New research by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College identifies New York, Utah, California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Georgia, Massachusetts, Hawaii and South Carolina as the ten leaders in charitable giving among the 50 states. In addition, the District of Columbia was second only to New York in the new report, released this week by the Boston Foundation.

The report on charitable giving is a follow-up to a report called Generosity and Geography, which was researched by John J. Havens and Paul G. Schervish of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at BC and released by the Boston Foundation in November of 2005. That report was commissioned as part of a body of research into the prospects of future philanthropy in Greater Boston. In the process of that inquiry, the report raised serious questions about the validity of the Generosity Index, published annually by the Catalogue for Philanthropy, which purports to rank all 50 states in terms of generosity. Last year�s Boston Foundation report challenged the conclusions of the Generosity Index by eliminating what the Boston Foundation believes is its built-in bias against high-income states that makes the Generosity Index an inaccurate comparative measure of charitable giving.

The Generosity Index has received national attention every year for its ranking of states by their purported �generosity� and each year has reported that many states in New England and the Northeast are �less generous� than less wealthy states in the South.

�The investigation undertaken by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy and sponsored by the Boston Foundation questioned the Index�s methodology,� said BC's Paul Schervish. �It also quickly established that significant differences in tax burdens, the cost of living, as well as religious tradition and other elements must to be taken into consideration in order to meaningfully compare the giving of residents in one state to another.�

Schervish, director of the Center and a nationally recognized sociologist and philanthropy expert, and Havens, the Center�s Associate Director and Senior Research Associate, then went on to create a new methodology that takes into consideration each state�s cost of living and the tax burden, including changes within states that are driven by levels of urbanization�which affects cost of living at the more local level. The 2006 report released today includes all of these variables.

�The power of this report goes far beyond simply again casting serious doubt about the validity of the Generosity Index,� said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. �John Havens and Paul Schervish have made an important contribution to a new, national effort to develop valid metrics to place the whole subject of philanthropy on a more professional and credible foundation. This report provides a valuable national service in this pioneering work.