Bay Area ranks near bottom in charitable giving, report says

Food Runners volunteer Donna Warrington collects donations from County Line Harvest at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market for delivery to a charity on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. Food Runners volunteer Donna Warrington collects donations from County Line Harvest at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market for delivery to a charity on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Bay Area ranks near bottom in charitable giving, report says 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

People in the Bay Area gave a smaller percentage of their income to charity than residents of most large cities, according to a study published Monday by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Among the nation’s largest 50 metro areas, San Francisco and San Jose metro areas ranked 45th and 48th, respectively, in 2012.

Although people in both metro areas donated more dollars to charity in 2012 than they did in 2006, as a percentage of income they both gave less.

People in the San Francisco metro area — which also includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties — gave 2.4 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity in 2012, down from 2.5 percent in 2006.

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People in San Jose, which includes Santa Clara County, donated 2.3 percent of their income, down from 2.4 percent in 2006.

That pattern mirrored the behavior of wealthy Americans nationwide.

The report, titled “The Income-Inequality Divide Hits Generosity,” highlighted its finding that “the wealthiest Americans are giving a smaller share of their income to charity, while poor and middle-income people are digging deeper into their wallets.”

The report is based on the roughly 30 percent of tax returns filed that claimed itemized deductions. Most of these returns come from higher-income people, so I’m not sure how much the poor are actually giving. Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, says that itemizers represent an estimated 85 percent of all giving.

In 2006, Americans with $200,000 or more in adjusted gross income deducted a total of $64 billion in charitable contributions, which represented 2.9 percent of their adjusted gross income.

In 2012, they contributed $77.5 billion, which represented 2.8 percent of their income.

Taxpayers in the next lower bracket — $100,000 to $200,000 in income — donated a slightly smaller percentage of income to charity: 2.7 percent in 2006 and 2.6 percent in 2012.

But people in all lower income brackets donated a higher percentage of income, and these percentages grew between 2006 and 2012.

In total, Americans who itemized deductions donated 3 percent of their income after deductions in 2012. The median contribution was $3,176.

Palmer says the report looked at 2006 and 2012 in part to compare giving before and after the recession.

The rich were more affected by the stock market crash than other income groups, and that might be why they were slow to step up giving as a percent of income, Palmer speculates. “This year and last, we are seeing a lot of big gifts ... that you can’t see in the 2012 data,” she says.

Indeed. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife made the largest individual donation in America in 2013, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported in December. They donated 18 million shares of Facebook stock valued, at the time, at almost $1 billion, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. They donated the same number of shares the previous year, when they were worth less.

Among the 50 largest metro areas, the most generous was Salt Lake City, whose residents gave 5.4 percent of income to charity. Salt Lake “owes its high giving rate in part to the heavy presence of Mormons, whose church practices call for them to give at least 10 percent of their income to charity,” the report says.

Rounding out the top 10 were cities in the Southeast and Texas, the heart of the Bible Belt, Palmer says.

The only two large cities that ranked below San Jose on the generosity list were Providence, R.I., and Hartford, Conn. Their residents gave just 1.9 percent of income to charity.

Palmer was not sure why the Bay Area ranked so low. It could be that people here are less connected to a church or, if they are new, to their communities.

The report also analyzed giving by ZIP code, and a California city ranked No. 1.

“The highest-giving ZIP code was 96015, in California, which includes the town of Canby. The 645 people in that ZIP who filed itemized returns gave a total of $436,000, or 18 percent of their income,” the report says.

Canby, smack in the middle of Modoc County, is the home of the I’SOT religious commune founded in the late 1960s in Santa Cruz. I’SOT stands for In Search of Truth. “We have a purpose, to help those who have lost their way physically, mentally or emotionally,” says Ron Hassler, its business director.

The community is registered as a 501(c)3 charity and occupies about 750 acres. Hassler says about 180 people live in the commune and donate 100 percent of their income to the charity. After deducting what the community spends on their housing, food and other necessities — about $490 a month per person — members can deduct the rest as a charitable donation, he says.

Some members work in a group home for troubled teens that the community used to operate but is now run by another group. Some have formed a construction company or hire out to local ranchers.

The community is known for placing nativity scenes along the town’s main street. In 2013, I’SOT reported $2.1 million in revenue and $2.2 million in expenses on its IRS Form 990.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail: kpender@sfchronicle.com Blog:http://blog.sfgate.com/pender Twitter: @kathpender

Charitable giving by income level

Although the rich give more dollars to charity than the poor, as a percentage of income they give less. This data is based on the tax returns filed by the 30 percent of Americans who itemized their deductions, including charitable gifts, for 2006 and 2012.

Income range 2006 Income 2006 Contributions 2006 donations as a % of income 2012 Income 2012 contributions 2012 Donations as a % of income Under $25,000 $ 81,195,470 $ 5,354,291 6.6% $ 57,961,330 $4,454,853 7.7% $25,000 - $50,000 419,097,755 17,651,984 4.2 307,163,960 14,068,828 4.6 $50,000 - $75,000 651,770,597 21,684,140 3.3 542,185,358 19,073,572 3.5 $75,000 - $100,000 705,016,361 20,487,080 2.9 653,790,383 19,676,626 3.0 $100,000 -$200,000 1,409,216,755 37,760,648 2.7 1,748,283,217 45,293,540 2.6 $200,000 or more 2,197,205,882 63,990,293 2.9 2,787,851,727 77,487,780 2.8

Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy