Churches Stand to Lose Several Billion Dollars in Lost Donations Due to Economic Downturn
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Americans are now passing on their financial pain to churches and other non-profit organizations by cutting back substantially on their giving during the fourth quarter of 2008. Those reductions – occurring during the most important quarter of the year for donor-driven organizations – will cripple thousands of smaller and less stable donor-supported organizations. –
Barna.org reports During the past three months, one of the ways
that adults have adjusted to their financial hardships has been by
reducing their charitable giving. In total, one out of every five
households (20%) has decreased its giving to churches or other
religious centers.
Church cutbacks have been most common among downscale
households (30%) and those families which are struggling with “serious
financial debt” (43%). Not surprisingly, 31% of those who have lost 20%
or more of their retirement fund value have sliced their church
donations, as have 29% of the people who have lost 20% or more of the
value in their stock portfolio.
The degree of reduction in giving is significant for churches.
Among people who have decreased giving to churches and religious
centers, 19% dropped their giving by as much as 20%, 5% decreased their
generosity by 21% to 49%, 17% reduced their giving by half, and 11%
sliced their provision by more than half. In addition, 22% said they
had stopped their giving altogether.
The most widespread reduction in amount of money given to
religious centers was detected among people under 25 (47% who had been
affected by the downturn reduced their gifts by more than half of what
they usually gave); upscale households (48%); Hispanics (43%); non-born
again Christians (40%); and sociopolitical moderates (39%).