Politicians' Philanthropic Proclivities

Yesterday, Ken Berger was on FOX Business News discussing the charitable giving habits of elected officials. Here's what he said:


Given the nature of TV, we're often unable to share all of the research we have on a given topic. So, we thought we'd share some more of it here.

• In 2005 and 2006, on average, the Clinton and Bush families each gave away 10% of their income to charity. During those same years, the Obamas, on average, gave 5%.
• Last year, the Obamas gave 6.5% ($172,050) to charity. More than a third of their giving was directed toward Human Services charities and 25% went to Health charities.
• Some of the charities on the receiving end of the Obama family's generosity in 2008 include CARE ($25,000), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation ($5,000), Direct Relief International ($5,000) and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity ($5,000). The average size of each contribution was just under $5,000.

For more information about the charitable giving habits of our elected officials, you can visit our prior posts here, here, here and here.