Charitable giving has rebounded since the economic downturn, however, Nevada is lagging behind the rest of the nation.
The Silver State ranked 36th with a 2.7-percent giving rate, which is below the national average of 3.0 percent, according to Nevada State Bank’s 2015 High Net Worth Report.
Generosity wavered worldwide during the Great Recession as wealth portfolios of households and companies suffered along with the economy. However, as better economic times returned, charitable giving has recovered.
In 2013, Americans donated an estimated $335.2 billion to nonprofits, according to Giving USA 2014, a report by the Giving USA Foundation. Philanthropy researchers at Indiana University believe that trend will continue and predicted charitable giving will rise by 4.8 percent this year and another 4.9 percent in 2016.
Individuals donated an estimated $240.6 billion in 2013, or about $7 out of every $10 given to nonprofits in America, according to Giving USA.
In Nevada, individual giving accounted for at least $1 billion in 2012, according to a recent study of Internal Revenue Service data by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Though the Silver State has a low giving rate, which is the percentage of donations compared to adjusted gross income, it has improved the most of any state since the last study in 2006, skyrocketing 12.6 percent. Nevada’s rise was led by the Las Vegas metropolitan area, whose giving rate climbed to 2.8 percent due to a 14.9 percent improvement in giving since 2006.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy also looked at giving patterns based on household income and found that between 2006 and 2012, the wealthiest Americans — those earning more than $200,000 — cut their share of income given to charity by 4.6 percent. Meanwhile, households earning less than $100,000 increased their giving by 4.5 percent.