Both charitable giving and religious beliefs have declined in the past two decades.
A report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Vanguard Charitable found that the number of Americans donating to charity decreased from 2000 to 2016, the most recent year of available data.
In 2000, 66% of Americans gave to charity, but 16 years later, that number saw a 13-point drop and declined to 53%. That decline amounts to 20 million fewer households giving to charity.
According to one of the report’s authors, Una Osili, the decline began around the time of the 2008 recession and dropped further after 2010. Osili said that the decline is not just related to economics but is also correlated with the number of people attending religious services or identifying as religious.
“Attending services is correlated with giving to religious organizations, but it’s also correlated with giving to secular groups,” Osili said.
Along with charitable giving, polling has shown a dip in religion. In the past decade, the number of people who consider themselves atheists, agnostics, or having no religion has increased from 17% to 26%, and the number of Americans who say they are Christians is at 65%, a 12-point decline from 2009.
A study found that people who are very religious are more likely to donate their money to charity than those who are less religious or not religious.
Catholics are also giving less to the church because of the numerous reports of sexual abuse by clergy that have been released in recent years. Almost half of Catholics polled said they were donating less because of the reports.
