October 30, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
Protestants gave 2.7 percent of their take-home pay to their churches in 2001, an increase of 1.1 percent from the year before, after adjusting for inflation, according to a new report.
The donations averaged about $631 per member, according to the report, which was produced by Empty Tomb, a research and social-services organization in Champaign, Ill.
Twenty-nine Protestant denominations reported $19.8-billion in revenue in 2001, according to the report. Of this aggregate amount, 15 percent — or $2.99-billion — supported denominational administrative costs and local, national, and international charitable activities, either sponsored by or affiliated with a local church or a denomination. The remainder paid for salaries, capital improvements, and other operating expenses of the churches.
The amount churches devoted to charitable activities edged up slightly in 2001, gaining on average about $1 per church member from 2000, from $94.25 to $95.31, after adjusting for inflation.
Despite the small rise in Protestant giving last year, however, the percentage of after-tax income donated by church members dropped gradually from 1968 to 2001, according to the study.
Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Empty Tomb found that while inflation-adjusted incomes for Americans had doubled over the past 34 years, giving by Protestants increased only 72 percent.
Sylvia Ronsvalle, co-author of the study, attributed the declining giving rate mainly to what she called a failure of church leaders to teach Protestants to “integrate their faith with their money” and to instill the “responsibilities of wealth.”
Copies of the report, “The State of Church Giving Through 2000,” are available for $26, plus $4 for shipping, from Empty Tomb, P.O. Box 2404, Champaign, Ill. 61824-2404; (217) 356-9519. A summary of the report can be found at http://www.emptytomb.org.
