Study details the geography of charitable giving; interactive website lets you look it up by ZIP code

A careful look at charitable giving has shown that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people do. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich. That's according to a new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which breaks charitable giving down by ZIP code. Pam Fessler of NPR reports that the study found that generosity varies greatly from one region of the country to another.

Sample screenshot from interactive website shows giving rates for counties in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas.

You can explore the giving in your own state, city and neighborhood at the interactive site, by clicking here.

The study found that households with annual incomes of $50,000 to $75,000 donate, on average, 7.6 percent of their discretionary income, writes Fessler. "That's compared with about 4 percent for those with incomes of $200,000 or more. Peter Panepento, the Chronicle's assistant managing editor, says religious giving, which makes up the bulk of U.S. donations, is a major factor. 'States like Utah and Alabama and Mississippi all end up very high on our list,' he says. 'And states where [there's] more of a secular mindset, particularly in New England and all along the coast, tended to show up lower on the list.'

"High-income people who live in economically diverse neighborhoods give more on average than high-income people who live in wealthier neighborhoods. Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, says that's consistent with what he's found in years of research on income and giving. 'The more wealth you have, the more focused on your own self and your own needs you become, and the less attuned to the needs of other people you also become,' he says. 'Simply reminding wealthy people of the diversity of needs that are out there is going to go a long way toward restoring the empathy or compassion deficit that we otherwise see,' Piff says." (Read more)

The Box Project celebrates its 50th year of personal outreach to those in rural poverty all across the U.S.

Marilyn Kriegl of San Francisco, right,
and Willie Mae Bush of Mississippi,
paired through Box Project (BP photo)

The Box Project, a grass-roots program of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, still holds promise for relieving rural poverty as it marks its 50th year. The project, writes Henry Bailey of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, was "designed to link needy families in the Delta and other areas with sponsors across the country." Originally focused on the Mississippi Delta, and based in Hernando, Miss., the Box Project has expanded its outreach efforts to include rural areas in Maine, Appalachia including West Virginia, Kentucky and the Native American reservations of South Dakota.

An example of its work: Tim Holston grew up among the dirt roads around Itta Bena, Miss., and faced bleak prospects. But as a youth, he received the first two books he ever owned from his Box Project sponsor, Marcia Cook of Concord, Mass. -- and now he's completing a doctorate in computer science. His sister has already graduated.

The Box Project began with an airline conversation, and in the living room of a woman from New Hampshire. On a 1962 flight, Virginia Naeve met Coretta Scott King, the wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Bailey writes, "The conversation turned to conditions in rural Mississippi and what might be done to help families in the Mississippi Delta, one of the worst areas of rural poverty in America. 'Mrs. King gave Virginia the name of a specific family she knew needed help,' Tom Pittman, president of the Community Foundation, said. 'Virginia returned home and began writing letters and sending boxes of clothing, food and supplies that the family desperately needed.' Soon, neighbors heard of her actions and were giving her boxes to send to Mississippi too. Other families in poverty were added to the mailing list, and things kept growing until Naeve got the simple idea of matching up sponsor families directly, and the Box Project was launched. Since that modest start, it's grown to a network that has directly helped more than 15,000 recipient families." (Read more)