Churches in general experienced a drop in cash donations for the first time in 10 years in 2022, except for those pulling in revenue of $20 million or more. That’s according to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
The data showed that for the first time in 10 years giving to the typical ECFA member did not keep up with inflation in 2022 and they saw an overall decrease in cash donations of 0.7%. Cash donations make up more than 80% of annual revenue for ECFA members.
While cash giving to nonprofit ministries showed little change in 2022, churches continued to struggle to maintain pace with high levels of inflation and the authors of the report noted that ministries fared better than churches because they have a broader appeal to the general public.
Three of the five ministries that experienced the highest cash giving growth from 2021 to 2022 were in the field of education.
The decline in giving to churches ranged from 2.1% to 4.4%.
A survey of 116 ECFA member churches and 412 nonprofits from September to October 2023 showed however that cash giving for the first three quarters of the year is rebounding, especially for churches.