Peter writes:

As I suspected, the poor states, having relatively lower populations
and low mean icomes, are distorted by the donations of the high income
earners in those states.

snip

Well, I can tell you this much, Peter. MA is right up there with being the
least generous, and Kerry leads in the "stingy factor". In the late 90s, with
an income of well over $300k/year, the hero gave a whopping $300 to charity.
Source? The Boston Globe. He was also caught driving a free car ("Ooops, I
forgot to make the payments this past year."), and was living free in a
friend's BH apartment. With "wealthy" like the hero, it is no wonder that MA
was near the bottom in generousity.