Philanthropy

I was doing some reading today and stumbled across what I believe are some interesting facts about the generosity of people in general (and Christians in particular). It seems there is good news and bad news on that front. People in general seem to be getting more generous. However, Christians (or those who say they are Christians) seem to be getting more stingy. Take a look at what I found.

A report called "The State of Church Giving" has been published by the Empty Tomb research organization (http://www.emptytomb.org/). It claims that contributions to churches overall represented just 2.2% of the income of the people who gave it. That's an all-time low since this statistic began being tracked in 1968.

The most generous of Americans live in Utah, and gave 6.37% of their after-tax household income to charity. Texans, by comparison, gave just 3.49% of their after-tax household income to charity. - Source: Center on Wealth & Philanthropy, Boston College

Overall, Americans gave just 1.67% of their income to charity. Unbelievably, that makes us Americans the most generous people on earth! Citizens of the United Kingdom gave just 0.73% of their income to charity last year, Canadians gave 0.72%, Australians gave 0.69% and it just really dropped off after that. - Source: Charities Aid Foundation

The United States has more than 1.4 million non profit organizations. They raised just over $1 trillion in donations last year. The U.S. non-profit sector represents 5.2% of our overall economy and employs about 8% of our workers. The United Kingdom, by comparison, has about 180,000 non profit organizations and they raised the equivalent of just $38 billion in donations last year. Now the British have a population that's about one third the size of the U.S. population. Instead, their non-profit sector is a tiny fraction of that of the U.S. - Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy

So I have two observations. First, and this is maybe a long shot, it seems that the British and other countries might be giving their donations to American charities. But second, and this is the travesty of mankind ... by giving just 1.67% of our income to charity, we Americans get to be the most generous people on earth. Yet God tells us in the Bible to give at least 10% of our income to charity. So that would suggest that nobody is doing what God says!

"But wait!" you say. "I personally give more than that to charity." Maybe you even tithe your full 10%. So you're thinking, "I can't help it that everyone else gives so little. I'm obeying God!" And of course that may indeed be true. But if we believe we are a nation blessed by God, what would make that so? If God is to bless us as a nation, why wouldn't He also punish us as a nation? I think we need to be looking at the issues of corporate and national obedience and repentance. Biblical history is replete with Godly individuals whom God called out of a dangerous situation ---- before He destroyed a city or nation!

By the way, I ran into some other blogs that seem pretty relevant to the subject of philanthropy. Here they are:

http://postcards.typepad.com/white_telephone
This is where Al Ruesga, a foundation executive, sparks discussion on the public trust in non profit organizations and other matters.

http://trentstamp.blogspot.com/
This is the personal blog of the CEO of Charity Navigator, a non profit group that evaluates what's right and wrong with individual charities and with philanthropy in general.

http://www.gifthub.org/
This is Phil Cubeta, a financial services executive, trying to challenge conventional thinking about fund raising and other issues in the non-profit world.

http://donttellthedonor.blogspot.com/
Oh, this is a juicy one! It talks about fund-raising snafus and other gossip from the non-profit world. The write won't reveal his (or her) identity though. So it's not verifiable information.

http://www.benetech.org/
This is an excellent blog in my opinion! Jim Fruchterman talks about how technology can be used to fulfill unmet social needs. It's a must read for anyone in the non-profit world, especially churches and other traditional organizations that don't consider themselves to be tech-savvy.