Metro Detroit Ranks Second In Nation For Charitable Giving To Help The Homeless

Detroiters are generous people, and the 2016 Fidelity Charitable Giving Report reveals they’re more likely to help out their fellow citizens by donating to human services like food banks and homeless shelters.

Metro Detroit ranked second when it came to giving to charities that focused on helping the homeless.

The 2016 Fidelity Charitable Giving Report looked at a list of Fidelity Charitable’s top 30 metropolitan areas, by number of Giving Accounts whose Primary Account Holder’s address is in the area. The report looked at where the money in the Giving Accounts went and ranked the cities by percentage of Giving Accounts supporting a given sector in a region.

The sectors included in the report are education, arts and culture, environment and animals health, human services, international affairs, religion, and society benefit. Overall, the report found that religion and education are the top focus of people’s giving. However, regionally, the foci are different and reflect each region’s interests and culture.

Most Detroiters are likely to give to human services. Feeding America shows that Wayne County has the highest food insecurity rate of all the metropolitan counties nationally. Detroiters have addressed their fellow citizens’ needs by donating more to food banks and shelters.

Only the Naples-area of Florida came in higher than Detroit in the human services sector. The top 11 most charitable cities in the human services sector are:

1. Naples-Marco Island, FL
2. Detroit
3. Boston
4. Chicago
5. Bridgeport, CT
6. San Francisco
7. Denver
8. St. Louis
9. New York
10. San Jose
11. Washington, D.C.

Detroit also ranked highly in the religion sector, coming in fourth place, and the health sector, where it came in seventh.

It appears that Detroiters are in touch with their city’s needs and are willing to reach out and help create the change they want to see. That’s a good thing, considering that a city is only as strong and generous as its people.