According to a recent study, the proportion of evangelicals giving to church fell 13 percentage points from 2021, constituting a 17% decrease in giving.
Sixty-one percent of evangelicals gave to their local church in the 12 months prior to the study. Unfortunately, that percentage is down from 2021, when 74% of evangelicals gave to the local church. The percentage of evangelicals who gave to a nonprofit or ministry outside of church also fell from 58% in 2021 to 50% in 2024.
Conversely, the proportion who supported neither church nor charity rose from 19% to 31% in the past three years.
These findings and more can be found in the recent report from Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research, The Giving Gap: Changes in Evangelical Generosity.
Among the more important discoveries in the report:
- The average evangelical donor gives 2.8% of household income to church, down from 3.2% in 2021.
- Between church and charity, the average evangelical donor’s generosity is 3.3% of household income, down from an average of 4% three years ago.
- Evangelicals who regularly read and study the Bible, pray, attend worship, and attend small group are about twice as likely to give to charity and three times as likely to give to church as those who infrequently or never engage in spiritual activities.
- Average total generosity among donors is 5.1% of household income when spiritual engagement is full; 3.6% when it is high; 3.1% at moderate; and just 1.8% when spiritual engagement is low/none.
- The average amount given to church or charity (or both) over the past 12 months was down 15% from 2021.
“The numbers paint an increasingly bleak picture of evangelical generosity,” said Ron Sellers, President of Grey Matter Research. “Almost every measure of giving was down for almost every type of evangelical. One exception is evangelicals of color, who remained much more steadfast in their giving than did others.
“Even though American generosity is down across the country, as per Giving USA, the behavior of believers should be different.”
“The American Church has been teaching on giving, tithing, and stewardship for centuries, and the average evangelical is giving away 2.3% of household income,” said Mark Dreistadt, President and CEO of Infinity Concepts. “If we want people to increase their generosity, maybe the key is not to encourage them to give more, but to encourage them to become more spiritually engaged: read the Bible more; get involved with a small group; attend worship more regularly; or listen to more Christian radio.
“Ultimately, the concept of generosity is about more than just giving,” Dreistadt added. “It is about understanding the true source of our blessings and being generous to others as the Lord has been generous to us. Presumably, engaged believers are growing in their understanding of His gift to us.”
