Greater Houston has gained a reputation for being generous. Historically, our region has often topped lists in national studies measuring total philanthropic assets, percentage of income given to charity, and overall financial health of nonprofit charity organizations. Our expansive, rich nonprofit sector enriches our communities and our local economy and is one of the largest contributors toward this reputation for generosity. Other likely contributors also include the national headlines of collective action after crises like Hurricane Harvey and Winter Storm Uri as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Uplifting stories of community resilience are valuable, but are also often anecdotal. How generous are we really, and in what ways? Where can we improve our generosity? Let’s unpack the data on generosity in Houston, and whether or not the headlines and human interest stories match the reality.
Houston bands together post-disaster
The greater Houston region is no stranger to natural disasters. Fortunately, when disasters do strike, Houstonians step up. Total giving after Hurricane Harvey reached nearly $1 billion, the most on record after any disaster. Notably, and in the spirit of regional generosity, donations after Harvey were marked by a broad, grass-roots donor base. The Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund administered by Greater Houston Community Foundation, for example, received an average donation of $100 from around 127,000 donors.
Some residents, however, are impacted more severely by disasters and are less likely to receive adequate recovery assistance. On a macro level, research indicates that federal disaster recovery and assistance policies place vulnerable groups at a disadvantage, making it more difficult for them to access resources or assistance. In Harris County, researchers have estimated that natural disasters can widen the Black-white wealth gap by an average of $87,000.
Another way to measure regional post-disaster generosity is through post-disaster contributions (both donations and volunteer-hours) at local mainstay charities. In 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Houston Food Bank reduced their volunteers by 85% due to new safety protocols — and yet, that year, over 537,000 hours of service were contributed by 88,000 volunteers. The Food Bank also saw a 468% increase in financial donations in the first half of 2020 and took in $455 million in donations the following year.
Organizational impact and limited access
Communities banding together to volunteer their time and donate money require more than just individual effort. For generosity to take place in any meaningful way, and for individual efforts to combine to affect positive change and address real issues, there need to be organizations, like nonprofits, to facilitate giving, organize communities and ultimately connect seekers with resources and services.
Although Greater Houston has a sizable, flourishing nonprofit sector that includes about 15,660 public charities, residents in each of the region’s three counties has relatively low access to public charities, with fewer nonprofits per 10,000 residents than both the state and the nation.
Compared to the population, the region’s nonprofit sector doesn’t look so robust. While 15,660 isn’t exactly a dearth of nonprofit charities, the comparison does tell us that our region’s nonprofits risk being overwhelmed during times of crisis when demand is at its highest.
Who gives and how in Houston
About half of the residents in Greater Houston donated $25 or more to nonprofit organizations in 2019, which was similar to the national average (51%), and higher than the state average (45%). This puts Houston squarely in the middle of the other measured large metropolitan areas, and behind San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and Austin.
Between 2011 and 2018, residents of the three-county region gave an average of $4.4 billion dollars per year, which accounts for nearly a quarter of all donations made by Texans. This impressive number has dipped along with the national average since 2018, likely due to a change in federal legislation that almost doubled the required deduction amounts for charitable donations.
The more money someone has, the more ability they have to contribute, therefore contributions by residents do scale with income, but those are not the only factors that impact donations. Among the three counties, there are large differences between the average contributions made by households that earn $200,000 or more, with high earners in Fort Bend County giving about half ($20,100) of the yearly average of those in Harris County ($38,661).
Large donations are, however, not the only factor in measuring a people’s or a region’s generosity; there are many ways in which residents can be generous.
Between 2012 and 2020, at least half of the residents (anywhere from 50-54%) in the three-county region reported having volunteered at least once in the last year. Between 2020 to 2021, that number went down by 14 percentage points, with only 40% of Harris County residents having volunteered in the last year. This follows a national trend, with many Americans reducing or completely stopping previous volunteer activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey conducted by Fidelity.
The Corporation for National and Community Service measured cities’ generosity using the above five metrics, which included volunteering, doing favors for neighbors, doing something positive for the neighborhood, participating in local groups or organizations and donating $25 or more to charity. All individual efforts — with the exception of lending a neighbor a cup of sugar or the like — require facilitation from a nonprofit charity organization or another local group.
Houstonians are generous, with potential to grow
One thing is certain: our residents will never want for inspiration. The national stories about Greater Houston’s generosity, tales of community resilience, civic engagement and personal sacrifice, while maybe anecdotal, get at what is essentially the truth about many communities in the region. Although not everyone will participate, those who do will continue strengthening their communities with dedicated and richly rewarding work.
Our region is certainly generous, although it has plenty of room to grow. And while generosity may have its genesis in individual efforts, it requires widespread, organizational oversight to thrive. Therefore, our substantial nonprofit sector must also have room to grow, if we want our region to truly thrive. We can take comfort in knowing that we’ve got both the residents and the resources to take generosity to unknown heights, and make an even greater impact in the future.