SAN DIEGO—Despite the economic hardships brought about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, charitable giving increased in counties hit hardest by the pandemic, according to a study released Monday by the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management. The study, published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, found that between March and August 2020, charitable giving increased in 78 percent of counties that experienced greater threat from COVID-19. Human services charities—such as those that feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, or care for the elderly or young children—benefited the most from the increases, researchers found. “While giving increased overall in areas affected by COVID-19, we also did not see decreases in donations to any charity categories, such as education or environmental issues,” according to lead author Ariel Fridman, a doctoral candidate in behavioral marketing at the Rady School. “This is surprising given that a record-high majority of Americans reported …