Quality of Life Indicators

philanthropy and volunteerism data

volunteer hours -- updated 6/28/10
charitable giving -- updated 7/1/10

volunteer hours -- updated 6/28/10

According to the 2010 “Volunteering in America” report by the Corporation for National & Community Service, Nevada continued to rank last among states with the lowest volunteer rate in 2007-2009, whether older adults, baby boomers, young adults, or college students; Utah ranked first at 44.2%, 6.4 percentage points about second ranking Iowa.  Nationally, over one-third of volunteers focus their efforts on religious activities.  Although individual year statistics are not yet available for mid-sized cities such as Reno, the average volunteer 2007-2009 rate was 25.9, compared to only 17.5 for Las Vegas.  The good news for the Truckee Meadows area:  average volunteer hours per resident 2007-2009 for Reno was 45.2, compared to only 23.3 for Las Vegas, and nationally 34.4.  The main volunteer activity in Reno 2007-2009 was fundraising at 22.6%.

Tracking community volunteerism is a challenging task as thousands of local residents regularly volunteer their time and effort to all sorts of organizations — nonprofits, faith-based, educational institutions, and human services organizations. 

In TMT’s December 2007 community survey of Washoe County residents, 50.8% responded that they volunteered for a nonprofit organization in the past year vs. 47.6% who had not volunteered.  Of those volunteering, 18.6% reported volunteering 11 or more hours in the past year; 11.8% volunteered 5-10 hours; and 17.2% volunteered 1-4 hours.

charitable giving -- updated 7/1/10

Since local charitable giving data is limited, here’s a look at national and state giving data.  According to research by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College and published by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, individual charitable giving in inflation adjusted dollars declined 6.1% from 2007 to 2008, and declined 4.6% between 2008 and 2009

The Giving USA reports published by the Giving USA Foundation cited a 4.2% increase in 2006 US charitable giving; 3.9% increase in 2007 (attributable to market investment increases in the first half of 2007); and 2% decrease in 2008 (75% from individuals; 35% to religious organizations).  Their “spotlight” issue, February 2, 2008, reported that individual giving is mostly to religious organizations.  The Foundation Center’s “Highlights of Foundation Giving Trends,” February 2009 reported the following giving:  independent foundations primarily to health, environmental, international affairs, science, and social science organizations; corporate foundations to public affairs/society benefit; and community foundations to education, human services, arts and culture, and religion.

The Catalogue for Philanthropy calculated the annual Generosity Index-GI (1995 - 2004) using IRS data. In 2004, the most recent year for which GI data were available, Nevada surpassed the national average itemized charitable contribution of $4,012, and increased charitable giving as a percentage of income. The Center for Wealth & Philanthropy also calculated comparative 2004 rankings and found Nevada ranked 16th in giving relative to income, with 0.9% share of US charitable contributions.  However, according to Catalogue for Philanthropy, personal donations supply 85% of the private dollars contributed to charities--15% from charitable bequests, and about 70% from annual giving.  Consequently, the reduction in foundation giving due to recent endowment investment losses, may have less impact than otherwise expected.

The Catalogue for Philanthropy now calculates an Opportunity Index-OI, beginning with 2005 data, looking at high-income states and giving according to state ranks.  The new index looks at philanthropy from the perspective of whether those in the highest income groups (over $500,000) utilize their opportunity to give more.  Nevada’s average itemized charitable contribution on the OI in 2005 ($39,893) ranked 6th in the nation, but the average adjusted gross income ($873,153) ranked the 2nd highest, which implies that Nevadan’s with high incomes can give more (Nevada’s percentage of itemization of charitable contributions is only 79% for 2005).

According to The Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, in 2006, Nevada ranked 31st nationally (dropping from 13th in 2005) in terms of average charitable contributions per return with itemized contributions.  The NCCS uses IRS itemized contributions, most but not all contributions.  According to the 2007 Guidestar Nonprofit Economic Survey, 2007 contributions nationwide are similar to 2006, and are stable.

Washoe County average itemized contributions were $3,324 in comparison to $2,785 for Nevada in 1997, the most recent county-level data available by the National Center for Charitable Statistics.  National Center for Charitable Statistics

In TMT’s December 2007 community survey of Washoe County residents, 12.8% responded that they did not donate to nonprofit organizations, however, 50.2% donated to 1-4 nonprofits, 20.4% donated to 5-10, and 8.8% donated to 11 or more nonprofits, and 28.6% donated to local nonprofits.