Optimism over giving in 2024 despite economy

A recent survey found reason for optimism about faith-based giving in 2024. Despite ongoing economic challenges, donations to churches and ministries remain strong. That’s according to the Giving in Faith report from Givelify and the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving.

“In a period marked by economic unpredictability, socio-political unrest and rapidly advancing technology, pastors and faith leaders might find themselves navigating uncertainty,” said Wale Mafolasire, founder and CEO of Givelify. “The Giving in Faith report not only addresses the multifaceted aspects of how people give to their churches and places of worship but also offers a glimpse into future expectations.”

Researchers detailed several giving trends for this year.

Faith-based giving forecasts points to increased generosity with a commitment to do more. 

Although more than half of faith leaders are concerned that the state of the economy will negatively affect their organizations’ finances, 95 percent of individuals who gave money to their places of worship in 2023 want to give the same or more in 2024.

And 94 percent of people of faith who donated money to nonprofit organizations in 2023 want to give the same or more in 2024. Only 10 percent of givers strongly agreed that their charitable giving in the past year was enough, while only 8 percent strongly agreed that they had volunteered enough.

Faith leaders are committed to making a bigger impact in their communities in 2024.

Almost all (99 percent) plan to maintain or increase their community outreach efforts, and 72 percent plan on increasing their outreach, particularly to support primary needs (food and clothing), housing (through rental support or shelters), women and senior initiatives, and disaster relief.

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Ambivalence pervades the adoption of new technologies outside of digital giving.

Although faith leaders are excited about the potential for technology to support recurring giving and keep their congregation connected, most have mixed feelings about artificial intelligence. Ninety-four percent have never used AI, while some (6 percent) are finding innovative ways to incorporate it for automating announcements, livestreaming church services and processing financial transactions. Others use ChatGPT for research, to generate ideas for events and funding and to translate sermons into different languages.

–Dwight Widaman  | MV