The more often people attend religious services, the more likely they are to give to all kinds of nonprofits, according to a new study.
People who are affiliated with a religious denomination give an average of $1,590 to charity each year, according to the report. Those who are unaffiliated with a religion give an average of $695 annually.
Frequent attendees at religious services — people who attend once a month or more — contribute an average of $1,848 to faith-based organizations alone, the data say. By contrast, those who attend services less than once a month give only $111 on average to religious organizations each year.
The study shows that affiliation plus attendance is a formula for generosity, says Rick Dunham, vice chairman of the Giving USA Foundation and a fundraising consultant who focuses on faith-based organizations. “When you put those two pieces together, those who are much more engaged in their faith and are part of a religious community are much more likely to be challenged to give charitably,” Mr. Dunham says.
The Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy prepared the report, and Giving USA published it. It fills in the details on a commonly reported finding: that people who claim a religious faith give more than those who are unaffiliated.
The new study, Mr. Dunham says, “reaffirms in many ways that the heartbeat of philanthropy in America is still rooted in its religious faith.”
‘You Can Count on Them’
Religious giving made up 32 percent of private support over all in 2016, according to the annual “Giving USA” overview released in June; that share of charitable giving is declining, down from 45 percent that went to religious causes 20 years ago.
“Giving USA” defines religious giving more narrowly than donors might. For example, it does not count Jewish federations or many colleges, hospitals, social-service, or international aid groups whose work is woven together with a religious mission. As an example, Mr. Dunham points to the child-sponsorship charity Compassion International, which the “Giving USA” methodology does not count as a religious group. And yet, he says, “the majority of their donors come from churches and Christian media.”
A trend that demands further study, says David King, director of the Lake Institute, is how people of faith support a wide variety of charities: “It’s hard to get a sense of the full scope of religious giving.”
Even using the narrow definition that “Giving USA” does, the impact of religious affiliation and participation on charitable giving is pronounced. Charities of all sorts would be well-advised to assume that a large percentage of their supporters are religiously motivated, Mr. Dunham says.
“You can count on them, if cultivated, to stay engaged,” he says.
Among the other findings:
- Jewish households are the most generous to charities over all (an average of $2,526 annually) but give the largest share of their philanthropy to nonreligious causes (65 percent). “We hypothesize that many Jewish households direct their charitable donations to noncongregational institutions, such as Jewish federations, which do not meet Giving USA’s definition of religious giving,” the report reads.
- When only donors to religious causes are counted, Protestant families give more to religion than any other denomination, with an average of $2,809 annually.
- The wealthier and better educated a head of household is, the more likely that household is to support religious organizations. Nearly half of all families where the head of household had an education beyond a bachelor’s degree donated to faith groups, compared with 31 percent of homes headed by someone who had only a high-school diploma.
- Of racial groups, African-Americans give the largest portion of their philanthropy — 74 percent — to religious organizations.
- Annual giving to religious causes is highest from donors ages 40 to 64, at an average of $2,505 annually.
- In keeping with research showing that millennials are much less likely than their elders to claim a religious affiliation, people under age 40 gave an average of $236 to religious groups. However, when only donors are counted, millennials gave an average of $1,442 to religious groups.
Generation X contributed an average of $1,989 to faith organizations.
The amount millennial donors give to religion each year sounds high to Mr. Dunham — and heartening. “I am pretty encouraged to see millennials giving as they are,” he says. Student debt, stagnant wages, and early-career salaries prevent many young people from giving more. But for those who are religiously engaged, he says, “they mirror what other generations have done in the past.”
Mr. King is also upbeat on millennials’ potential as donors. “We might paint millennials with too broad a brush stroke by how they give and what kinds of organizations they give to,” he says. To secure their support, he says, “it would be important for organizations to focus on engaging the passions of young people, if you’re a religious organization or not.”
Religious congregations, he says, are likely to find themselves increasingly in a competitive situation with other types of charities as they seek donors. Their leaders, Mr. King suggests, should embrace the notion of helping to increase philanthropy over all, and not just for their organization.
“Religious leaders are extremely well suited to have holistic conversations about how faith informs giving,” he says. “Instead of thinking of this as a competitive arrangement, encourage families to think of giving as it sits with their own values. This is a rising tide that lifts all boats. Move away from that sense of congregation to a culture of generosity.”
