Louisiana Is One of the Least Charitable States

In 2023 the United States of America donated over $560 billion to charity, but not all states are equal in how much they give.

• In 2023, 67% of all money donated to charity in the U.S. was given by individuals.
• Americans donated 4.1 billion hours of volunteer work in 2023.
• A new study analyzes which states have the highest and lowest charity engagement.

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Charitable Chartings

WalletHub's new study, Most Charitable States, analyzed statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, I.R.S., GreatNonprofits, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other charity groups to accurately determine which states have the most charity engagement.

Charity engagement was measured as volunteering and monetary donations to charitable organizations. Each state was scored and weighed on specific statistics like volunteer rate, share of population fundraising for charity, and share of gross income donated.

Louisiana Among Least Charitable

Louisiana is ranked by the study as the 6th least charitable state in America. The study further breaks down each state's rank to a rank for volunteering and one for charitable giving. Louisiana ranked 6th lowest for charitable giving and 9th lowest for volunteering and service.

Among the least charitable states, in order from most to least, are Mississippi, Rhode Island, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.

How to Give

While some states perform much better than others there are many factors in why charitable donations and volunteering might be hard to find in other places. Many are likely to be skeptical of giving their money to charity, especially after scandals have rocked the charity world.

Bob Spires, Associate Professor at the University of Richmond explains that "we have seen several high-profile cases of political figures and wealthy individuals using charities for personal gain or nefarious purposes."

For those who want to make a change in their community and donate either time or money to charity, some experts advise on how to choose the right charity. Kirsten Gronbjerg of Indiana Univerisity Bloomington offers the advice, "Stay away from simple measures of “overhead” and/or “fundraising” expenses. Those ratios are largely meaningless and penalize nonprofits that make the appropriate and necessary investments in their staff and administrative infrastructure. Look for nonprofits that work on an issue you are concerned about and explore their programs, or work with nonprofit intermediaries that know nonprofits doing work on your issues or in your community, such as United Way organizations or community foundations."