Maine among top 10 states for volunteering

Courtesy / WalletHub Maine is No. 11 overall on WalletHub's ranking of the most charitable states released this week.

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A new national ranking of the most charitable states puts Maine at No. 11 overall and No. 6 for volunteering and service.

The barometer, by personal finance website WalletHub, compared 50 states across 19 key indicators of charitable behavior, ranging from the volunteer rate to the share of income donated to charitable causes.

Utah, Maryland and Minnesota are No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the WalletHub list of the most charitable states, while Arizona came in dead last at No. 50.

Maine's sixth-place volunteering and service ranking far outweighed its No. 29 position for charitable giving. WalletHub researchers also found that the Pine Tree State ranked near the bottom in terms of percentage of income donated to charitable cause without saying what the percentages were.

Researchers noted that the latest World Giving Index shows the United States is falling behind, dropping to 19th place among the most generous countries after years at the top of the list.

Nevertheless, U.S. donors in 2022 still gave nearly $485 billion to charity, with 67% of the funds coming from individuals, according to the National Philanthropic Trust.

More information

The full WalletHub report and state rankings are available here. Mainers can find out more about nonprofits based here in the 2022 Giving Guide, published by Mainebiz in collaboration with the Maine Association of Nonprofits.