Wisconsin is near the bottom of the list of states giving thanks for charitable donations this holiday season, according to a study released this month.

The state was ranked 46th in the nation by the Catalogue for Philanthropy in its 2004 Generosity Index.

"We view generosity as a function of how much a state gives in relation to how much it has to give," said Marty Cohn, spokesman for the Catalogue for Philanthropy.

The index ranks states according to data from the 2002 Census. Each state is ranked according to the difference between its Average Adjusted Gross Income and Average Itemized Charitable Contribution.

Mississippi was ranked 50th for income and fifth for charitable donations in this year's index, giving it the top spot in the index. Mississippi has been ranked first in every report since it began in 1997, according to Cohn.

Wisconsin has hovered in the bottom six states of the index for the past four years.

"When I heard that statistic it surprised me because in Milwaukee, in the greater Milwaukee area where we get most of our donations, people are just so generous," said Kriss Schulz, director of communications for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee.

Cohn said the Average Itemized Charitable Donation in Wisconsin was $16,597 in the 2002 data, more than $2,000 less than the national average. In addition, Wisconsin's income rank increased from 23 in the 2003 report to 19 in this year's report.

Cohn said spending decreased among the upper income levels here, which includes people earning $200,000 or more.

"If those folks would give to the national average, the part of the philanthropic pie would increase," Cohn said. "There's room for growth in the giving at the upper levels."

Cohn said individual donations have been increasing.

Jeff Browne, president of the Public Policy Forum, a Milwaukee-based research group, said Wisconsin's 46th ranking did not seem right.

"It seems to rank Wisconsin lower than it should be," Brown said. "It seems to me that Wisconsin is more generous than that, and definitely Milwaukee is."

According to the Public Policy Forum's Eighth Annual Report Card on Charitable Giving for Metro Milwaukee, charitable giving to the 64 nonprofit agencies studied increased 4.2 percent from 2002 to 2003. The report was sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, which manages charitable trust funds.

"The numbers for this year are pretty much a continuation of a trend," Brown said. "They are encouraging in the sense that the total is up. But they are not encouraging in that a large number of nonprofit organizations had fewer contributions this year than last year."

The report shows 33 of the organizations in the foundation experienced a decrease in giving.

Niedra North, executive director of Community Shares of Greater Milwaukee, which supervises workplace giving for 43 agencies, said the gains they had made in 2002 went sliding back in 2003.

"I was really shocked because I expected us to grow," North said. "I was hoping that was kind of a blip on the radar and this year and this campaign will be different."

Brown said Milwaukee is comparable to the rest of the nation in the decline in charitable contributions.

"The whole nation has experienced a challenging time for philanthropic giving," Brown said. "Overall, the big picture here is the decline in the economy since the year 2000 has led to a decrease in charitable giving, and this has affected the greater Milwaukee area."

Brown said there is a cause for optimism because the organization leaders are optimistic and the economy is picking up.

Schulz said the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee reached their goal last year in the annual fund of a little over $3 million. She said the holiday season is the biggest in terms of donations.

"Right now, let's say about 30 percent of our gifts come in between Thanksgiving and Christmas," Schulz said.