The study estimates that the average annual contribution of Memphis-area households was $2,283, compared with the national average of $1,470. This estimate includes all households, those that donated to charity and those that did not.
When researchers compared only those households that made charitable contributions, Memphis-area residents ranked 43 percent higher than the national average. These gifts from Memphis-area homes were estimated at $2,899, compared with the national average of $2,031. The survey results indicated that the higher levels of giving in the Memphis area resulted primarily from contributions to faith-based institutions and giving to other organizations that may be motivated by religious beliefs.
Many donors said religious beliefs were a major motivation for their giving. Among the 63.8 percent citing religion as a major factor in their giving, the average total contribution in 2002 was $3,672, by far the largest amount for any motivation identified by the study.
“We found that religious faith played a deep role in philanthropic giving in Memphis,” said Gid Smith, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis. “It appears that the beliefs of the community can influence not only individual giving but contributions from other major sources of giving as well.”
Giving Memphis is the first report of its kind in the
United States to measure the total charitable giving in a region
from four sources (individuals, foundations, corporations and
bequests), as well as the ways the gift are distributed among
nonprofit organizations in the region. It is modeled after
Giving USA, which has been the definitive annual source on
philanthropic trends in the United States since 1955. Both reports
are published by the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy and written and
researched by the Center On Philanthropy at Indiana
University.
“The AAFRC Trust is pleased that Memphis was the
first city to become the prototype for our new initiative to provide
local strategic benchmarks to complement the national philanthropic
benchmarks provided through Giving USA. Our vision is for
all of the top metro areas to develop similar research to help
promote philanthropy. Local versions of Giving USA will
assist nonprofits in developing more effective fundraising plans
through a deeper understanding of national and local philanthropic
trends”, stated Leo Arnoult, chair of the American Association of
Fundraising Counsel’s Trust for Philanthropy and President of
Arnoult & Associates Inc., a Memphis-based fundraising
consulting firm.
Giving Memphis is intended for use by both the public and nonprofit professionals. It measures Memphis-area giving against national benchmarks and provides information about key factors that influence giving in the eight county Memphis region’s metropolitan statistical area. The area includes counties in southwest Tennessee, northwest Mississippi, and Eastern Arkansas. It also offers insights that local leaders and organizations can utilize as they plan for the future. The complete report will be available in early 2004.
Total contributions generated in the Memphis region in 2002 by Memphis-area households, estates, corporations and foundations reached an estimated $1.39 billion. Approximately 79.1 percent of that total, or $1.1 billion, stayed in the area supporting charities and religious organizations in the Memphis metropolitan area.
According to Arnoult, "Three factors in particular—high levels of household giving, contributions to religious causes, and generosity among 18 to 40 year olds—distinguish giving in the Memphis area compared to the national picture."
Memphis-area donors between the ages of 18 and 40 on average gave to all causes at a level far greater than the amount given by the same age group nationally. An estimated 75.9 percent of young Memphis residents made donations, versus 51.1 percent of their national peers.
Sixty percent of Memphis households gave to religion in 2002, compared to 45.9 percent in the rest of the nation. Their average annual contribution of $2,222 was 37 percent higher than the average gift of $1,638 to religion in the country as a whole.
When giving from all sources is combined, religious organizations received the largest share of total charitable donations made by Memphis-area donors and institutions, garnering 45.9 percent of all donations. That amount is significantly higher than the 35 percent of total contributions given to religious causes nationally. Human services programs and programs for public or societal benefit (such as neighborhood and economic development activities, the United Way or the Memphis Jewish Federation) also received a higher share of all giving in the Memphis region than in the U.S. overall during 2002. Support for health organizations, education, the arts, international affairs, and environmental/animal organizations, however, was below national averages.
Approximately 79.5 percent of all charitable giving in the
Memphis region came from living individuals. Findings suggest that
84 percent of individual giving by Memphis-area donors stayed in the
region to support local organizations. In addition, people in the
Memphis region left at least $54.7 million to nonprofits in the area
via charitable bequests. That accounted for 5 percent of the total
charitable giving in the region from all local
sources.
Memphis-area businesses gave an estimated $113.5
million to charities throughout the U.S. during 2002 through direct
cash gifts, corporate foundation grants, and the donation of their
products or services. Approximately 60 percent of these gifts went
to charities in the region. Corporate contributions accounted for
6.2 percent of all Memphis-area giving, a higher share than the 5.1
percent of national giving that came from corporations for the same
year.
Memphis-area charitable foundations and trusts contributed an estimated $114 million in grants to charities and religious institutions in the U.S. in 2002. While per capita independent and community foundation assets in the Memphis area were 41 percent lower than foundation assets per capita nationally in 2002, per capita grant making in Memphis was at the national level. Grant making in Memphis averaged $95 per capita, while nationally, foundations granted an average of $94.22 per capita. This is explained by the fact that many Memphis-area foundations make grants from new gifts received in a recent year or use their principal, rather than relying on investment earnings for their grant making budgets.
Note to Editors: Graphs and charts showing both sources and recipients of Memphis giving, as well as comparisons of Memphis and national giving are available upon request.
Book ordering information: Contact The Grant Center in Memphis by calling (901) 684-6605 or visiting http://www.grantcenter.org/publications.htm.
National averages are from national studies of giving conducted by the Center On Philanthropy at Indiana University using the same methods used in Giving Memphis, and from Giving USA.
The Giving Memphis Steering Committee is composed of local leaders of the philanthropic community and officers of the Memphis chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Grant Center, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, Arnoult & Associates Inc., and the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Major funding sponsors included: Assisi Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, FedEx Corporation, Hope Christian Community Foundation, LHS, Inc., Maddox Foundation/Northwest Mississippi Community Foundation, Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce, Plough Foundation, and United Way of the Mid-South. Additional contributors include: Arnoult & Associates Inc., Association of Fundraising Professionals-Memphis Chapter, The Grant Center, Hyde Foundation, and Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis.
The AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy has published Giving USA, The Annual Report on Philanthropy every year since 1955. It was established by the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, an association of 40 premiere consulting firms dedicated to advancing professional and ethical standards in philanthropic fundraising consulting and to promote philanthropy in general.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University is a leading academic center dedicated to increasing the understanding of philanthropy and improving its practice through research, teaching, public service and public affairs programs in philanthropy, fundraising, and management of nonprofit organizations.