Charitable giving is continuing to decline: 2008 giving was down 6% from giving in 2007. 2009 giving was down 5% from giving in 2008. (See Philanthrophy News Digest, Boston College’s Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, OnPhilanthropy.com, and the New York Times).
Another study says donations by the wealthy are down by over a third since 2007.
At the same time, Google is apparently giving all of its workers a $1,000 year-end bonus and a 10% raise.
TechCrunch.com had a little bit of story on this. Note two telling comments:
“While we don’t typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company,” a Google spokesperson tells us.
and from an email supposedly sent to all Googlers:
“We want to make sure that you feel rewarded for your hard work, and we want to continue to attract the best people to Google.”
I know that across the board giving to missions is down. It’s not just us feeling the pinch – it’s everyone I talk to, regardless of whether they are church planters, humanitarian relief workers, or short-term missionaries.
Even the Southern Baptist IMB is experiencing a downturn and is cutting into new deployments.
It seems that Google values its employees…
…but the the church doesn’t think its workmen (missionaries among them) are not worthy of their hire (1 Timothy 5:18)?
Most probably think everyone else is cutting back and they should too. Thankfully some are standing against the tide.
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