decrease in both church attendance and membership.” According to a 2012 Pew Research
Center study, about one in five Amer- icans say they have no formal reli- gious affiliation. Still, the religious sector continues
Charitable giving to religious groups drops A
mericans are slowly pulling themselves out of a charitable slump—except when it comes
to religious groups. That takeaway from the Giving
USA report, perhaps the most-read annual study on philanthropy, shows a slight downturn for churches and other religious organizations against an improving charity landscape. American individuals, groups,
foundations and corporations gave $335 billion in 2013—a 3 percent increase from 2012 (adjusted for inflation). It’s the fourth consecutive year in which giving rose after taking a beating during the Great Recession that officially ended in 2009. But religious groups saw dona- tions drop 1.6 percent from 2012 to
2013. That contrasts to healthy jumps in education (7.4 percent), the arts and humanities (6.3 percent), and environmental and animal groups (6 percent), according to the study released in June, which Giving USA produced with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Behind the statistics for religious
groups, experts say, is Americans’ declining interest in religious insti- tutions. “Giving to religion repre- sents primarily giving to houses of worship,” said Rick Dunham, CEO of Dallas-based Dunham+Co., a fundraising consulting company that mostly works with Christian ministries. “There has been a grow- ing percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation, as well as a
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to collect a greater proportion of total charitable giving—31 percent—than any other, according to the report. The next largest share of the philan- thropic pie went to education, with 16 percent of donors’ dollars. The Giving USA study drew on
many government and private groups for data, including the IRS and the U.S. Census Bureau.
© 2014 Religion News Service
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tant in the life of the church in the world. … You get up on Capitol Hill and you realize there is great silence about environmental issues today and you wish there would be some kind of honest dialogue about a topic that affects everybody.”
Writing your legacy Could the adage “If you want some- thing done right, do it yourself” also apply to obituaries? The Lutheran is seeking stories from readers who have written their own obituaries, or opinions and insight about doing so. Respond (no more than 300 words, including contact information) to
julie.sevig@
thelutheran.org or The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chi- cago, IL 60631 by Aug. 15.
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