Last week the findings of the third annual “STATE of the PLATE” shows that after two years of steep decline, giving to churches increased slightly in 2010. Writing for USA Today, Cathy Lynn Grossmann summarized the research with four bullet points:
- Giving is up: 43% of churches saw increased giving in 2010, up from 36% in 2009.
- The decline has stabilized: 39% of churches said giving was down in 2010, 38% last year.
- December offered a boost: Christmas-time generosity often puts church budgets over the top and most churches (64.6%) said that giving met or exceeded expectations.
- Small churches — those with under 250 in weekend attendance — suffer more and these are where 80% of American churchgoers attend.
So What?
Jacob Berkman places this research in perspective in his article for The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Americans gave roughly $100-billion to religious charities in 2009, about a third of the total $300-billion of philanthropy given each year, according to Giving USA, the annual study of charitable donations
But the percentage of income that Americans give to their churches has been in a long-term tumble. Household giving to churches has dropped from 3.2 percent of income to 2.6 percent, according to a 2010 study by Empty Tomb, in Champaign, Ill., that tracked religious giving through 2008.
Berkman quotes Brian Kluth the founder of STATE of the PLATE who left his ministry as a parish pastor to focus on generosity in a broader context:
We are in a 40-year decline . . . We now give less than we gave during the Great Depression. We are now in what I believe is a growing crisis.
In response to your interaction with this data and other more localized experiences:
- Do you agree with Kluth’s analysis that we are currently experiencing a growing giving crisis? Why or why not?
- Was your local congregation’s giving up, down or flat in 2010 when compared to 2009? Is your congregation projecting that giving in 2011 will be up, down or flat when compared to 2010?
- What type of trend do you anticipate over the next 3-5 years in your local congregation? nationally? why?