By Matthew Brown
For decades the philanthropic world was divided into two communities: the religious and the secular.
The religious consisted exclusively of congregations that dealt with spiritual development of their followers, while the secular took in everything else, from disaster relief and health care to environmental causes.
“But everyone knew the (secular) group was actually a mix of religiously identified organizations,” said Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, a professor of economics and philanthropic studies at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthrophy. “We just never measured that second dimension, even though everyone knew religious groups were involved in providing basic needs.”
Ottoni-Wilhelm is co-author of a new study that takes a new look at religious and secular giving and it found that 73 percent of charitable giving goes to faith-based organizations, whether they be religious institutions or a non-profits that have a religious identity such as World Vision.
The research also revealed that 34 percent of donors to faith-based charities say they don’t belong to an organized religion. And more than half (53 percent) of donors who affiliate with a religion also give to secular charities.
Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865593639/Religion-involves-in-giving-on-multiple-layers.html