Fidelity Charitable Research Maps Giving Priorities in 30 Cities

Donors’ giving priorities differ depending on where they live, according to new research from Fidelity Charitable that could help fundraisers sharpen their efforts.

Although religious and education causes were most popular nationwide among the donor-advised-fund program’s 132,000 clients in 2015, certain cities saw a higher proportion of grants to different causes.

For example, account holders in Washington, D.C., gave more proportionally to international-affairs programs than those in any other city. Clients in Boston gave more to health; clients in the San Francisco area provided more support to environmental and animal-welfare causes.

Fidelity Charitable ranked cities by percentage of donor-advised funds supporting a given cause in a region. The eight subject areas were education, art and culture, environment and animals, health, human services, international affairs, and religion.

To compile the rankings, the organization analyzed grant making from its funds in its top 30 metropolitan areas, all of which have at least 400 Fidelity Charitable accounts.

The rankings do not show which causes are most popular in each city, just which cities provided the most support for certain causes. But Fidelity Charitable did note which causes were most popular among donors in different cities. Religion was the most popular cause in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Minneapolis, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. In Chicago, human services ranked first, and education was the most popular cause in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington.

Released Wednesday, the research is a supplement to the 2016 Fidelity Charitable Giving Report, which was published earlier this month. Here are the cities that gave most proportionally to different causes:

Education

1. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk
2. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
3. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
4. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
6. Naples-Marco Island
7. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
8. St. Louis
9. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
10. Baltimore-Towson

Art and Culture

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
2. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
4. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
5. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk
6. Naples-Marco Island
7. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
8. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
9. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach
10. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor

Environment and Animals

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
2. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
3. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
4. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk
5. St. Louis
6. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor
7. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos
8. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton
9. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
10. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington

Health

1. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
2. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk
3. Naples-Marco Island
4. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach
5. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
6. St. Louis
7. Detroit-Warren-Livonia
8. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord
9. Denver-Aurora
10. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor

Human Services

1. Naples-Marco Island
2. Detroit-Warren-Livonia
3. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
4. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet
5. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk
6. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
7. Denver-Aurora
8. St. Louis
9. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
10. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara

International Affairs

1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
3. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
4. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
5. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
6. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
7. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos
8. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet
9. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
10. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton

Religion

1. Salt Lake City
2. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord
3. Indianapolis-Carmel
4. Detroit-Warren-Livonia
5. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
6. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown
7. St. Louis
8. Cincinnati-Middletown
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
10. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta

Society Benefit

1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach
2. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk
3. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
4. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor
5. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
6. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
7. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
8. St. Louis
9. Naples-Marco Island
10. Baltimore-Towson