More Blessed to Give Than to Receive

A new book out explains how giving not only makes you rich - it makes you healthier and happier. There is now scientific evidence supporting the Scriptures that discuss the benefits of charitable giving. In the past 25 years, America has seen an explosion of personal wealth. In the early 1980s you needed only $82 million to make the Forbes 400 list. Today, you need $1.3 billion to be considered really rich, according to Barrons magazine. Still, out of this booming prosperity there's come an equally great explosion in giving. In 2006 Americans gave away $295 billion. That's greater than the gross domestic production of Sweden. So Who Are America's Biggest Givers? The stereotype holds that conservatives are mean and don't care about the poor, and that liberals who do care for the poor give more. But in his book, Who Really Cares, economist Arthur Brooks says that's not the case. "The average conservative-headed household gives 30 percent more money to charity than the average liberal-headed household, despite earning six percent less income," Brooks said. Brooks also found that the biggest givers in America are religious people from traditional families. "If there's one question I can ask you that will predict more than any other whether or not you're going to be a giver, it's whether or not you attend your house of worship weekly," he said. Brooks says that after religion, the biggest predictor of giving is a person's attitude about the role of government. About one-third of Americans want the government to take care of the poor and tax the rich more in order to do so. But Brooks says those who oppose this view are the real givers by more than 4 percent. "So people who believe that the government should not be re-distributing money might seem awfully hard-hearted to the political left in this country, but they're putting their money where their mouths are," Brooks said. And they're not just giving to their churches. Brooks says religious people are just as likely to give to secular causes as well, giving 50 percent more money each year to social welfare charities than the average secularist. Giving Changes Our Brains "What we find is that basically, charitable giving changes our brains. There's evidence that we reduce our stress hormones and improve our level of endorphins, which is to say the chemicals in our brains that makes us feel good. This leads us to be more effective and happier in our lives. We can't help but become more successful and effective when we give," Brooks said. One woman agreed, saying, "It's the most wonderful feeling when you give - and it will come back to you." Brooks says giving also makes you more prosperous. Many of the rich claim it's the secret to their success. "John D. Rockefeller even said that. He said 'God gave me my money to use as I see fit for the good of my fellow man.' He honestly believed, that the day he stopped giving was the day he would start to get poor because God would take his money away from him," Brooks said. As an economist, Brooks said he used to think you had to have money before you could give it away. "Turns out that's wrong," he said. "When I started actually looking at the data on this, the entrepreneurs, the successful people and the religious folks throughout history have been right all this time. Because what you find is - when you give -- you can count on, not necessarily right now, but sooner or later - a significant pay back, return on your investment," he said. "What I'm saying is, that it's an amazing thing - the science backs up the Scripture," he said. Giving is Good for America Brooks says charitable giving is also good for America as a nation. "When Americans on average give more, we can actually feel the impact in an increased GDP -- we get better national growth. This is one of the reasons that the U.S. is a richer country than other countries - because Americans give more," he said. According to Brooks the average American gives 3.5 times as much money to charity as the average Frenchman, seven times as the average German, and 14 times per year as the average Italian. "The only country that comes even remotely close to the U.S. is Israel, but everybody else is far behind," he said. And it is the season of giving. During December, Americans will give away as much as a third of the $200-plus billion we give away each year.