Along with jobs and 401(k)s, a major casualty of the Great Recession has been charitable giving. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, America’s charities report an 11% drop in contributions in the past year alone. There’s one big exception: Charitable contributions to religious groups dropped by only 0.1% from 2007 to 2009.
Americans are generous people. In 2006, as detailed in our recent book, “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” 80% of all Americans reported having made a charitable contribution in the previous year. But some””the religious””contributed more than others.
Of the most secular fifth of Americans, two-thirds said they gave money to charity in the previous year. That’s an impressive number, but it pales next to the 94% of the most religious fifth who reported making a charitable donation.
“If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”
— C.S. Lewis