Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

34 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
personal spiritual and religious life.
It is important to treat the issue of individual stewardship as over
against major giving and financial donations by institutions. In 1998,
individual Americans gave an estimated $133 billion to charity. By
2000, personal giving amongst Americans was estimated to exceed
$152 billion—an increase of 4.9% over individual donations to charity
in 1999. Religious charitable giving accounts for $74.3 billion or 48%
of this figure. 18 However, it should be noted that the religious
percentage share of overall giving is shrinking. To be more direct,
even though more money is flowing to religious charities than ever
before, fewer donors are responsible for these gifts, and the growth in
secular charitable gifts is quickly outpacing religious giving. 19
Individual Canadians are also generous when it comes to charity.
Canadians gave in excess of $4.5 billion in 1997, and by 2000 were
estimated to have given just over $5 billion. 20 While North America
might be considered a largely homogeneous society, the differences in
culture and charitable giving are as diverse amongst Americans and
Canadians as they are between them. All sorts of demographic
discriminators come into play: regions, language, religion, ethnic and
cultural provenance, socio-economic status, and so on. The issue for
Canadian givers isn’t whether “it will play in Peoria” but rather “what
plays in Toronto doesn’t always play in the Prairies.”
Conventional wisdom suggests that with the growth in secular
philanthropy outpacing religious charity, the Church need only more
fully embrace secular fundraising. But as previously noted, this could
not be more wrongheaded. The Church may technically be classified
a “non-profit” organization, but it is much more than that. The Church
is a voluntary association of individuals who share a confession of
18 Melissa S. Brown, ed. Giving USA 2001, (Indianapolis: American Association of
Fundraising Counsel [AAFRC] Trust for Philanthropy, 2001), p. 156.
19 Ibid.
20 Adapted from: Statistics Canada, Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians:
Highlights from the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating,
[NSGVP]. Catalogue no. 71–542–XIE, 1997 & 2000, p. 10.