Many nonprofit organizations have reported that 2001 was an off-year for donations due to the downturn in the economy after the collapse of the technology sector and the Sept. 11 attacks.
However, the 2002 nationwide survey of people’s donations in the prior year, conducted each January by the Barna Research Group, shows a different story.
Although the nation’s economy was not as strong as during the prior two years, there was no change in the proportion of adults who donated money in 2001 and 2000.
The data, taken from “The State of the Church: 2002,” a new book by researcher George Barna, also shows that the average amount of giving by adults actually increased last year.
Americans remain among the most generous people on earth. In 2001, four out of five adults (80 percent) donated money to one or more nonprofit organizations. While that figure is down slightly from 1999 (84 percent) and 1998 (87 percent), it is at least on par with 2000, when 78 percent gave donations.
The types of people most likely to give away money were those over 55 years of age, college graduates, those from households earning more than $60,000, people who attend churches of 500 or more people and those who attend mainline Protestant churches.
At least nine out of 10 people from each of those segments contributed funds in 2001. The only segments among which fewer than seven out of 10 donated any money in 2001 were atheists (63 percent), people who do not attend a church of any type (67 percent) and adults who are not registered to vote (67 percent).
The total amount of money given throughout the course of the year also rose. The average amount given in 2001 was $1,097, which was a 19 percent jump from the prior year, and five percent higher than the 1999 average.
There was no change in the percentage of adults who donated money to churches in 2001 when compared to the prior year (62 percent), but there was an 18 percent increase in the per capita average amount donated compared to 2000 ($769 vs. $649).
There were only a handful of segments for which at least 70 percent donated to churches in 2001.
Among those groups were people 55 and older (70 percent of whom gave money to churches), evangelicals (88 percent), non-evangelical born-again Christians (79 percent), Protestants (73 percent), Catholics (73 percent), conservatives (76 percent) and Republicans (77 percent).
Church size was also related to giving: the larger the church a person attended, the more likely he or she was to support it. Only 70 percent of those who attend a church of 100 or fewer gave to churches last year, compared to 83 percent of people attending churches of 101 to 499 adults and 87 percent among those going to churches of 500 or more adults.
The State of the Church: 2002 identifies several significant demographic patterns related to giving. Age has a noteworthy influence on giving.
The younger a person is, the less likely he or she is to donate any money at all or to donate to a church, and the less money he or she will donate when giving.
In terms of generations, baby busters (adults in the 18 to 35 age bracket) were the least generous on every count: 75 percent gave away money, only half gave anything to churches, the median donation to all organizations was less than $800 and their mean giving to churches was less than $600 per capita.
In contrast, 83 percent of baby boomers were donors, two-thirds gave to churches, their mean total giving topped $1,200 and their mean church gifts equaled $746.
The most generous groups were the two older generations, now 56 or older. Nine out of 10 were donors, and seven out of 10 gave money to churches. Their mean giving to all organizations ($1,537) and to churches ($1,176) was nearly double that of busters.
ZCollege graduates donated more than twice as much per capita as did people with a high school education or less ($1,747 versus $797, respectively).
ZBoth white and black adults donated more than twice as much per capita as did Hispanic adults ($1,218 by whites, $1,094 by blacks, $528 by Hispanics).
Protestants gave away an average of 57 percent more money than did Catholics ($1,379 compared to $878).
Registered voters gave away more than twice as much per capita as did adults who are not registered to vote. While Democrats and Independents donated similar gross amounts, Republicans gave away more than 75 percent more on a per capita basis.
Conservatives and liberals had equivalent average total gifts, but those who were moderate in their social and political views contributed about 14 percent less per capita.
When the data regarding church giving was studied, additional patterns emerged.
People from households earning $60,000 or more annually gave three times as much money to churches, on a per capita basis, as did people from households making under $35,000.
Evangelicals gave four times as much money, per person, to churches as did all other church donors. Evangelicals even outpaced per capita giving of non-evangelical born-again Christians by nearly a three-to-one margin. People who attend religious centers that are not Christian donated about 10 percent less per capita than did those who attend Christian churches.
One of the doctrines taught by many Protestant churches is that of tithing, which means donating 10 percent of one’s income.
In total, one out of every 12 adults (eight percent) had given away at least 10 percent of their income last year. That was marginally above the six percent registered in 2000.
The proportion of tithers is higher among born-again Christians (14 percent tithed) than among non born-again adults (five percent).
(EP)
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