OKC not that charitable...

[circuitboard]

We were 94 out of 100. I see San Francisco and Atlanta was high on the list, those darn Minorities and Liberals gave more to charity! We need to step up our game.

Oklahoma City, OK: Men's Health.com

[Platemaker]

Interesting... I remember not long ago OKC being ranked high in charitable donations. According to this article San Fransisco was near the bottom of the least as late as 2007.
Charity Navigator - America's Most Charitable Cities

[circuitboard]

Interesting... I remember not long ago OKC being ranked high in charitable donations. According to this article San Fransisco was near the bottom of the least as late as 2007.
Charity Navigator - America's Most Charitable Cities

Yeah the lists, I have seen have been all over the place. So not really sure what is accurate. I am just being a goof. =)

[mugofbeer]

IMO its pretty easy to figure out differences in ranking. If its done on pure dollars donated, OKC would be down the list because of our general level of wealth. OKC's overall wealth and numbers of millionaires is a drop in the bucket compared with Dallas or even Denver. If its done on a per-capita basis, I can see OKC being high with our relatively low income levels and extremely high number of churches.

[circuitboard]

IMO its pretty easy to figure out differences in ranking. If its done on pure dollars donated, OKC would be down the list because of our general level of wealth. OKC's overall wealth and numbers of millionaires is a drop in the bucket compared with Dallas or even Denver. If its done on a per-capita basis, I can see OKC being high with our relatively low income levels and extremely high number of churches.

Very true.

[dismayed]

It's not based on that. Click next and the two cities after us are Los Angeles and New York. I'm browsing around trying to find their methodology now.

[dismayed]

Okay, it says that the criteria was:

1. Online giving from each state in December as tracked by Convio, apparently a transaction software provider for non-profits;

2. Number of donations given to Goodwill during the month of December from each state;

3. Amount collected over the holiday season from the Salvation Army's Red Kettle program from each state;

4. Donations to Toys for Tots from each state over the holiday period.

[Midtowner]

Ouch.. leave churches and chuch-supported programs out of the mix and no wonder we suffer in the rankings.

It would almost seem the study was engineered to prove a correlation between secularism and charitable giving.

[Spartan]

Retarded. And insulting. There are numerous other lists that show OKC is one of the top charitable cities in the nation.

[Fishstick1979]

Yeah, not including churches is misleading.

[okiedokiegames]

well, this list is certainly crap. Basing this on amounts given to three specific charities? Bah! Useless!

[LordGerald]

well, this list is certainly crap. Basing this on amounts given to three specific charities? Bah! Useless!

It depends on the definition of "charity." I know for a fact that Oklahomans rank among the highest in the nation in volunteering, and that is measured by hours. Volunteering is a different form of charity and should be given some weight in methodology.

[mugofbeer]

I would have to think there is some macro number available from the IRS or the census bureau showing how much was deducted from income tax returns as charitable donations. It would be far more accurate than the numbers given above. To leave out church donations is silly and makes for a totally inaccurate number.

[circuitboard]

I would have to think there is some macro number available from the IRS or the census bureau showing how much was deducted from income tax returns as charitable donations. It would be far more accurate than the numbers given above. To leave out church donations is silly and makes for a totally inaccurate number.

Yeah not counting church donations is silly. Tax returns, that is a good way to see as you said.

[circled9]

i have been an unpaid bellringer for the past three years and noticed that there was much more giving this year. i have also been involved in food drives for several years and noticed that poorer neighborhoods give more than higher income neighborhoods.
of course, high income types may choose to simply donate a check to the regional food bank. as some have suggested, charitable giving is hard to define but these are some personal observations.

[Spartan]

It depends on the definition of "charity." I know for a fact that Oklahomans rank among the highest in the nation in volunteering, and that is measured by hours. Volunteering is a different form of charity and should be given some weight in methodology.

Oklahoma City Profile - Volunteering in America

(that's a .gov source)

[LordGerald]

Oklahoma City Profile - Volunteering in America

(that's a .gov source)

Very nice. Thanks for the link. I volunteer for UWOKC, and this is what I've always heard, but it's nice to see it in graphical form. Thanks again. LG

[bluedogok]

I know that Austin usually comes in pretty low on the "money lists" but fairly high on the "volunteering lists", there was a news story a few months back about that and they gave some of the possible reasons why.

I just think different cities have different focus areas and whatever "list" you want to create can be manipulated by including/excluding data....just like with pretty much all "statistical" data. If you want to make one that makes communities with a large amount of church giving score high, then you include/exclude the data to support how you want the list to score. That is why about 99.99% of these lists are absolutely worthless. Give me the raw data and I could probably come up with a 100 different list combinations and most wouldn't look the same, it is basic statistical analysis.