Donations: local income is a key factor, but so are inequalities

The equation may seem simple: in Italia, the most generous regions are the wealthy Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, both with 15.1 per cent of people donating, followed by Valle d’Aosta with 15 per cent: figures well above the national average of 11.9 per cent. But if one reads between the lines of the ‘Noi doniamo’ report by the Italian Institute of Donation’s (IID) Observatory on Giving, the logic is more nuanced. Similarly, when analysing ISTAT data (which excludes Trentino-Alto Adige due to inconsistencies in statistical sources), Veneto tops the list for volunteering, with 14.1 per cent of people engaged in organised activities for the benefit of the community, followed by Valle d’Aosta (11.7 per cent) and Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, both at 11.6 per cent, compared with an Italian average of 9.2 per cent.

However, the availability of resources is not enough to explain the geography of giving. As inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) increases, both financial donations and voluntary work tend to decrease. ‘The first finding that emerges – as stated in the report presented ahead of Giving Day on 4 October – is that financial means matter, particularly when it comes to monetary donations. The results, however, suggest that it is not just a question of how much income is available in a region: how that income is distributed also appears to be significant. Regions characterised by higher levels of inequality tend, in fact, to record lower levels of participation in both charitable giving and volunteering.”

This correlation is particularly evident in certain regions: Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna have high levels of disposable income and a proportion of donors above the national average; Emilia-Romagna also combines these results with a relatively low Gini coefficient. By contrast, Campania, Calabria and Sicily simultaneously exhibit below-average income levels, higher Gini coefficients and significantly lower levels of charitable giving and volunteering.

There are, however, exceptions: Basilicata, for example, has one of the lowest Gini coefficients, but a lower-than-average proportion of financial donors; in this case, the overall low level of disposable income must also be taken into account. That same region, on the other hand, has a level of voluntary work that is higher than the national average.

‘Overall, financial donations therefore tend to be more widespread in areas where more resources are available and where these are distributed more evenly. However, neither of these conditions appears to be sufficient on its own – as the report points out – ‘For voluntary work, the relationship with the amount of financial resources available weakens, whilst the negative association with inequality remains essentially unchanged’.”