Fewer Americans are giving money to charity, and their relationship with God may have something to do with it.
The share of U.S. adults who donated to charity dropped significantly between 2000 and 2016, according to an analysis released this month from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Vanguard Charitable.
By 2016, just over half — 53% — of Americans gave money to charity, down from 66% in 2000. That figure held mostly steady until the Great Recession. Then it started to drop off and took a dive after 2010, said report co-author Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly School.
The decline amounts to 20 million fewer households donating to charity in 2016 (the most recent year for which data was available) versus 2000, researchers said.
The analysis drew on data from the Philanthropy Panel Study, a data set within the University of Michigan’s Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which tracks the same 9,000 families’ charitable giving every two years.
Americans are losing their religion
One factor driving the decline: Americans are becoming less likely to attend religious services or identify with a specific religion.
“Attending services is correlated with giving to religious organizations, but it’s also correlated with giving to secular groups,” Osili said.
Giving to charity is, of course, a core belief for many of the world’s major religions. And very religious people of any faith are more likely to give to charity, one study by Baylor University researchers found.
But there are fewer very religious people than ever in the U.S. The share of the population who describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” is now at 26%, up from 17% in 2009, according to 2018 and 2019 surveys by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” in Washington, D.C.
Some 65% of Americans describe themselves as Christians, down 12 percentage points since 2009, Pew found.
Religious organizations have traditionally gotten the lion’s share of Americans’ charitable dollars. But that’s fallen slightly recently. While religious groups still received the largest chunk of charitable dollars in 2018, at 29% of total giving, it was the first year that giving to religion fell below 30% of overall giving, according to the Giving USA annual report on philanthropy, now in its 64th year.
(Giving USA is produced by The Giving Institute, an association of fundraising consultants and firms that service nonprofits, in collaboration with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.)
Some Catholics have said they’re giving less money to the church because of reports of sexual abuse by clergy. Nearly half of Catholics — 47% — said they were donating less to their individual parishes in response to reports of sexual abuse, a poll conducted by the Catholic magazine America found, according to the Giving USA report.
America’s uneven recovery from the Great Recession is also a factor
Households led by people with less than a high school education, less than $50,000 in income and/or less than $50,000 in wealth (a household’s total assets) decreased the share of income they donated to charity significantly after the recession, the Lilly School report found.
That’s do in part to the fact that not all Americans have recovered equally from the economic downturn, the report authors said.
“This shift is due to lower-income and lower-wealth Americans experiencing the slowest economic recovery since the Great Recession, during years when the cost of other items such as food, education and healthcare have increased,” said Jane Greenfield, president of Vanguard Charitable. “This has led to a decrease in the share of income available to give to charity.”
Younger people are giving less
Millennials in particular give less of their income to charity than their older counterparts, the analysis found, probably because they “had the misfortune of entering the workforce during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” the authors noted.
When the baby boomers and Generation X entered the workforce, the percent of income they gave to charity increased. But millennials haven’t yet followed suit. “There’s a general trajectory that as you get older your income grows and your giving grows,” Osili said. “With millennials we haven’t seen that same pattern.”
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It has EVERYTHING to do with money:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwpXgL6ysIU
Having owned and operated a printing and direct mail business for many years, I rarely give to charities. Over half of our 1,662 clients were not for profits. Some were very large with national brand recognition.
The public is educating itself. A not for profit is owned by someone and that is their business. Not for profit is a tax designation which many do not understand.
Not all but many provide a landing site for the politically correct set to run a capitalist tool under the guise of doing good. There is a lot of questionable business behavior in many of them and it is interesting to place Management earnings in this sector next to the traditional private sector. It is also interesting how they adopt public service titles to further separate themselves from the appearance of a private sector company; Executive Director vs CEO.
Most of the the credibility checking sites are not particularly helpful either. Charity Navigator, very popular, gave the Clinton Foundation the highest rating.
It is a very incestuous industry well aligned with the DC crowd.
Be careful because you may not be providing funds to anything you believed you were.
Things are not necessarily what they appear.
Charity is best kept close imo. In my case, it starts and ends inside my own family.
