maine with incomes of $200,000 or more,” she said. “Last year, that group was ranked 36th nationally. This year, however, that same group jumped to 20th nationally. So we’ve made a real climb that’s worth mentioning. It means that we’ve gotten closer to the national average of $21,500 in contributions for people in that income level, and that needs to be continued and promoted.”

Because the index is based on tax returns from 2000, Henry said the increases in giving among Maine’s wealthiest residents might be due largely to the stronger economy of two years ago. What is much harder to quantify, she said, is whether the generosity that Mainers exhibited just after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will manifest itself in new, more generous traditions of giving among the younger generations.

“At this point, we can only hope that what the country went through and is still going through will create new patterns, new ways of thinking about charitable giving here at home,” she said. “We probably won’t know for some time what effects September 11 will have in that regard, but we do know that people who grow up with established traditions of giving are more likely to maintain those attitudes through their lives.”

Southerners, she said, have always led the nation in how much of their earnings they give away. The relatively poor Bible Belt states of Mississippi and Arkansas, for example, have finished first and second nationally in five of the last six annual surveys.

“In the Southern states, that spirit of giving has always been reinforced through families,” she said. “It’s instilled in people early on, through the tradition of church tithing and in giving to charitable organizations in general. It’s embedded in the belief systems that people grow up with. If the generosity index does nothing else, it can help remind us in Maine and New England about the role of giving and its importance to our own communities.”