Report: South needs to be smarter about giving

The South, once the throwback of regions in the nation, is now an economic powerhouse that has wealth. But Southern givers are charitable -- meaning they give to relieve immediate needs such as Hurricane Katrina or the local United Way -- but not philanthropic, according to the new State of the South 2007 report by MDC. There's a big difference, as UNC-Chapel Hill coauthor Ferrel Guillory explained this week to S.C. Statehouse Report:

The difference is highlighted in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, explains Ferrel Guillory of the University of North Carolina. In the story, thugs attacked a man, robbed him and left him to die by a road. Two men, including a priest, saw him, but scurried away. Then came a Samaritan, whose people had a general antipathy for Jews like the hurt man. But the Samaritan stopped and helped. He even took the injured man to an inn to recover and paid the innkeeper for expenses.

"The Good Samaritan is a wonderful guy. But who is policing the road? Sooner or later, you've got to get into who is policing the road and that is what philanthropy is about."

The South, which has grown by more than 20 million people since 1980 into an economic powerhouse of 74 million people, is ready to be smarter about how it invests in society, the report says.

"We are full of Samaritans in the South, but now we've got an opportunity because we are a more affluent society," Guillory said. "So we can afford to begin to aggregate our money through foundations and non-profits to do the research and find the projects that will go deeper into helping society."