If giving to charity includes supporting the local church to promote prop 8 like laws, then I'm not impressed. And given that religious donation make up for 35% of all, it is actually kind of scary.
Countries like France are much less religious so it makes sense that donation there (to religious institutions and in general) are lower, plus, if you take out the few US billionaires there, I wonder if the French actually give less than the Americans. Also note that French and Italians and most European countries pay much more taxes than the Americans do, and donation are not as tax deductible in Europe as in the US. You can also consider taxes to be some kind of charity, in France, minimum wage is huge and people who are unemployed get almost minimum wage like compensation + health care. So you can consider that in Europe, the state takes care of charity while in the US, it is taken care of by the people (with little success for health care).
A donation to Catholic Charities would count as a religious donation although 0% if it will go to the Church's political activities.
A great deal of the aid to the needy in the US is provided by religious-affiliated charities. Heck, even the Salvation Army is a religious charity.
But I think you're right that the structure of a country like France allows it to run on less charitable giving. I would imagine that the welfare state eliminates the need for a lot of food kitchens and shelters, for instance.
American numbers are also inflated by a large number of organizations operating as 501c3s and collecting contributions that would not be considered "Charities" by most people. For instance, the second largest 'purpose' grouping for 501c3s is "education".[1] Is Harvard University really a 'charity?'
Notice that the largest purpose grouping (by revenue) is health care. I know that Advocate Healthcare -- one of the largest hospital chains in Chicago -- is a 501c3 which has been attacked by health reform advocates for being very stingy with charity care and engaging in aggressive billing practices.
The "healthcare" segment is over 52% of the 501c3 sector by revenue. Some of that may be charity clinics, but I imagine the vast majority of it is institutions like Advocate. If you combine the healtchare and education segments, they account for over 71% of the entire sector.
"Heck, even the Salvation Army is a religious charity."
Yes, and they have been known to use donated funds to support political causes (specifically, prop 8).
I support religious charities (currently a Buddhist one), but absolutely oppose any who will use their influence for political ends. I also oppose any who count proselytization as one of their primary goals.
Countries like France are much less religious so it makes sense that donation there (to religious institutions and in general) are lower, plus, if you take out the few US billionaires there, I wonder if the French actually give less than the Americans. Also note that French and Italians and most European countries pay much more taxes than the Americans do, and donation are not as tax deductible in Europe as in the US. You can also consider taxes to be some kind of charity, in France, minimum wage is huge and people who are unemployed get almost minimum wage like compensation + health care. So you can consider that in Europe, the state takes care of charity while in the US, it is taken care of by the people (with little success for health care).