Matthew 25:40

MANIFESTO

The Wall Street Journal tries to put a good spin on this, but the fact remains that

charitable giving dropped about 2% from a year earlier, or 5.7% in inflation-adjusted dollars in 2008, according to the annual Giving USA study released Wednesday. As a measure of gross domestic product, giving is still historically strong: The roughly $308 billion in charitable gifts was 2.2% of GDP, down slightly from 2.3% in 2007.

Still, it was the first decline since 1987 and the second since the group began tracking charitable donations in 1956. Gifts to private foundations fell by 19.2% and at many charities, donations weren't enough to replace funds lost by deep endowment declines and financial scandals.

Knowing how local churches (i.e., mine) are really struggling these days, this (only the second decline in giving in the last half century) comes as no surprise.

I'm very glad that Mrs. Monocle and I have been able to sustain our level of giving—in fact, consciously increasing it in some instances in order to make up for what others might have to cut back on. I certainly encourage others who are fortunate enough to have kept their jobs to do the same.