Donors in metropolitan areas throughout the United States differed in where they tended to focus their support, often reacting to local issues and developments, according to a new report by Fidelity Charitable Giving. The country’s largest grantmaker surveyed philanthropic trends and habits of donors throughout 30 American cities.
Organizations supporting human services saw a boost compared with prior years, as donors from North Carolina to California responded to a slew of natural disasters, including hurricanes and wildfires. The diverse challenges different metro areas face mean donors had different areas of interest in where they directed support, according to Nabil Ashour, Fidelity Charitable’s director of communications.
“At the national level, you’ll see some shifts from year to year where money goes,” he said. “But where you begin to see trends become a bit more apparent is when you take a granular look, on a city-to-city level.”
Human services organizations received the most assistance, with 56% of donors sending support (the report defined human services organizations as “charities such as food banks, homeless shelters and youth programs”). Organizations supporting education and religion (such as churches, synagogues or mosques) followed slightly behind, at 54% and 52%, respectively.
Of the eight categories, organizations working on the environment and animals received the least amount of support from givers, at 25%, while organizations dealing with “international affairs received slightly more support, at 28% (these charities included organizations supporting “international development, relief and human rights organizations.”) The report looks at the percentage of local giving accounts that donated to each sector in each metropolitan area to determine the rankings.
Here are the eight sectors singled out in the report, along with the top metropolitan area that gave the most in each sector.