2020 was a rollercoaster year in many respects, including the impacts that the pandemic had on giving to churches. With the onset of social distancing, giving to churches and religious organizations experienced a significant drop in March and April.  That drop was exacerbated by two key factors. The first factor was linked to the adoption rate of digital giving solutions by churches and their members. In some cases, churches were ill prepared to receive financial gifts electronically, either because they didn’t have a robust set of digital giving options, or they hadn’t achieved high percentages of participation among their members. It is no surprise that churches with a higher percentages of e-givers saw smaller declines in giving. But it is fair to note: most churches still saw declines. The second factor involved the inability of churches to gather in person which effectively removed the primary trigger by which people give: namely, going to church.  As a result, churches had to think through how to ask for contributions while migrating their broader membership to digital giving platforms.

By June, giving had largely stabilized as churches learned how to “be church” in the age of a pandemic. However, this stabilization was not shared by two unique outliers: small churches (those who worship less than 100) and Catholic parishes. Smaller churches have typically been slow adopters of digital giving platforms and they have had a harder time leveraging (or affording) technology that would allow them to undertake ministry virtually.  Also, many of these churches were struggling prior to the pandemic.  For many the pandemic has accelerated their decline.

I suspect that over the next 3-5 years a significant number of these smaller Christian churches will close or merge with other churches. (It is worth noting that more than half of all churches in the US worship less than 75-100 people). A key question is, where will their members go? Their migration could result in mega-churches evolving into giga-churches (less likely), or in medium-sized churches adding scale to their ministries through the influx of new members (more likely).

For Catholic parishes the question is more difficult.  While many mainline Christian churches and some long-standing stalwarts of the evangelical community have seen membership declines in recent decades, Catholic parishes appeared to have maintained a level of membership stability. However, that stability masked the underlying decline in membership from the US population as the Catholic church benefited from the number of Catholics who entered the US as immigrants from the global south. A decline in immigration numbers in recent years combined with the rise of evangelicalism in the global south, new arrivals will likely not be enough to make up for losses at home. Even with increases in immigration with the Biden administration, the financial capability of immigrants compared to other Catholics is smaller.  It will take far more new immigrant Catholics to replace what is lost for Catholic parishes through member attrition. And, while the Catholic church has many and varied gifts it brings to the Christian community, Catholic parishes are not known for their strength in stewardship ministries that emphasize individual giving. 

Finally, by the end of the year, churches appeared not only to have closed the giving gap in the midst of the pandemic, many were actually doing better financially in 2020 than they had in previous years; again with the exceptions of small churches and Catholic parishes.  The year didn’t end in the manner in which many feared it might when giving dropped significantly in the second quarter. As the pandemic stretches into its second year, so too will efforts to monitor the resiliency of churches and the philanthropy which supports them.