Years ago I donated regularly to environmental groups like The Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, and even Green Peace. When I learned that some of their biggest donors were companies like Exxon Mobil and Monsanto or that they were outright Marxists or fronts for Agenca 21. I stopped. I aslo noticed that the Sierra Club dropped their concern for the state parks of California when it became obvious that they were being trashed by illegal migrants staking homesteads therein.
Nowadays I mistrust any charity granted tax-exempt status. I confine my yearly giving plan, modest though it is, to kinfolk and White advocacy, pro-liberty, anti-NWO websites.
Big charities are a racket. The churches used to be the largest providers of charity until the government stepped in with the welfare state. Now the government giveth and taketh away and redistributes, so, why bother with charities that mostly exist to rake in money to fund huge salaries for their CEO’s?
The Salvation Army is still worthy and locally there are some animal/wildlife groups I give to and I also do some downlow giving when I see a need.
Poor people in the US? Most everyone has a car / big screen TV / smart phone / air conditioning / list is endless. Take a look around and see how many ‘poor’ people are obese.
With all the taxes I pay, and all the government programs, I don’t believe it’s necessary to give these lazy bastards one cent. When one of them comes to my home and asks if they can mow the lawn or shovel my driveway, I might give it a second thought.
“when one of them comes to my home and asks if they can mow the lawn or shovel my driveway …”
… you’d better send them away. if they “hurt” themselves while “working for you” the predatory lawyers will swarm you saying that you’re responsible for them and must pay tens of thousands of dollars in damages (along with their legal fees of course).
Not one mention about the skim that charities (and churches) do to enrich themselves while passing through meager amounts to the actual needy. Oh, I guess they mentioned the Catholics and their sex abuse issues but your average preacher man takes his cut and org’s like the United Way are even worse. I’d rather give $5 to the guy on the corner so he can get a drink. At least 100% of that goes to who I intended.
I live in Northwest Indiana , everytime I get out of my car at the library, the gas station ,the supermarket market I’m an asked for money mind you not spare change . Hey buddy can you spare ten bucks for gas 20 for heroin lol .Then inside the stores the stores ask for my change for this or that charity un fuckin real . Then all I hear all day is that the white man aka ME is the greatest threat to this country .
“all I hear all day is that the white man is the greatest threat to this country”
you’re a threat to their self-image.
Everyone is on the take. Why am I being asked to tip a kid to roll me a hoagie at Jimmy John’s? My God.
Every business which includes all media, banks, credit unions, food stores and even government offices are asking for funds during this holiday season. Even the dollar store is asking if you want to bump your bill up to the next dollar. They all feel that they would be singled out as scrooges for not asking. And they all will expense out the cost of collection.
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”course,” said Scrooge. “I am very glad to hear it.”
The tax law changed in 2017 putting us into taking the standard deduction – i.e. charitable giving is no longer deductible for us. Sad to say, but it has caused us to donate less and focus more on a handful of worthwhile local causes. A friend runs such a charity with 100% of the donations going to people of need- he and the rest of his volunteers make nothing. He even mentioned that donations are way down this year – how much is tax related vs economic is unknown.
More or less, me too. A couple years ago I saw this happening and sent 2 years worth of contributions while I could still itemize … have given nothing since, except to individuals whose situation I am personally aware of.
The more the government STEALS, all under the guise of “helping the needy,” the less people are inclined to give and the less they have to give.
The new tax laws are stifling your ability to deduct charitable giving which in turn makes it less desirable to give away big sums of money. For the middle class guy who itemizes that little bit of a tax deduction helped when deciding to write a check to a charity. With that now out of reach maybe a middle class guy might think twice. Who knows.
My charity has been taxed away.
and that was the plan. they take all production, and then decide who gets it.
This. Even more nefarious, they destroyed the family in the process.
Precisely, SeeBee. The money-printing, the feeling of wealth these last few decades has only fed the fires coming from the pseudo-mentors regarding charity. Now, out of sheer necessity, the WORKING (Capitalized on purpose) class cannot help but vote with their real world pocketbook.
“America’s uneven recovery from the Great Recession is also a factor”
History teaches and GOD affirms that Men are to Produce, Profit, Tithe and then be Charitable.
