America's generosity is unmatched
[a recent topic of discussion]

... a publication called the Index of Global Philanthropy, which is produced annually by the Center for Global Prosperity at the Hudson Institute in Washington. This is the just released third annual edition of this index. It produces a unique snapshot portraying the full extent of American generosity to developing countries, by amount and by source.

Usually when the question of aid to the developing world arises, we think of government funds. But this index shows that, whereas it may be the rule in the rest of the industrialized world that most aid is government aid, in our country this isn't the case. Most of the contributions that Americans make abroad are private and voluntary. And they are large.

In 2006, the latest year for which data is available, the index reports that Americans contributed privately and voluntarily $34.8 billion to individuals and organizations in developing countries.

Of particular interest in this year's index is the $8.8 billion reported from religious organizations. [snip] The average contribution of congregations was $10,700. To put this in some kind of perspective, the $8.8 billion in giving from American religious institutions [alone] to developing countries was $1.5 billion more than the total giving from all private sources in 30 of the world's major industrialized democratic countries - combined...

[about once a year we'll get some media-hyped story about a prominent European stating how selfish Americans are - sighting government foreign aid as a % of GDP - without ever mentioning that government philanthropy isn't the American model (as it is Europe's). Next time someone tries to pull this stunt might I suggest you ask to compare private donate rates: Americans routinely embarrass all other governments - to say noting of those nations' private giving (why should they? that's what their governments are for...}]

READ MORE