September 25, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Among cities large and small, who is the most generous of them all?
In terms of online giving, Alexandria, Va., took the prize for the most charitable giving per capita last year among cities with populations over 100,000, according to an analysis by Convio, a company that provides Web-based software to charities. The city, which is located just a few miles from Washington, D.C., was followed by Cambridge, Mass., and Minneapolis, Minn.
Princeton, N.J., beat out Carlsbad, Calif., and Wilmington, Del., among small cities, which were ranked based on total dollar amounts contributed rather than per- capita giving.
Convio based the rankings on an analysis of online donations it processed for 273 large cities and more than 1,700 cities with populations of less than 100,000.
Rounding out the top five big cities were Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Va. Alpharatta, Ga., and Bethesda, Md., finished fourth and fifth among small cities.
The software company, which works with about 1,200 nonprofit groups, also ranked cities based on donations processed so far in 2009. Alexandria, Va., and Cambridge, Mass., again topped the list for big cities; Paramus, N.J., and Princeton, N.J., led for small cities.
But Gene Austin, Convio’s chief executive officer, said this year’s figures may not be accurate reflections of online generosity because charities in some cities tend to hold their big online fund-raising events in the spring, while others wait until the fall.
In 2008, residents of Alexandria contributed roughly $15,000 online per 1,000 people. Princeton residents gave a total of $3.4-million online using Convio software, with an average gift size of $170.
Mr. Austin said the geographic diversity of cities on the list shows that more and more Americans are comfortable contributing online.
“Online giving is a nationwide phenomenon,” he said. “It’s part of everyone’s thinking.”
