The Generosity Report
New Stewardship Generosity Report explores Christian giving in the UK
Posted on 03 July 2024 by Global Connections
In May this year a team from Stewardship led us in a helpful event about fundraising in a cost of living crisis. During the event the team showed us some early data from the Generosity report. With the report now completed we are pleased that Stewardship have written the article below to share it with us.
Stewardship's Generosity Report
Stewardship enjoys a unique position in the Christian charity sector, serving both donors and the causes they support, helping Christians to steward their resources generously so they can achieve more impact for God’s Kingdom.
Stewardship could see there was a gap between current and potential levels of generosity but didn’t know how big it was. They wanted to know how much Christians are giving, what they think about generosity and why they do or don’t give.
The research behind the Generosity Report
To address these questions and more, Stewardship partnered with Whitestone Insight to conduct this new research, which seeks to provide rigorous, objective data on the UK Christian giving landscape. It also examines the gap between current and potential levels of generosity and points to how that gap might be closed by sharing insights into the factors driving and hindering generosity. The report provides quantitative and qualitative data, including case studies, which are designed to support Stewardship's partners - churches, charities and Christian workers - in inviting generosity and growing support.
The report’s research reveals eight key findings that are grouped under three headings: ‘Active faith’, ‘Connection to causes’ and ‘Unlocking the giving potential’. The learnings are designed to provide valuable insights into the impact of faith and the donor-cause relationship on giving, and to identify factors that are key to encouraging generosity. The report also includes recommendations for charity and church leaders, Christian workers and donors and a list of helpful resources for next steps.
Data points to significant giving potential
The data reveals monthly average giving from UK Christians is at 3.2% of income after tax. This equates to £73 a month or £876 a year. This is £8 more per month than the £65 that is reportedly given by UK citizens to all charities, according to the Charities Aid Foundation¹. The data breaks down into an average of £60 or 2.5% per month being given to Christian causes – which includes churches, charities and people working in ministry – and £14 or 0.6% per month to secular causes.
However, when considering those who attend church and read their Bible at least once a month, described as ‘Practising Christians’ in this report, those numbers increase rapidly. Practising Christians give an average of £167 a month, or 6.3% of their income. This breaks down into £141 or 5.2% per month being given to Christian causes and £26 or 1.1% per month, to secular causes².
If each Christian in the UK gave 10% after tax - based on the principle of tithing described in the Bible - a potential 3.5 times more - £232 a month or £2,784 year - could be given to causes each year by charity³. Unlocking this latent giving potential could mean so many more lives and communities around the UK could be transformed.
The two biggest barriers to giving are people feeling unable to afford to give and a lack of trust that donations will be used well.
This year’s report is an important first step that Stewardship plans to build on by running the research on an annual basis.
Support for the Generosity Report
"I warmly endorse this initiative from Stewardship. It’s fascinating to read their Generosity Report and to see how Christian giving is truly transforming the impact of Kingdom initiatives across the UK.” Debra Green OBE DL, Executive Director, Redeeming our Communities
“Massive well done to Stewardship for commissioning this innovative and informative research report that I’m sure will influence, inform and shape Christian giving, increasing its impact for the Gospel for many years to come.” Rev Wendy Pawsey, Head of giving, Evangelical Alliance
Download the report: https://www.stewardship.org.uk/generosity-report
¹Participants of the survey were asked how much they give to a variety of causes. This figure is the sum of the mean average donation from all Christians to each cause, including those who do not give. For the comparative data from the Charities Aid Foundation, see their UK Giving Report 2023: https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-research/uk_giving_2023.pdf
²All figures in this report have been rounded for presentation purposes. The sum of the mean average donations to all causes was £73.21 or 3.16% of income after tax, which breaks down into the average gift across Christian causes being £59.50 or 2.54% of income after tax and the average gift to secular causes being £13.72 or 0.62% of income after tax.
The sum of the mean average donations to all causes by Practising Christians was £167.26 or 6.26% of income after tax, which breaks down into the average gift across Christian causes being £140.96 or 5.17% of income after tax, and the average gift to secular causes being £26.30 or 1.09% of income after tax.
³The tithing 10% figure is based on our data, however, 10% of the average UK income after tax is also £232 per month using the ONS average salary of £35,000, creating a take-home pay of £27,824.20 per year after tax (HMRC). This demonstrates how representative of typical UK salaries this survey of Christians was.
Meet the Authour
Ruth leads the PR and Communications for Stewardship. She joined Stewardship in April 2022. She has 30 years’ marketing communications experience across a range of sectors, including higher education, technology and the arts, both business- and customer-facing. Ruth worships at C3 Church in Cambridge, where she lives with her husband and two teenage daughters. When she’s not at her desk, you might find her rowing on the River Cam, in a ballet class or out for a walk.