Trends in religious giving
What trends influence religious giving? The September 2025 issue of In Trust magazine had an excellent infographic on giving trends in religion and theological education in the USA, and it applies more generally. Kudos to Matt Huffman for summarizing data from a variety of sources.
I’ll emphasize two points:
fewer donors giving more (Lori’s take)
decreasing religious affiliation.
Plus, I’ll offer a couple of quick “back of the envelope” calculations a church or charity can do.
Fewer donors giving more
For theological schools in particular, giving is up even though fewer Americans identify as religious. Why? The article doesn’t speculate. My hypothesis is that fewer donors are giving more. Likely older, religious donors are leaving bequests or making gifts of assets later in life.
For a number of years in Canada, overall charitable giving increased while the number of donors decreased. Fewer donors were giving more. Churches that look healthy based on receipted giving can obscure a declining congregation. A small number of especially generous folks can carry a church. Likewise, a small number of generous churches can carry a denomination.
Does the “fewer donors giving more” trend apply where you are? A quick way to calculate this in a church or denomination:
What percentage of total donations came from the ten donors giving the largest amounts?
How does this compare to the previous year?
Ten is an arbitrary number, it could be a handful of donors carrying a congregation. How old are they?
Fewer people are connected to religion
Fewer people are associated with a religious congregation, a drop from 70% of Americans in 1999 to 45% in 2023. That’s quite a drop! A person can be religious without belonging to a congregation, but in related news, an increasing percentage of people don’t identify with any religion at all. This ‘switching’ away from religion is a global trend and occurs most often among Christians.
The metric here is simple: count the number of people at Sunday morning worship. Or count the number of households who give. What are the trends year over year?
N.B. Numbers don’t define a worshiping community. I know tiny, tiny churches who serve their community faithfully and well. However, planning for the future of the church requires a loving and prayerful look at the truth. What does good stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to your congregation look like?