America's poor are the most generous givers, even though it's far more expensive to be poor, and 28 million Americans have neither a checking nor savings account.
To raise generous children, parents need to model volunteering and helping others. According to Independent Sector, the factors most linked to adult generosity is learning to be generous as a child by:
- Seeing an admired person who isn't a family member help others.
- Seeing a family member help others.
- Doing volunteer work.
- Raising money door to door.
- Being active in student government.
- Belonging to a youth group, such as the Boy Scouts.
- Being active in a religious organization.
- Being helped by others.
The biggest deterrent to generosity: not seeing a family member help others.