They`ve (the aforementioned “Mentors”) flipped that truism on its head, twisted it backwards and hopefully will wither back into nonexistence due to their heresy.
my two cents
drove up to taco bell, placed an order, drove up to the window. the cashier asked me if I wanted to make a donation “to feed the starving children”. taken by surprise I thought about it for a second and said, “no. if you feed the starving children, they just make more.” the look of horror on his face was priceless.
An answer for the ages.
+100
You, sir, deserve a prize of some sort.
Why would I throw money down a rathole if I can’t even trust where it goes anymore? With all of the treason and seditious behavior of the USG, NGOs, and 501(c)(3)s in this country, I’ll just do what Uncle Sugar does: I took money out of my jeans pocket and put it into my wife’s jeans pocket. There, I redistributed it to my family.
Just send Joel some moar money. He will really appreciate your beneficence (sucka)
I quit giving to institutions years ago. Instead just try to support the widows and orphans in their affliction on a more personal basis.
Last winter our area was expecting several days of exceptional cold. A local church was asking for donations of warm clothing, sleeping bags, tents, etc. for our area homeless. I gathered up much of my warm clothing and went to the church to donate. I was met at the door by some young able bodied men from he FSA coming out of the church with free stuff they had received inside. They were whooping and hollering about what all they made off with. They were dressed better than me. The got in a car better than mine. Saw a couple of smart phones in hand also better than mine. When one of the dindos came around the corner I noticed his jeans were down below his butt-cheeks and the brightest red underwear on display —-as in “in your face whitey.” Needless to say my bowels of compassion slammed shut so hard you could hear the noise over the dindos’ shouting.
F__k ’em.
My church used to do their own version of Toys for Tots and invite all the dindus over to the church for a party of food and free gifts. 1 year I decided to help. The people and kids who showed up and their attitudes convinced me to never donate like that again. Ever.
Grace Country Pastor,
Question:
Churches who are nonprofit…did they make a mistake for doing so?
If I understand correctly, nonprofits cannot take or espouse political views. Is this correct? If so, is this a good tradeoff in your opinion?
I don’t know Donkey. I’ve never asked anyone for money. No donate buttons on my website. What I’ve received I received freely so that’s the way I choose to give. There is no tithe as that’s part of the law program, only grace giving if people so choose. If your church encourages tithing they are putting you under the curse of the law. That’s a disgrace as Christ was made a curse for us.
I see the financial benefits of 501c3 but never explored seriously its implementation. Maybe some wise accountant will talk me into it someday for the right reasons. If ever an AGW tried to change my own message of grace and peace he’d either fail or shut me up permanently. There is no trading Truth for anything at all. Truth is most valuable. Truth just is. Nothing can deny, defy or compromise with it. It is freedom. It is liberty. It is life eternal.
GCP, I love having you on this site. I defended you at one point against one of the big dogs. Don’t know if you remember that. Not sure why I’m bringing that up.
gcp’s never forget… ?
I’m very glad to have you here, too. For sure.
Geez, it is very fucking simple. Welfare spending is as much as 70% of the govt tax take, depending on exactly what is counted. I count everything – SS, Medicare, education, health, etc etc etc.
So, my charitable giving is forced out of me at the barrel of a gun. And that money is then ill-distributed, in many, perhaps most, instances to fuckwits not worthy of receiving a damn cent.
When they reduce my tax bill by 70%, I will start giving to charity. Until then, they can all blow me.
If 10% is enough for GOD it oughta be twice too much for gov.
lloph, please explain how an employee who pays employment taxes-sometimes for all of their working life-and then receives a benefit from SS and Medicare years later-how can that employee be considered as receiving welfare?
Food stamps/EBT, free this, free that are correctly termed welfare, but SS and Medicare? Not in my book.
PS-if you are seriously in need of a bj, why not contact Sen. Harris? I hear Willie’s off her list since he went public months ago about her poor chances of getting the nomination.
