Posted on 12/05/2019 5:41:11 PM PST by marshmallow
Some 20 million fewer households donate to charity than they did two decades ago
Fewer Americans are giving money to charity, and their relationship with God may have something to do with it.
The share of U.S. adults who donated to charity dropped significantly between 2000 and 2016, according to an analysis released this month from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Vanguard Charitable.
By 2016, just over half — 53% — of Americans gave money to charity, down from 66% in 2000. That figure held mostly steady until the Great Recession. Then it started to drop off and took a dive after 2010, said report co-author Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly School.
The decline amounts to 20 million fewer households donating to charity in 2016 (the most recent year for which data was available) versus 2000, researchers said.
The analysis drew on data from the Philanthropy Panel Study, a data set within the University of Michigan’s Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which tracks the same 9,000 families’ charitable giving every two years.
Americans are losing their religion
One factor driving the decline: Americans are becoming less likely to attend religious services or identify with a specific religion.
“Attending services is correlated with giving to religious organizations, but it’s also correlated with giving to secular groups,” Osili said.
Giving to charity is, of course, a core belief for many of the world’s major religions. And very religious people of any faith are more likely to give to charity, one study by Baylor University researchers found.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
That is exactly right. Not only mail but phone calls too. And it's not just charities, the same goes for any political contribution.
That’s a good point; more and more people would see no tax benefit from charitable donations.
I also think a large part of this is demographic; as older Americans who had “good” jobs attrite out of the economy, the next generation often work in low-paying McJobs that not only prevent them from giving - I believe it really sours them on many of the alleged beneficiaries, who certainly could be working the same McJobs.
Finally, we are reaping what we’ve sown in marginalizing/destroying the WASP culture in this country and its Judeo-Christian roots. Why would younger secular Americans ever give the fruits of their labor to someone else?
Animal shelters (earmarked for cats) ONLY...sorry, humans!
Donating to charities that have a high administration cost is a factor. Donate 200 and the charity gets 1.95 the rest goes to overhead. I would imagine that most average Americans donate a larger percentage of their annual income compared to these criminal rat politicians. Why is this not public? This is an indication of the types of people we elect to represent us
https://www.charitynavigator.org/
Above is a site that gives the breakdown on admin costs, etc.
I changed some of my giving based on their information. It does take money to have a CEO, raise funds, etc. But this site at least allows one to decide for themselves what is reasonable.
One of the places I give to is Christian Appalachian Project, with 86.7% going directly to helping folks. My old man gave to them years ago, and got me interested in them. Carrying on the legacy now 30 years later after he passed on.
And candidates like Buttgieg think Jesus’ command to feed the poor can be fulfilled by govt, so who needs to give to charity?
But the Obamas were very generous this year, donating $11 million to charity. Oh, wait. No; they didn’t. They bought an $11 million house. Never mind.
Not to incentivize what Washington thinks are good actions, or to punish what Washington thinks are bad deductions.
Flat tax, no deductions is the way to go.
The charity industry along with others (real estate) are just going to have to learn to operate under a different reality.
In my view this goes hand-in-hand with the country’s drift towards socialism.
In Euro-Socialist countries rates of charitable giving are very low. The prevailing attitude becomes “it’s the government’s job, let them handle it.”
You can see that happening here.
Spot on.
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