New Barna Group Survey Finds Christians Are The Most Generous Americans
Americans have long been known as the most generous people on the face of the Earth, but who are the most generous among them? A new nationwide survey by the Barna Group market research firm points to “Practicing Christians.”
The Barna Groups survey results are reported in “Landscape of Giving,” the first of what is expected to be a series of analyses by the Ventura, Calfornia-based firm of giving in America.
Screenshot from “The Landscape of Giving.”
Fully 60 percent or three of every five Americans report having contributed to a charitable group, religious and non-religious, in the past year, according to the report.
The percentage of givers skyrockets to 90 percent among those who describe themselves as “Practicing Christians” who attend church at least once a month and describe their faith as extremely important to their daily living.
And Americans generally view themselves as being generous, with 80 percent defining themselves as either “completely generous” or “somewhat generous.” Among Practicing Christians, the percent goes to 92 percent.
“True to their generous self-assessment, Christians, and especially practicing Christians, stand out among annual donors. An overwhelming 90 percent of practicing Christians report charitable giving of some kind,” Barna Group reports.
“By comparison, non-practicing Christians (that is, self-identified Christians who do not attend church at least monthly or say their faith is important to them) fall more in line with the national average (61 percent). The slight majority of non-Christians (55 percent), meanwhile, does not report any charitable donation,” according to Barna Group.
Measured by dollar amounts given, practicing Christians said they gave on average $3,004 total in the past 12 months, with $2,041 of the total being given to churches and $575 going to non-religious groups. For non-Christians, annual giving totaled $526, with most of the that going to non-religious groups.
Measured by generations, Elders and Boomers, the groups with on average the most resources, are the most generous, while Gen Zers, the youngest generation in the survey, give the least. That is not surprising, as giving generally tends to increase as individuals age and their wealth accumulates.
On an ethnic basis, Hispanics are the most generous (67 percent), followed by Asians (62 percent). Blacks and Whites tied at 59 percent.