The biblical standard for giving, the tithe, is ten percent. But at most American churches the tithers are in the minority. And the recession we’ve been experiencing the past two years has not helped.
The authoritative source of information on church giving is the annual State of Giving report put out by a small ministry based in Champaign IL called empty tomb inc. An article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy has a short summary on the latest State of Giving Report, released October 15th, which covers 2008.
Giving as a percentage of congregation members’ take-home pay, giving has dropped to 2.43 percent. The only time it has been lower since 1968, when giving was first tracked by empty tomb, was 1992 (2.43%). The article goes on to quote empty tomb executive vice president Sylvia Ronsaville, who said, “The giving patterns suggest that people will continue to give to the church even in difficult economic times.”
The article includes additional trends to ponder.
- Giving by all Americans to congregations and other religious organizations increased in 2008. All other charitable organization giving decreased.
- Gifts to “benevolences” or church outreach declined to almost its lowest level ever in comparison with giving to church maintenance and staff salaries.
The whole report is available through major book-sellers, such as Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble. Or from the empty tomb website. All of this is being reported at the same time that one of the country’s most well-known churches is facing bankruptcy. The Crystal Cathedral filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 18th.
Here in Madison church budgets are tight, church staff may have contracted a bit, but no churches have filed for bankruptcy. As far as we know.