How Charitable Are Brandon Residents?

How generous is your community? The answer may determine how well cities and towns fare tough economic times, as government cuts welfare and Americans are hit by unemployment, foreclosures and other financial woes.

“There’s a storm coming,” says Bruce Katz, vice president at the Brookings Institution, and an expert on the nation’s cities. “Which places are prepared?”

Katz says local governments should be thinking hard about how to encourage giving because “we don’t have the welfare programs that we have had in the past. The need for individual giving is greater than it has been in modern memory.”

The Chronicle of Philanthropy offers an easy-to-use interactive map based on zipcode that shows just how charity-minded U.S. communities are. A special report on "How America Gives" uses data from 2008, the most recent available, and provides detail down to the city and ZIP-code level about the relative generosity of U.S. communities.

Here's a quick look at giving at one Brandon zipcode:

Zipcode: 33511

Ranking: 2,435 of 28,725 surveyed

Percent of income given: 4.3%

Median contribution: $2,203.

Median discretionary income: $51,145.

Total giving: $15.1 million.

To see other Brandon zipcodes, or giving in any other city or town in the U.S., check out the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Giving Map.

See More on Charitable Giving

"How America Gives," Special Report by the Chronicle of Philanthropy