3 in 4 Christian donors are continuing to support their churches and favourite charities in recession
Howard Lake | 2 July 2010 | News
Over 80 percent of evangelical Christians donated the same amounts of money in 2009 as they did in the years prior to the recession according to Why Christians Give, a new report on giving habits and attitudes of 21st century evangelical donors, published by McConkey ● Johnston international UK and the Evangelical Alliance.
The survey of 2,000 evangelical Christians carried out in August and September 2009 shows that the average amount donated was 11.5% of monthly household income of which 6.5% is donated to local churches and another 5% to Christian charities. Another 1.5% of income is donated occasionally to non-religious charities also.
However, the economic downturn is impacting Christian giving. Although the majority of the evangelicals are keeping their giving commitments nearly half of them (42 percent) are not taking on new giving opportunities.
Christian outreach, international relief and development and healthcare charities are the top three causes supported by evangelicals in a typical month.
Standing orders and direct debits are evangelical’s favourite ways of giving used by 56 percent of donors. The least popular way was online giving used only by 2 percent of donors.
Today’s evangelical donors are looking for meaningful relationships with the charities they support. They are likely to keep giving to charities that tell them how the money is being spent, truly appreciate their contributions and do not send them too many financial appeals.
Commenting on the research, Redina Kolaneci of McConkey ● Johnston international UK, the report’s author said, “Our survey shows that evangelical Christians remain generous with their money. However churches and charities cannot expect money to drop into their laps. They need to understand how and why these people give. Also, they need to develop biblically based stewardship and fundraising tools that align with the donor’s perspectives and preferences for giving.
One thing is clear that one-size-fits-all stewardship and fundraising approaches are not going to work with new generations of donors who want to enter into dynamic partnerships with the charities they support.”
Steve Clifford, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance said: “Why Christians Give is a timely report. The church as we know it has changed. We can’t take it for granted the principles of stewardship are widely applied across our diverse church expressions. I believe this report is geared to educate and inform Christian leaders and charity fundraisers on this issue in a positive way.”
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Media enquiries: Redina Kolaneci
Senior Fundraising & Stewardship Consultant
McConkey ● Johnston international UK
T: 0777 558 2696
E: re****@mc***************.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Christian giving survey was carried out by McConkey ● Johnston international UK in partnership with the Evangelical Alliance. A free summary of the key findings can be found at:
www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk/researchongiving
The report Why Christians Give: Understanding the hearts and minds of 21st century evangelical donors is available for purchase at £40 + £3.95 pp. To order a copy email: re****@mc***************.uk
1. McConkey ●Johnston international UK is a Christian consulting group that helps churches and charities to become more effective in the areas of fundraising, marketing and communications.
2. The Evangelical Alliance, formed in 1846, is the largest body serving evangelical Christians in the UK, and has a membership including denominations, churches, organisations and individuals. The mission of the Evangelical Alliance is to unite evangelicals to present Christ credibly as good news for spiritual and social transformation. According to a Tearfund survey (Churchgoing in the UK, 2007), there are approximately 2 million evangelical Christians in the UK. For more information, go to www.eauk.org.
3. This research project was sponsored by Kingdom Bank, Trinity Wealth Management and David Potter Design.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.