Report: Small churches feeling financial squeeze

(RNS) Almost all U.S. churches witnessed a change in the financial
giving they received in 2010 compared to 2009, with smaller churches
feeling the squeeze but larger churches faring relatively better,
according to a new report.


Only 12 percent of churches reported unchanged giving from 2009,
according to the State of the Plate survey released Wednesday (March
30), while 43 percent of churches experienced a giving increase and 39
percent reported a decrease.


Smaller congregations were more likely to see a decrease in giving,
said Matt Branaugh, an editor at Christianity Today International, which
helped gather the data for the State of the Plate for the past two
years.


"We do see smaller churches continuing to struggle, it seems more so
than larger-sized churches," Branaugh said.


The report found that about 40 percent of churches with fewer than
249 attendees experienced a drop in giving. Only 29 percent of
megachurches, with an average weekend attendance of more than 2,000,
reported a decrease in giving, according to the report.


The percentage of churches that reported a drop in giving in 2010
rose slightly from 2009, from 38 percent to 39 percent. Churches that
reported an increase in giving rose from 35 percent in 2009 to 43
percent in 2010.


The State of the Plate survey was launched in 2008 when Brian Kluth,
founder of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Maximum Generosity, realized
there was minimal solid data on church finances.


The following year, Kluth's financial consulting firm recruited
Christianity Today International in compiling the report. The
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability joined both
organizations this year to analyze self-reported 2010 data from
churches.


The survey is a constituency survey, based on email responses
submitted by 1,507 congregations and is not a traditional random phone
sample with a margin of error.


Almost all responding churches (91 percent) expressed concern over
the potential of a government revision of the rules for charitable
deductions. Kluth said the Obama administration's proposal to reduce tax
deductions for high-end charitable donors will impact gifts given to
churches.


"If the government's plan to change the rules on charitable tax
deductions goes through, giving to charities and churches and the help
they give to others will likely be negatively impacted at a time it is
needed the most," Kluth said in a statement.