My idea of charity (giving something to someone in need without any expectation of remuneration) is based solely on people I know. Everyone needs some help in some form or another at some point in time- I’m about to go out and shovel for an elderly neighbor with my son. It doesn’t have to be money, it can be your time, a meal, a basket of food, or help with something that needs your particular skill or talent. When I fell out of the tree last Winter I can’t tell you how many people sent me something in the mail just because they read what I’d written, and if it weren’t for the charity they showed we would have had a much rougher time of it. So I go out of my way to keep my eyes open for someone in need and do what I can for them. A couple of weeks ago a girl my son went to school with was killed in a distant state and the outpouring of the community made it possible for her parents to take some time off from work to go there and do what they had to. You should have seen how many people showed up at the memorial service on Saturday, how their connection to the community brought out the support the family needed not only to survive their loss, but to do what they had to for their daughter. Those are the kinds of things that reflect the real meaning of charity. You see it with your eyes, feel it in your heart, tend to it with your own two hands.
Charity, they say, begins at home. And home is where the heart is.
How we ever got to a point where we actually thought giving money to a massive organization that owns private jets and pays seven figure salaries to their officers is but another head shaker. Why? there’s no accountability, you’re contributions are taken entirely out of the picture except as a tax incentive, (all of a sudden it doesn’t look so much like charity anymore if that’s your motivation) and it almost always goes outside of your community if it arrives at all. Where is the sense in that?
American charities became just another grift a long, long time ago. If they are just waking up to the fact that even the dullest knife in the drawer can only be taken advantage of for just so long, then I guess they’d better re-tool their operations.
Charity should be done locally. Well said, HSF. And I sure as hell should not be forced into it at gunpoint. The Framers knew this.
Indeed. Indirect taxation worked great until the Regressives went batshit crazy.
The wise owl.
100% agree. Stopped giving via “organized” charities a long time ago. Now we give direct, buy food, blankets, etc. and make sure it gets directly into the hands of those in need and specifically to those who we relate to culturally, ethnically, traditionally, etc.
The rich give to charities so the mob doesn’t show up at their mansions and business, ie MSNBC contract with Rev Sharpton.
Tough crowd. Hope I never need help. I understand the cynicism, there are a lot of scams out there and there certainly are plenty willing to game the system. I also don’t like ending up on every mailing list/ spam every time I do give something.
That all said, there are plenty of people truly in need. I give what I can when I can and try not to get taken advantage of. I consider myself pretty lucky with what I have (not rich by any stretch of the imagination) so if I can help make someone else’s life (especially a kid) a little easier I’m glad to do it.
HSF said so much more kindly and eloquently what I feel in my heart. My addendum is that I have full distrust for almost every incorporated or governmental institution in this country, and I want my charity to remain in my town.
I’ll change my mind when DC admits that Epstein didn’t kill himself and they lock up all of his associates.
Nothing ever prevents the individual from giving to another who is truly in need and you don’t need some huge NGO to tell you who those people are. Most of the people on this blog are acutely aware of the world around them and have proven themselves to be extremely generous and caring. They simply prefer to do it the old fashioned way, face to face, in their own communities, as it was always done until the grifters got involved.
“hope I never need help”
the long-term plan is to make sure you can’t survive without “help”, and to eliminate you if you don’t accept the “help”.
Please donate to the United Caucasian College Fund, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
VH, your best comment…hands down.
Robert Putnam documented what happens in multi-racial communities (“Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community) by Harvard sociologist Robert D. Putnam). He analyzed census and survey data to find out what role racial diversity plays in all this—whether it deepens attachment to community or further atomizes people. To his dismay, he found that racial and ethnic diversity destroys trust in neighbors and institutions. Not only don’t people not trust people from other racial groups but they did even trust people within their racial group. This is what leads to Prof. Putnam’s widely quoted conclusion that diversity makes people behave like turtles—they pull into their shells. On the basis of other survey data, he lists other unhappy consequences for people who must live with diversity: Lower confidence in local government, local leaders and the local news media.
I live in an increasingly diverse Canada where $30 billion net (after taxes) is transferred from indigenous mostly Europeans to immigrants each year. As a result, I have stopped giving to charities and target only individuals or groups of European backgrounds.
Race was a thought when borders became a thing. Humans gonna human. People better get on board with their base natural instincts.