Donations to Non Profits is Up. Giving to Churches is Down


It's predictable giving to churches would fall when church attendance and membership declines. Good for our country that giving to non profits is up. 

The link author facies himself as an expert in church affairs and earns his living giving churches advice. He suggested in the link churches be more transparent in their accounting and insist that giving is part of membership. He implies that some of the drop in church giving has to do with distrust about what happens with church money.

Anyone giving to a church probably knows well much of the money goes to pay the preacher/staff and the church building. This is almost the opposite of "giving to charity." Neither the staff nor the building are "the poor." 

That said, nearly all non profits have staff and offices that are paid for out of donations. I looked this up and the overhead expenses of non profits runs about 35% of their revenue. Also, there are associations and, I believe, some government oversight of non profits. Churches, on the other hand, do not have government oversight and, I would guess, far exceed 35% of revenue going for overhead. For this reason, giving to non profits instead of churches often will fit the goal of donors better. 

Giving to churches is about religion, not about giving to better the lives of less fortunate people. As religion slips in popularity we can expect church revenue to continue its slide. Of course, lots of churches continue to have strong revenue numbers. 

We can't predict the future but at this moment the revenue picture for churches is not good. New ideas for Christianity and for each community surely would help.

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