A researcher is sounding the alarm after new data shows a worrying decline in Protestant donations to churches and charities in general.

“The conclusion is that over the last three years there has been a change in the generosity of the evangelical community, both to the church and to non-profit organizations or charities,” said Mark Dreistadt. “We’ve seen a decline in donations across the board.”

According to a press release, Infinity Concepts and Gray Matter Research found that “the share of evangelicals giving to the church fell 13 percentage points compared to 2021, representing a 17% decline in giving.”

While 61% of evangelicals donated to their local church in the 12 months prior to the study, this was a decrease from the previous period when 74% of evangelicals had done the same. The same happened with donations to external ministries or organizations, which fell from 58% in 2021 to 50% in 2024.

Dreistadt said these changes are “concerning” for churches and ministries:

“It is certainly something that is a concern for every church and every nonprofit that relies on donations,” he said. “This becomes a very critical issue because… in some cases donations are down by up to 15%. And when you’re working on a tight budget, a 15% loss in sales can be critical.”

Dreistadt also mentioned another important indicator: the amount of money people give.

“They are [also] Giving at a lower level,” he said. “So there are fewer people giving less. … We hear in the churches, we hear and talk about it and how important it is to tithe. But in the entire evangelical community there are so few people who actually are; People usually give 2.8% of their income.”

Dreistadt also discussed some of the undeniable factors that are likely contributing to these problems, including economic hardship, inflation and the fact that it generally leaves people with less money to spend.

“There may be situations where people want to donate but need to pay their rent and can't do both,” he said. “So there’s some of that that may be going on.”

But Dreistadt also pointed to a “deeper concern” reflected in some of his research — something he called the “secularization of the church” and the evangelical community.

He said that because of this dynamic, spiritual practices are becoming “less and less meaningful to a larger number of people within this community.” Ultimately, it is spiritual commitment that drives everything else in the area of ​​faith.

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“If we find people who are really spiritually engaged – they read their Bible, they are in a home or study group, they go to church regularly, they pray regularly –” [for] “For these people, giving has remained much closer to the norm,” he said. “So I think there’s a deeper spiritual issue with some of this as well.”

Interestingly, the American Bible Society recently came to similar conclusions, stating that practicing believers give equally more to churches and charities.

“People who consistently read the Bible and live by its teachings are more likely to give to charity,” said Dr. John Farquhar Plake, chief innovation officer and editor-in-chief of the American Bible Society's State of the Bible series, made a statement. “Our data shows that they are also giving much more – not just to their churches, but also to religious and non-religious charities. At a national level, we could say that people who are committed to the Bible are a tremendous engine for generosity and philanthropy.”

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Overall, 94% of Bible study Americans gave to charity. Read more here.

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