Community Corner

Novi Ranks in Top 5 Percent Nationally in Charitable Giving

Novi residents are among some of the top givers in the country, according to national study by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Whether it's money to local synagogues or churches, food banks or animal shelters, metro Detroit residents are givers.

Those are among the findings of a six-month project released Monday by The Chronicle of Philanthropy researching "giving habits" of Americans. The research breaks down charitable giving by zip code, town, county and state and is based on a year’s worth of IRS 1040 forms from households nationwide.

Researchers did a deep dive into various avenues of giving, including whether it was for religious or secular organizations and how much of one's household income was devoted to charity. For an apples-to-apples comparison, the data collected was on the percentage of post-tax income that was donated.

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Novi ranked 646th in giving of the 11,522 towns listed, which is in the top 5 percent.

In Novi, residents gave a total of $33.2 million. The median contribution was $2,756 on a median discretionary income of $70,835. In other words, residents gave an average of approximately 3.9 percent of their income.

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Novi's high ranking might not come as a surprise when you look at all that is being done in the community.

This past year, students at raised funds for , while students at raised funds for the Novi Fire Department after a devastating local house fire.

At a combined event with Northville High School, students raised $47,000 for the American Cancer Society at in March.

The community also came together in May to at the to local people in need.

Giving as a region

Metro Detroit fell in the top 4 percent nationally, ranking 14th overall among the 366 metro areas, giving about $1.8 billion in 2008.

And at 22nd, Michigan was about in the middle of the pack of the 50 states when it comes to charitable giving, donating about 4.5 percent of income.

Across the country, Utah, Washington D.C.,  and Mississippi gave the most - 10.2 percent to 7.2 percent, respectively. The bottom three states were Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, ranging from 2.8 percent to 2.5 percent, respectively.

Among other findings:

  • Because of the current economy, charities are more strapped for cash than ever, which is fueling more charitable giving among neighbors.
  • Those who live in more conservative, or "red states",  are more generous than those in more liberal, or "blue states".
  • Middle income people give more than the wealthy, especially if the wealthy live among the wealthy.


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