A strange reality
When most people think of charitable giving they have a particular image in their mind. They may think of giving some money to a poor homeless person on the side of the street, or they may think of those who have to line up for a meal at a soup kitchen. Regardless of the particular image, it is almost always an image of some of the most desperate situations. The image also almost always includes a more well off person giving to the person in need. However, statistics may very well eliminate this image.

The latest statistics on American charitable giving show that in terms of percentages, the poor actually give more money than the more well off. The U.S. bureau of labor statistics has found that the bottom 20% on the income latter give nearly twice as much on a percentage basis per year than those on the top 20% of the income latter. This can be a rather stunning fact considering that we seem to always think of the wealthy as being the ones most likely to give.

These stunning statistics can be attributed to a number of factors that should be examine. The first important thing to note is that those who are making the least income tend to have the most requests for money from friends and family. Those who are more well off are not nearly as likely to field these requests. Those on the bottom continue to give to those requests within reason for a variety of reasons. They may feel social pressure to do so, or they may simply feel sorry for the person asking. Either way, they are giving more than the wealthier.

Another vital factor to consider is the fact that these statistics on done on a percentage basis. This means that the amount of money that is given away is weighed against how much the person earns. That means that even large sums of money given away by the wealthy may not contribute to as high of a percentage rate. In some cases, a poor person giving away just a few dollars can be a large percentage.

One final reason why we might have this misconception of an image is that the wealthy are spotlighted more for their contributions than the poor. No one would care if a poor person gave another poor person 20 dollars, but if a rich person gives an organization 20 million dollars, then that is going to garner attention. With all of the attention paid on the charitable giving of the wealthy, it is no wonder we are left with believing that the wealthy are more charitable.