According to the new Giving USA report, which happens to be the most popular yearly study on philanthropy, Americans are making lesser charitable donations to religious groups, despite philanthropic activities increasing consistently.
The report that was published on June 17 by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, revealed that in 2013, American individuals, groups, corporations and foundations donated $335 billion, a three percent rise from 2012. This was the fourth consecutive year, since the recession officially ended in 2009, in which charitable donations saw a rise. However, religious groups experienced a drop of 1.6 percent from 2012 to 2013. This figure is a sharp contrast to the jumps seen in education (7.4 percent), environmental and animal groups (6 percent) and arts and humanities (6.3 percent).
Experts believe the reason behind this changing trend is Americans’ reducing interest in religious institutions.
“Giving to religion represents primarily giving to houses of worship. There has been a growing percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation, as well as a decrease in both church attendance and membership,” said Rick Dunham, CEO of Dallas-based Dunham+Company, a fundraising consulting company that mostly works with Christian ministries.
Despite another recent study stating every one in five Americans does not associate with any particular religion, Dunham is of the opinion that several religious charities are often included in other sectors including education and human services.
“This is a bit of a complex picture because giving to religion is both declining as well as shifting from houses of worship to religiously affiliated charities that are counted in other sectors,” he said.
However, the report also showed that the religious sector continues to receive majority of all charitable donations, which is clocked at 31 percent. The Giving USA report drew data from several private and government groups, including the US Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service.
