Lower Income Americans Dig Deeper For Charity

NEW YORK (AP) — A new report on charity finds that amid a widening income gap, the rich are giving less while poor and middle income Americans dig deeper to help favorite causes.

An extensive analysis of IRS data conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy

finds that Americans who earned $200,000 or more reduced the share of income given to charity by 4.6 percent from 2006 to 2012. Those earning less than $100,000 donated 4.5 percent more of their income.

The Chronicle is a leading source of news coverage of the nonprofit world.

According to the report, changes in giving patterns were most pronounced in major cities, where the percentage of income that residents donated dropped markedly from 2006 and 2012.

Residents of Utah are the nation's most generous. New Hampshire comes in last.

The Minneapolis/St Paul area was ranked as one of the metro regions that saw the largest decline in charitable giving.