New stewardship messaging needed in a shifting giving landscape

NEW ORLEANS — How congregations weather changing faith and giving patterns may depend on how leaders engage and talk about stewardship, said Dr. David P. King.

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King, who is Karen Lake Buttrey Director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving and associate professor of Philanthropic Studies within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, spoke at the first plenary gathering at Stewardship Kaleidoscope Sept. 22 in New Orleans. The annual conference is presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Numbers and givers

In “Engaging the Shifting Landscape of Faith and Giving,” King plunged into numbers that tell a nuanced story. Church membership among U.S. adults is now below 50%, with 56% reporting they seldom or never attend church.

“Even engaged members might be there just half the month,” he said.

History shows a change, particularly after World War II, from “the age of association to the age of authenticity.” Emerging generations feel less need to affiliate with an organization such as a congregation to find meaning and purpose, preferring a more personalized journey.

While 22% of Americans describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious,” 88% of these engage in a spiritual or religious activity weekly or more often.

“These people are inclined to be givers,” King said, encouraging church leaders to consider how to encourage congregational participation in conjunction with this generosity.

Dollars up, donors down

Almost a quarter of all charitable giving goes to religious organizations. The majority of these are congregations, King said. However, as a share of total giving, donations to religion have declined since the 1980s.

Also decreased is the number of households giving to charity in general. “Fewer folks are giving more, particularly the biggest donors,” he noted.

King cited declines in both individual disposable income and institutional trust. Another factor is a marked decline in giving to churches among adults younger than 30.

Giving types and messaging

Fifty-five percent of Americans say religious or spiritual values motivate their giving, King said.

“One question is: How are they giving?” King said.

He pointed to four giving types: impulsive, selective, habitual and planned. “Impulsive givers (42%) are about half of all Americans,” he said. Selective givers came in at 17%, while planned givers make up about 16% and habitual are only 6%.

“This isn’t to say any of these are right or wrong,” King said, “but messaging is important.”

Also consider “pay the bills” vs. “share the vision” messaging, he suggested. The former frames money in mostly unspiritual terms: “Money is scarce.” “We have bills to pay if we’re going to survive.” The latter, by contrast, may say: “We may not be rich, but we have more than enough.” or “Partner with us in God’s mission to …”

The word “stewardship” itself gets used so much it can become vague or even empty, King said.

“We could either rehab stewardship language or retire it,” he said. “I think we could revivify it. We can give it new life.”

And, of course, “we’ll spend the next few days on this.”