Nassau County is in possession of some high-dollar giving spirit, according to a new study of American charitable giving by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Local residents reported giving more than $1.3 billion on their annual tax returns, according to the study – over 10 percent of the charitable donations catalogued in the entire New York metropolitan area.
By comparison, some major cities including Las Vegas and Kansas City failed to match Nassau’s total giving. The county’s total giving made it the 11th biggest donor among all counties in the United States for middle- and upper-class households measured by the study.
Nassau County’s generosity was in the middle of the road by other metrics.
Residents included in the study gave an average of 4.4 percent of their discretionary income, compared to 4.7 percent nationally. That’s consistent with the Chronicle’s finding that residents of high income areas tended to give a lower proportion of their earnings to charity.
Some local areas, however, beat those odds.
Residents of Great Neck, who according to the study were in the top 4 percent of discretionary income levels among towns nationwide, gave 6 percent of their income to charity. Williston Park was not quite as philanthropic; residents gave 3.8 percent of their nearly $70,000 in median discretionary income.
Chronicle database reporter Emily Gipple offered a possible explanation for Great Neck’s above-average giving: a culture of philanthropy that can develop between wealthy donors and their communities.
“Donors often give more when they feel more connected to and rooted in their community,” wrote Gipple in an e-mail. “Also, it seems that, at a certain level of income and lifestyle, philanthropy becomes a regular part of social life.”
Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Dan Petruccio took the study’s findings as a point of pride and as confirmation of the area’s giving nature.
“Long Island residents have always been generous with their time, talents and treasures,” wrote Petruccio in an e-mail interview. “We have strong faith-based and civic organizations which afford us a wide range of options when it comes to charitable work.”
New Hyde Park and its surrounding locales are major sources of Nassau County’s philanthropic funding. The village’s 11040 zip code, which includes nearby hamlets and unincorporated areas, gave $31.8 million, according to the study. Great Neck contributed $21.2 million
The analysis, using IRS data, also counts all donations to religious organizations as charity. The Chronicle estimates that religious giving makes up one-third to two-thirds of all philanthropy in the United States.
One local charity, the St. Aloysius Interfaith Food Pantry in Great Neck, is an example of such faith-based giving.
“We depend on the generosity of our parishioners and the Great Neck community,” said an official with the group. “Everybody is very generous to us.”
The Chronicle based its analysis on federal tax returns, allowing comparisons across local and state borders; however, their methodology also came with limitations. The study only reflects donations reported as deductions to the IRS, meaning that any off-the-books giving is not counted.
The Chronicle also only included itemized tax filings for incomes over $50,000, meaning that the giving of lower income Americans is also absent from the results.
“That’s one of the unique aspects of our study – we do not claim to present data on giving for the population as a whole, but rather those we can measure through tax returns,” wrote Gipple. “This has given us a unique window on how the middle class and wealthy give.”
