In philanthropy, the single largest source is religion. But religious giving is down -- and slipping further. Some blame the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for the slowdown. But researchers say the paucity in donations began well before the attacks and reflects a greater malaise.
"The church is not training people to be generous or to live up to their potential" says Sylvia Ronsvalle of Empty Tomb, a Christian think tank in Champaign, Ill., that studies giving patterns. "The World War II generation was trained to do the right thing. ... Baby boomers have asked what is the right thing, but if they can't see the content, they will not give."
Roman Catholics, particularly, aren't generous, Villanova University professor Charles E. Zech reports in his book What Catholics Don't Give and What Can Be Done About It. "People sit in the pew and say, 'What's the difference -- they're not going to miss my money,'" he says. "When you've got a whole parish saying that, you've got a problem"
As Sept. 11 demonstrated, people do give when asked, but with a "felt-needs" approach toward tangible goals, like building improvements or extra staff. "Most denominations do an abysmal job insofar as providing practical feedback to congregations as to what their money accomplishes, so people just give to what they can see, such as a new organ" Ronsvalle says.
Para-church organizations likewise have seen drops in giving. Focus on the Family, the giant evangelical Christian ministry based in Colorado Springs, abandoned plans to stage a three-day 25th anniversary celebration at the U.S. Air Force Academy football stadium. Part of the reason was a drop in donations to the ministry, founded by psychologist James Dobson. Instead, the celebration will be an invitation-only event in Denver, featuring Christian speakers and musicians.
The Ventura, Calif.-based Barna Research Group, which monitors church statistics, reports that the median church operating budget is $123,000, less than what some Americans take home as a single salary. Their calculations showed church giving in dollars went up 78 percent between 1987 and 1997, perhaps the result of older church members donating to religious causes instead of saving for their families.
Empty Tomb's annual report on church giving, released in December, shows levels well below the biblical standard of 10 percent. Using 1999 figures, which are the most recent available, the group found people giving 2.58 percent of their annual net income, a drop of 17 percent from the 3.1 percent people donated in 1968. "People these days are giving to arts and education" Ronsvalle says, "but human services and religion are going down as a percentage of income."
Jewish giving, says Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco, is higher than that of Catholics (1.5 percent of net income) but lower than mainline Protestants (2.9 percent) and evangelical or charismatic Christian groups (4 percent to 8 percent). Jews pay yearly dues instead of the free-form giving so prevalent in churches. But they also donate outside their synagogues to universities, hospitals and Israeli-related causes. The unofficial estimate of total Jewish giving in the United States is $2 billion.
JULIA DUIN WRITES FOR Insight'S SISTER DAILY, THE WASHINGTON TIMES.
COPYRIGHT 2002 News World Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
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