This headline analyzing Chronicle's recent report says it all: "Massachusetts Doesn’t Donate Much to Charity, Makes Up for It By Not Volunteering".
"As we noted, the Chronicle analysis only looked at Internal Revenue Service tax returns on charitable deduction, which gives a helpful but incomplete picture of generosity. What about volunteering at the soup kitchen or for Habitat for Humanity? That should count toward measuring charitable giving, right? So we reached out to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which annually completes a Volunteering and Civic Life in America study. They provided us with a state-by-state breakdown of adult volunteer rates and hours per capita spent volunteering. Sad news, Massachusetts defenders: The new data won’t help your case." -- Eric Levenson, Boston.com
