Religion Is the Only Sector “Down” Last Year– 3 Signals Faith Charities Must Heed
Giving USA 2025 confirmed what many leaders of faith nonprofits have felt in their budgets for years: gifts to religion rose just 1.9 percent in current dollars last year—yet fell 1 percent after inflation, making religion the only major sector that actually lost purchasing power in 2024.
Put differently, congregations received $146.5 billion, about 25 percent of all charitable dollars. This is a far cry from the 63 percent share they held in 1983 and roughly 24 percent in 2023. The headline totals hide a deeper slide that threatens every church, synagogue and mosque that still relies on “pass-the-plate” habits.
Below are three warning lights every faith-based fundraiser should see on the dashboard, as well as practical moves you can launch the rest of this year.
1. The “Soft Decline” Masked by Nominal Growth
Because the absolute number ticks up most years, boards celebrate a bigger dollar figure and miss the erosion of real buying power. A 1 percent real drop means fewer program dollars once you pay for utilities, salaries and curriculum that grew 3 to 5 percent.
Action Steps
Inflation-adjust your dashboards. Show last year’s gifts in both current and 2024 dollars so finance committees grasp the shortfall.
Frame asks around true cost. “It costs $105 today to fund the same camp scholarship that was $100 last year.”
2. Donors Are Re-Allocating, Not Withholding
Religion remains the largest slice of the giving pie, yet every other major sector posted real gains: public-society benefit (+16.1 %), education (+9.9 %), international affairs (+14.3 %) and more. The takeaway: your givers haven’t grown stingy; they’ve grown choosy. Younger households especially treat congregational giving as just one line in a diversified altruism portfolio.
Action Steps
Improve your storytelling. Highlight the community-wide impact like food pantries, housing resettlement, community creation, etc. that competes head-to-head with secular charities.
Bundle projects with outside partners. A joint housing or tutoring initiative lets donors check two boxes (faith + social impact) with one gift.
Offer non-cash and donor-advised-fund (DAF) options. If members are already using Fidelity Charitable or Schwab Charitable for everything else, meet them there.
3. Engagement Is Flattening Faster Than Membership
Attendance hasn’t nosedived since COVID, but it’s stuck in the low 30 percent of adults saying they participate monthly—online or in person—while 80 percent of Americans believe religion is losing influence. An engaged disciple is still your best prospect; disengagement starves the funnel long before the offertory.
Action Steps
Shift from attendance metrics to engagement metrics. Track things like small-group participation and volunteer hours.
Re-introduce spiritual “on-ramps” every quarter. Short-term Bible courses, service days and newcomer coffees give lapsed members a frictionless moment to plug back in.
Automate digital giving nudges. Pair every new-member form, livestream chat and email devotional with a one-click recurring-gift link. Think of it as today’s version of envelopes in the pew.
Bonus Move: Re-balance Your Donor Pyramid
Most congregations already depend on a shrinking cadre of Boomers who write the four-figure checks. With Boomers entering their planned-giving years and Gen X now at peak earnings, it’s time to:
Treat $500–$2,500 givers as major-gift leads. A quarterly meeting or Q&A with the senior pastor beats another mass email.
Launch a legacy society—like…yesterday. Even a simple codicil template can capture bequests that will fund ministry long after today’s inflation worries fade.
Religion’s 1 percent real-dollar dip is not the beginning of a death spiral. Faith communities still attracted nearly $147 billion last year—more than any other nonprofit sector. But it’s worth noting that the ground is shifting: donors expect impact transparency, digital convenience and multiple ways to live out their values. Put the three signals above on your next stewardship-committee agenda and pivot while there’s still daylight between trend lines and budgets.
Need help translating the data into an actionable fall campaign? Let’s chat. We’ve walked dozens of congregations through right-sizing their donor pyramids and re-tooling their stories for the modern giver. The sooner you move, the stronger your year-end mission will be.
