Some New Englanders, of course, don't like the result, so they have concocted their own measures of charitableness. But the Catalogue's method strikes me as right. And what does it tell us? This:"We believe that generosity is a function of how much one gives to the ability one has to give," said Martin Cohn, a spokesman for the Catalogue for Philanthropy, a Boston-based nonprofit that publishes a directory of nonprofit organizations.
Using that standard, the 10 most generous states were, in descending order, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, South Carolina and West Virginia.
The 10 stingiest, starting from the bottom, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and Michigan.
Most Generous States (ranked from most-to-less generous; percentage of popular vote for Bush in 2004 in parentheses)
Mississippi (60%)Least Generous States (ranked from least-to-more generous; percentage of popular vote for Bush in 2004 in parentheses)
Arkansas (54%)
South Dakota (60%)
Oklahoma (66%)
Tennessee (57%)
Alabama (63%)
Louisiana (57%)
Utah (71%)
South Carolina (58%)
West Virginia (56%)
New Hampshire (49%)So much for those mean-spirited, Bible-thumping Republicans.
Massachusetts (37%)
New Jersey (46%)
Rhode Island (39%)
Wisconsin (49%)
Connecticut (44%)
Minnesota (48%)
Colorado (53%)
Hawaii (45%)
Michigan (48%)
