The index, released to The Associated Press last week, takes into account both ‘‘having'' and ‘‘giving.'' It is based on average adjusted gross incomes and the value of itemized charitable donations reported to the Internal Revenue Service on 2003 tax returns, the latest available.
...
Using that standard, the 10 most generous states were, in descending order, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, South Carolina and West Virginia.

The 10 stingiest, starting from the bottom, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and Michigan.

So, blue states give less to charity than red states, based off the criteria above. This puts the lie to the claim that conservatives don't care about the poor. We're just as generous, if not more so; and we do it with our own money, instead of having the government spend someone else's so we can avoid responsibility for the less fortunate.

Link via Dappled Things.