Religiosity is Declining BUT Giving is Increasing: Can the Nonreligious Really Be Less Generous?

Using the 2023 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we examine whether there are significant differences in the tendency to donate (and/or) make contributions towards religious and secular charitable organizations based on religious affiliation. The secular charities of focus include organizations related to poverty, health, international peace, education, youth, cultural, environment, and other. We focus on two nonreligious groups – atheists/agnostics and nones – in comparison to other commonly recognized religious groups in the United States. Both groups of nonreligious individuals, net of controls, are significantly less likely to give their money to religious charitable causes. However, both groups are not meaningfully more or less likely to give to secular charitable organizations than those who are affiliated with a religion. Importantly, religious affiliation is not a strong predictor of likelihood to donate or how much an individual decides to give.