Allocating Local Church Funds to Benevolence: The Impact of Congregational Size

Abstract

Declines in benevolence payments among mainline Protestant denominations have caused much theorizing, but have evoked relatively few statistical studies. We know that the percent of congregational receipts being sent on to synodical and national church bodies is falling. We know that increasingly large percents of dollars are staying home to fund local operating expenses. Membership losses undoubtedly contribute to the drop in overall benevolence payments by mainline congregations. Do they also contribute to the drop in the amount of benevolence that congregations pay per member and/or the drop in the amount of benevolence that congregations pay relative to their total receipts? Using a large national sample of Lutheran congregations, this study answers yes. Congregations that lose members find it difficult to cut program, personnel or facility expenses proportionately. Strapped for cash, shrinking congregations often try to balance their books by cutting benevolence. Smaller congregations allocate a larger percent of their funds to operating expenses and a smaller percent to benevolence than do their larger counterparts. Membership loss at the local level is a significant, though minor determinant of observed benevolence patterns.