Seattle Tops List of Cities With Highest Online Donations—Again
Seattle, home to the highest minimum wage in America, legal weed, and as of yesterday, incarcerated female soccer player Hope Solo, has beat out over 200 other American cities as the most generous city in the country in a study that tracks online donations.
The study is performed by Blackbaud yearly. This is the third consecutive year that the Northwestern city has held the top slot for most online donations made.
In its sixth annual survey, Blackbaud's report looked at the total amount donated through the company's services for 265 cities with a population of more than 100,000. In total, $822 million was raised from more than 8.3 million donations.
Many speculate that the reason for Seattle's consistent online generosity is that the city is full of young people with smartphones, wifi accounts named LETSBLAZE, and money. Another speculation suggests that the "guilt donation," where friends share their generosity to social media, is also causing a domino effect of giving.
Susan McPherson, who works to build partnerships between corporations and nonprofits, said younger people are specifically looking to share philanthropic behavior online with friends and networks. In addition, millennials are looking to join bigger giving communities, which she said makes it a "perfect storm."
The second and third biggest cities for online giving are Alexandria, Va. and Atlanta, Ga. You'll be surprised to hear that New York is nowhere near the top ten:
- Seattle, Wash.
- Alexandria, Va.
- Atlanta, Ga.
- Washington, D.C.
- Cambridge, Mass.
- Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Arlington, Va.
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Bellevue, Wash.
- San Francisco, Calif.
The above image is of Washington governor Jay Inslee tying the shoe of a local Seattle school child in an initiative to get kids to walk to school instead of take the bus.
The full list of ranked cities can be downloaded here, where Miami Gardens, Fl. finishes dead last and New York can't even break the top 50.