From Church Marketing Sucks:
“Christian History has an interesting little article exploring the recent history of the church offering in church services. The article covers government-supported churches (that’s right, here in the U.S. of A. until 1833) and explains how the weekly passing of the collection plate during worship services didn’t become common practice until 1900. It’s a little bewildering to me that a staple of the modern church service is such a recent addition. But it’s also freeing, considering how that staple so often trips people up and prompts finger-wagging over churches only wanting your money.” Patrick’s 2 cents – fascinating article that makes me consider the cultural context of church offerings and the motivations for taking them.
http://tinyurl.com/cmsgiving
Filed under: Church , statistics
September 20, 2008 • 12:09 am
USA Today – The Obamas gave $240,000 to charity last year, about 5.7% of their income; in 2000, when the couple made $240,726, they gave $2,350 to charity, about 1% of their income. The Bidens gave $995 in charitable donations last year — about 0.3% of their income and the highest amount in the past decade. The low was $120 in 1999, about 0.1% of yearly income. John McCain – gave more than $202,000 — 25% of his income — to charity in 2006 and 2007. The Palins’ giving not yet released.
http://tinyurl.com/candidatesgiving
Filed under: Giver , statistics
September 12, 2008 • 12:23 am
Chronicle of Philanthropy - Interviews with 33 people who give away an average of $1.5-million annually, found that most had built businesses in finance, technology, pharmacology, and other fields. Several said they understood charities’ need for money to pay for overhead and other operating costs and were willing to provide it. Patrick’s 2 cents – good insight into how wealthy givers make giving decisions…..notice the strong peer to peer influence and the reluctance to ask for data from charities.
http://tinyurl.com/4ahkc2
Filed under: Giver , statistics
Non-profit Times - Cross virtually every demographic — age, gender, race, income, education and household size — more people are heading for the Internet before they make a charitable donation. According to a new The NonProfit Times study, twice as many potential donors are heading online after receiving a fundraising solicitation by mail than they did just three years ago, and among those 65 and older, the increases were even more substantial. Patrick’s 2 cents – study shows the growing importance of the non-profit web site + growing usage of online research on non-profit activities.
http://www.nptimes.com/08July/npt-080715-1.html
Filed under: Ministry , marketing, statistics
Filed under: Giver , statistics
Guidestar – Having an on-line presence is a necessity in today’s fundraising environment, but in general, organizations should not expect a financial windfall to arrive through the Internet. The on-line fundraising process generates gifts but typically not more than 10 to 15 percent of individual contributions and not more than 5 percent of all forms of charitable giving in the public-society benefit subsector.
http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/on_line_giving.jsp
Filed under: Ministry , statistics, technology
Time - Over the past two years, some of the world’s top economists have been crunching the numbers on the most efficient way to spend that $75 billion, roughly the sum total of global foreign aid budgets. Led by Bjorn Lomborg — an idiosyncratic author best known for his skeptical views on global warming — the organization last month gathered eight major economists, including five Nobel Prize winners, to come up with an answer. The results are surprising.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1817036,00.html
Filed under: Giver , international, statistics
Filed under: Giver , statistics
Who are Americans - The U.S. Government comes in near last among developed nations in terms of foreign aid as a percentage of gross national income. But if you look at American individuals and families and non-governmental organizations, you would see that American people are some of the most generous people in the world. Americans (outside government channels) give a higher percentage of their income for aid to underdeveloped countries than citizens in any developed country in the world.
http://whoareamericans.com/2008/06/12/american-foreign-aid-2/
Filed under: Giver , statistics
