CHRISTIANS are generous charitable givers, but “committed Christians” — defined as those that attend church and browse the Bible at the least once every week — are found to be essentially the most generous, within the 2025 Generosity Report from the organisation Stewardship.
This organisation, which manages charitable donations from churches, charities, and individuals with the aim of advancing “the evangelical Christian faith” (News, 9 August 2024), reports that, in donating a mean of £314 monthly, not only do “committed Christians” give away almost five times the UK monthly giving average, but they experience essentially the most joy from doing so. Those aged between 18 and 24 give the best proportion of their income (10.63 per cent).
The report records £109.6 million in grant payments: a rise of 12 per cent on the previous 12 months. In a survey of 6000 respondents — 2000 greater than last 12 months’s survey — “Committed Christians” were giving a mean of 11.6 per cent of monthly income; “Practising Christians” 7.99 per cent; “Churchgoing Christians” 5.30 per cent, and “Cultural Christians” 0.84 per cent.
Of those that attended church usually, 93 per cent were giving to their church; 82 per cent to Christian charities; 71 per cent to secular charities; and 51 per cent to Christian employees. The charity acknowledges the degrees of generosity, but suggests that a “giving gap” stays. Affordability is identified as one barrier.
Many respondents with a deeper Christian practice expressed “powerfully positive emotions related to their financial giving equivalent to ‘fulfilled’, ‘satisfied’ and ‘at peace’.”
Alignment on values and cause effectiveness are generally an even bigger influence than faith affiliation in deciding who to offer to. Generosity varies across denominations, but those classifying as Independent, Pentecostal, or Orthodox, on average, gave away the best proportion of their annual income, at 10.2 per cent, 9.9 per cent, and 9.7 per cent respectively.
Generosity varies significantly with denomination. Anglicans accounted for nearly half the full sample, at 43 per cent, and likewise had the most important proportion of “Cultural Christians”, at 67 per cent.
Stewardship’s chief executive, Janie Oliver, said: “Our prayer is that the findings, along with our recommendations and resources, will each support our donors as they grow of their generosity, and help our church, charity, and individual partners to ask support with more confidence.”
The C of E’s National Adviser on Giving and Income Generation, Jonathan de Bernhardt Wood, described giving and receiving as two sides of the identical coin. “The more we realise that every little thing we’ve is a present from God, the more we’re able to offer it away,” he said.
