Individual congregants of sixty-five Christian denominations that reported financial information for publication gave an average of $713 to their church in calendar year 2005. That figure was reported in the seventy-fifth Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, published in March 2007 by the National Council of Churches USA. The per capita amount represents an increase of just $18.93 per person from the previous year. The Yearbook article notes that the increase (2.7%) does not exceed the official inflation figure. Benevolence giving—financial contributions to church programs such as relief efforts and feeding or housing the homeless—remained flat at fifteen percent. The below-inflation increase in overall giving coupled with a “stagnant posture in benevolence” has the practical consequence of “less support for church-sponsored day care, fewer soup-kitchen meals, less emergency help to persons with medical problems or reduced transportation to the elderly” in local communities. More than $34 billion in total church giving was reported to the Yearbook by the sixty-five denominations. (National Council of Churches)
