Protestants Found to Donate a Reduced Share of Their Incomes to Social Services

THOMAS J. BILLITTERI

Many church-run social services and religious programs could face money shortages in coming years because Protestant church members are donating less and less of their income to support such efforts, says 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 1985 church members donated 0.5 per cent of their after-tax income for such purposes, compared with 0.41 per cent in 1995 — a drop of 18 per cent.

“It’s a warning sign,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, a co-founder of Empty Tomb. “It particularly has an impact on the current national discussion about whether the private sector can take on government responsibilities, especially in relationship to the poor.”

The decline in after-tax giving continued a trend that stretches back at least 28 years, according to the report.

In 1968, Protestants earmarked about 21 cents of every donated dollar to mission work, including social services, seminary operations, and expenses for running national and regional church offices. By 1985 that proportion had fallen to 19 cents, and in 1995 it was at 17 cents.

Giving for congregational needs also has been on a downward trend when measured as a percentage of members’ income. In 1985, members gave 2.2 per cent of their income to the church, compared with 2.1 per cent in 1995, a decline of 4.5 per cent.

Measured in actual dollars — rather than share of income — giving has generally grown in recent years.

The average church member donated about $114 more in 1995 than in 1968, after adjustment for inflation, according to the study. But that increase failed to match members’ income gains.

Not only that, the report says most of the increased donations were spent on local-church programs and needs rather than social-services programs, overseas missionary work, and other such activities.

The Empty Tomb study, conducted annually since 1991, is based on statistics from about a third of the estimated 350,000 religious congregations in the United States.

The study was conducted by Mrs. Ronsvalle and her husband, John, a researcher who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. The chief activity of Empty Tomb, which the couple founded in the early 1970s, is providing social services to poor people in Champaign, Ill.

Philanthropy scholars gave the study mixed reviews.

Dean Hoge, a sociology professor at Catholic University of America, said the study was consistent with other research showing that congregations are spending more of their donations on local-church needs rather than on outside missions.

Still, Mr. Hoge said, the Empty Tomb study failed to note that in many denominations, a governing board — not individual church members — decides how donations will be allocated among local, national, and international needs.

“I’m a Presbyterian, and if I give $1,000, there’s no way I can say I want 20 per cent of it to go to missions,” he said.

Mrs. Ronsvalle acknowledged the merit of Mr. Hoge’s observation and said Empty Tomb’s research assumes that governing boards “serve at the pleasure of congregation members, who are donating the money.”

Virginia Hodgkinson, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute and former research director at Independent Sector, a coalition of non-profit groups, said that Empty Tomb’s use of per-capita data gave a distorted picture of church giving patterns. It is a mistake to assume that income growth is outpacing giving for all church members, since only about a fifth of Americans have enjoyed a dramatic increase in wealth in recent years, she said.

“Forty per cent of the population has lost income,” Ms. Hodgkinson said. “People in the middle-income category and below have a higher percentage of church membership than the very wealthy, and their rate of giving probably hasn’t changed.”

Some observers also questioned whether American churches were really facing a crisis because of changes in giving patterns.

Joseph C. Harris, a Seattle church-finance consultant who has written extensively on Catholic giving, said most local churches have not experienced a budget crisis when giving drops. Still, Mr. Harris said, Empty Tomb’s main message — that income is growing faster than giving — is worth noting.

“If giving had continued at the 1965 or 1970 rate, there would be another $4-billion to work with — for more missionaries, seminaries, food programs, better equipment in churches, a whole bunch of stuff,” he said.

Mrs. Ronsvalle acknowledged that most local churches still have enough money to meet building and personnel expenses. But she maintained that recent giving trends portend a diminishing commitment among church members to help the poor and spread the Christian message.

“That is cause for alarm,” she said. “If the charitable impulse is weakening in the context of religion, we can look for weakening across the entire philanthropic arena.”

“The State of Church Giving Through 1995″ is available for $16 prepaid from Empty Tomb, P.O. Box 2404, Champaign, Ill. 61825-2404. The charge includes postage.