According to an interactive online tool from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, people in Illinois give an average of 4.2% of their income, ranking the state 30 out of 51. However, in terms of total dollars, Illinois ranks much higher, coming in at 5 out of 51 states for total contributions of $6 billion.

Donors Forum collected highlights about individual giving in Illinois in a fact sheet, which you can find here. “Illinoisans are a generous people but we can always give more,” said Valerie S. Lies, President and CEO of Donors Forum. “Nonprofits and the people they serve continue to face enormous challenges that can only be overcome with strong support from individual donors and volunteers.”
The free tool, called How America Gives, can display information such as total contributions, contributions by household, and percentage of income given by household. The statistics can be narrowed to specific metro areas, counties, towns, and zip codes. Also available are several other breakdowns, including giving in "red states" and "blue states."

The figures come from The Chronicle's study in which the original data was recorded from the Internal Revenue Service based on tax records from 2008—the most recent year for which such data were available. Nonprofits can use the data to target their fundraising campaigns to very specific areas. For example, The Chronicle found that “wealthy donors who have ritzy addresses tend not to be as generous as affluent people who live in areas that are more economically diverse.” Find more information at the links in this article and also in The Chronicle’s main story on the tool.

~ Celeste Wroblewski, VP, External Relations, Donors Forum