Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
TAYLORSVILLE — GoFundMe, the international fundraising platform, has named Taylorsville the "most generous city" in Utah and the 17th "most generous city" in the U.S. this year.
Carlos Mendoza does not know much about how other states or cities outside of Utah operate in terms of generosity, but after taking a sip of coffee and thinking about it for a few seconds, he decided to go with what plenty of people in Taylorsville said upon hearing the news Wednesday morning: "I'm not surprised."
"People here will do anything to help you, even if you don't ask for it," he said. "And with money? People will always give what they can, even if they don't have much. It's pretty amazing really, when you think about it. I've even given to somebody's GoFundMe thing because everyone at work was, too. I didn't want to be the person who people thought didn't care. That's not a good look here."
Students raising money to travel on a school trip — folks in Taylorsville will give. A fire has destroyed a neighbor's home — they will give. A woman at church needs a new wheelchair she cannot afford — the people of Taylorsville will give ... money, with time, with food donations, with blankets, hats and gloves. As Mendoza said, if it is needed, people there will try and make sure it gets done.
Top 10 most generous cities, per GoFundMe:
- Marietta, Georgia
- Sarasota, Florida
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Doral, Florida
- Alpharetta, Georgia
- Orlando, Florida
- Sandy Springs, Georgia
- Miami, Florida
- Greenville, South Carolina
- Boca Raton, Florida
GoFundMe determines its generosity rankings based on the amount of dollars donated per capita to a campaign on its site. In 2024, people across the country donated to home recovery campaigns, to World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit that lost employees due to a bombing in Gaza, to pet housing efforts and to Olympians and Paralympians on their way to compete in Paris.
Utah, as a whole, was in the top half of residents who gave to a GoFundMe campaign. Many families who experienced tragedy received donations in Utah, as well as Paralympians. Donating once — the average donation in the U.S. was $77 — increase your chances of donating again.
Although GoFundMe analyzed the dollars given to campaigns on its platforms, folks who live, work and pray in Taylorsvillle remind everyone that, there, generosity is more than financial.
"Our theme in Taylorsville is 'Neighbor helping Neighbor' ... it's about the community coming together ... it's transforming a community," said Cheryl Knight, a manager at the Taylorsville Food Pantry. "We couldn't do this work without the community giving however they can."
Other leaders of Taylorsville nonprofits say the same thing. Donations in any form have saved agencies during the roughest of times, and clients also are aware of this. In fact, it is not uncommon for clients of an agency to ask what they can do to help the nonprofit and give back.
In other communities, that may be surprising, but not in Taylorsville, where regardless of political party, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, education level and other demographic information, neighbors will help neighbors.
"Thank you for your generosity. Your donations are helping more than you think they are helping," said Susan Ison, executive director of Helping Hands Inc., an agency based in Taylorsville that assists in alleviating the needs of children. "The people in this city have been fabulous."
