Donations to religious organizations slowly drying up

Giving USA has been tracking charity in America for 57 years. Their latest report should be viewed with concern by people of faith. For the second year in a row, donations to religious organizations declined while increasing in all other sectors.

Total charitable giving rose 4 percent in 2011 to $298.42 billion, while giving to religious causes declined 1.7 percent to $95.88 billion. Giving by individuals increased 3.9 percent to $217.8 billion, while corporate giving was essentially flat, declining 0.1 percent to $14.55 billion.

The economy improved. Corporate profits are at record levels. Donations to secular organizations rose while money going to religious organizations dropped. It is another wake-up call.

Robert Evans runs a consulting firm that specializes in religious fundraising. Here are his guesses why religious organizations are losing ground when it comes to charitable giving.

"Institutions doing bad things discourage giving," he said. "Donors at all levels feel they have to send a message to the powers-that-be that they don't like bad behavior, and they do it with their checkbooks."

But more problematic is the decline in attendance at churches, synagogues and other religious institutions: Attendance correlates with giving, Evans said.

Even though religious organizations "ask" more often, they are not as sophisticated as other fund-raisers, he said.

In other words, religious leaders have been behaving badly, failing to inspire the faithful, and making ham-handed requests for money.

The bottom line is that religious institutions are operating with less money than before the Great Recession. It also means that we will not be able to pick up the slack when our worthless politicians throw the poor, aged, and disabled under the bus.

We need to pray that the Lord does not return any time soon. Trees that do not bear fruit do not tend to fare well (Luke 13:6-9).

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”