Charitable Giving and Income Brackets

Thanks to Rushworth Kidder of the Institute for Global Ethics for point this out in his weekly Ethics Newsline. The NewTithing Group has compiled an IRS based assessment of charitable giving using the percentage of income donated and income brackets.  The graph shows a conclusion that may be startling to some - those who make less tend to give a higher percentage of their income to charity.

As an employee of a nonprofit agency it makes me wonder about our strategy for raising the funds we need to fulfill, in our case, a life saving mission. With this knowledge should we endeavor to engage those who give the lowest percentage?  Should we provide more donation opportunities, and how can we better capture their support?  Or are there other issue and challenges that only this higher income bracket are experiencing that may be monopolizing their resources.  Is it possible that even though they are earning considerably more money, they just don't have anything to give to charity?  Addressing this challenge could provide agencies and associations some much needed direction in attracting and retaining these higher end donors.