Charitable giving came to about $335 billion in 2013, according to the story here citing Giving USA statistics. That's still more than 4% lower than the amount given in 2007, adjusted for inflation, but rising since the end of the intervening depression.
Consider that total disposable personal income in 2013 was $12.505 trillion, according to the latest GDP report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Congress here. That means everyone, from individuals to corporations and foundations etc., gave just 2.68%.
So what's with all the Christians, many of whom preach tithing, which is giving 10%?
75% of the country claims to be Christian of some sort after all. If 75% of just the $6.7 trillion in net compensation in 2013 were tithed on by the Christians they would be contributing over $500 billion to charity. And tithing on 75% of the total disposable income would come to a whopping $938 billion.
Of course we can't really say that 75% of either sum is what the Christians actually make.
A closer approximation of that would start with the sometimes heard claim that 9 out of 10 people sitting in the pews make less than the senior pastor. The high end of the scale for senior pastors is currently almost $88,000 per year, which puts them in the 90th percentile of income in 2013. In other words, many of them are rich. Net compensation for everyone making below $90,000 a year in 2013 totaled $4.06 trillion. Taking 10% of 75% of that yields $305 billion in theoretical tithes expected from the Christians in 2013. Typically, however, only about a third of total charitable contributions go to specifically religious institutions and organizations, so we're talking about roughly $110 billion in specifically religious contributions in 2013, a giving rate of about 3.6%, not 10%. Of course the rate could be much higher than that if the Christians are also supporting non-religious charities at higher rates than they support their own, but how likely is that?
Overall it must be said the Christians are more generous than the overall rate, but fall rather short of their oft-stated goal.
Well, don't we all.
A closer approximation of that would start with the sometimes heard claim that 9 out of 10 people sitting in the pews make less than the senior pastor. The high end of the scale for senior pastors is currently almost $88,000 per year, which puts them in the 90th percentile of income in 2013. In other words, many of them are rich. Net compensation for everyone making below $90,000 a year in 2013 totaled $4.06 trillion. Taking 10% of 75% of that yields $305 billion in theoretical tithes expected from the Christians in 2013. Typically, however, only about a third of total charitable contributions go to specifically religious institutions and organizations, so we're talking about roughly $110 billion in specifically religious contributions in 2013, a giving rate of about 3.6%, not 10%. Of course the rate could be much higher than that if the Christians are also supporting non-religious charities at higher rates than they support their own, but how likely is that?
Overall it must be said the Christians are more generous than the overall rate, but fall rather short of their oft-stated goal.
Well, don't we all.
