Protestants Increase Share of Income Donated to Church, Report Says

Protestants are donating bigger shares of their incomes to churches, but the portion of their gifts earmarked to support church-sponsored social services is dropping, according to a new report.

An analysis of 29 Protestant denominations by Empty Tomb, an Illinois research organization, shows that giving to soup kitchens, foreign missions, and other activities not directly related to the operation of local congregations has not kept pace with the gains in earnings of church members. In 2000, church members donated 0.4 percent of their after-tax income for such purposes, compared with 0.66 percent in 1968 — a drop of 39 percent.

Meanwhile, in 2000, the total amount Protestants gave to their churches — an average of $622 per person, in inflation-adjusted 1996 dollars, or 2.64 percent of their incomes — represented the highest share of earnings contributed since 1983.

Empty Tomb’s report analyzes the contributions of millions of church members over 32 years. It is based on data reported annually by 100,000 Protestant congregations to the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

In 1968, 21 cents of every dollar donated to churches went to mission work and other external church activities, the report says. By 2000, that figure had fallen to 15 cents.

By comparison, gifts that go toward meeting a congregation’s own financial needs, such as building maintenance and salaries, have been growing in recent years. In 2000, such gifts accounted for 2.24 percent of church members’ after-tax earnings, the highest percentage since 1972.

‘Disturbing Trend’

“It is a very disturbing trend,” Sylvia Ronsvalle, a co-founder of Empty Tomb, said of the decline in support for activities outside the church. “It’s good that people are supporting the internal operations of their church, but the church ought to be seen as a platform from which to help people in need. What people are doing these days is constructing the platform only.”

Among the report’s recommendations to increase giving for external church work: Offer congregants more and better information about how their money will be spent. To do so, the report recommends the creation of what it calls a Web-based feedback system that would allow churches and their members to pick specific projects to support, monitor donations, and find out how those projects are progressing.

“When you give money for congregational finances you can see the nice new carpets, improved lights, better music,” Ms. Ronsvalle said. “People need to see that same type of result and accountability when they give for missions.”

Empty Tomb’s report also evaluates other organizations’ studies on American philanthropy, such as “Giving USA,” by the American Association of Fundraising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy, “Giving and Volunteering in the United States,” by Independent Sector, and The Chronicle‘s Philanthropy 400. Empty Tomb calls those measurement efforts inadequate because, among other problems, they often fail to measure giving against donors’ incomes.

Copies of the report, “The State of Church Giving Through 2000,” are available for $26 each, plus $4 shipping, from Empty Tomb, 301 North Fourth Street, P.O. Box 2404, Champaign, Ill. 61824-2404; (217) 356-9519. For a summary of the report, see the organization’s Web site at http://www.emptytomb.org.