Even if we took this at base value, if we assumed that average Americans donate more of their discretionary income than other countries, I don't understand how this makes America look good.

The fact that there are so many gaps in our safety net that the slack has to be taken up by countless charitable organizations, instead of a more efficient and centrally managed system, does not fill me with patriotic pride. That so many of my fellow citizens need assistance, is already a huge indication that our society is deeply broken.

Perhaps instead of bragging about how many cans of expired corn the average American donates to a food bank, We should instead have a society where people don't go hungry. Perhaps, the countries that report being less charitable, don't see homeless people at every stoplight begging for scraps. Perhaps in some of these other countries there's less need for charities, because people aren't routinely bankrupted thanks to an ambulance ride.

The truth of the matter is that the average American is not charitable, and the average is inflated by a handful of super rich people who think giving a quarter of a million dollars to AIPAC counts as a charity.