Charitable Practices of Latter-day Saints

Abstract

This study aims to test whether there is a difference in charitable giving between practicing converts and practicing lifelong Latter-day Saints (Mormons, LDS). A cluster sample of 2,701 anonymous questionnaires was completed during worship services in California, Utah, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey from June 2010 through November 2011. We found that practicing Mormons in our sample donated at high rates to both religious and social causes. Compared with converts, lifelong members were more likely to donate 10% or more of their income to religious causes and to donate to social causes. Also, the number of years since conversion was significantly and positively related to the likelihood of fully tithing and making donations to social causes. Implications and future research are discussed.

Keywords

Latter-day Saints Mormon tithing religious donation social giving converts

Introduction

Several studies have shown that individuals committed to a religious congregation are more likely to be generous toward charitable organizations than those who are not religious (Putnam & Campbell, 2010). Members of strict religious traditions are especially generous, particularly when giving to religious causes (Iannaccone, 1994; Olson & Perl, 2005). Bekkers and Wiepking (2011) identified a variety of mechanisms that can help explain the relationship between religiosity and philanthropy, including altruism (a real concern for others), psychological benefits (earning one’s place in heaven, feeling part of a community), values (the importance of helping others), solicitation (receiving requests for contributions), and reputation (recognition from others). Putnam and Campbell argued that religious participation creates morally charged social ties that make requests to donate and volunteer particularly potent.

Developing social connections in addition to the values, beliefs, and attitudes that promote giving takes time and socialization. Research has shown that individuals who are involved in religion as youth are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors like volunteering even when their current religious involvement is controlled (Wilson, 2012). In most instances, a recent convert to a religious group will have had less time to become friends with other members of their new congregation, will have received fewer solicitations to give through their congregation, will be less exposed to the norms of the congregation, and received fewer sermons or lessons about the religious importance of helping others than a committed lifelong member. Consequently, we argue that those who become more religiously committed later in life will not be as likely to make charitable donations as those who grew up committed to a religious faith. In addition, converts who have been participating in a religious group for a long time will be more generous than those who have been participating for less time.

While individuals may become more religiously committed within their childhood faith, another process through which individuals become more religiously committed is by converting to a religious group that requests a higher level of commitment than the group they left. Not all religious groups request the same amount of religious commitment and Pond and Smith (2009) found that in most cases converts to a religious group are more religiously committed than lifelong members of a faith. However, Mormons were an exception in Pond and Smith’s study, with lifelong Mormons displaying higher levels of religious commitment than converts. Converts to Mormonism in the United States switch to Mormonism from Protestantism (53% of converts), Catholicism (31%), or being unaffiliated (15%; Smith, 2011), and several studies have shown that Mormons tend to be more religiously committed than these faiths (Pond & Smith, 2009; Putnam & Campbell, 2010; Smith, 2011). These findings suggest that Mormonism instills more religious commitment in converts than the faiths they left.

This study compares practicing converts and lifelong members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to determine whether there are differences in their charitable giving patterns. We hypothesize that converts to the faith will be less likely to make charitable donations than lifelong members. In addition, we predict that converts who have been members for many years will be likely to donate more than recent converts. Practicing members of the LDS Church are an ideal population on which to study the impact of religious socialization on charitable giving for three reasons: the LDS Church requests a high level of commitment from its members, making it less likely that an individual will become less religiously committed by converting to the LDS Church; the LDS Church also has a high proportion of converts, making sampling Mormon converts easier; and the LDS Church strongly encourages charitable giving behaviors.

In the next section, we discuss and provide information regarding the LDS Church to explain the population of the study. This is followed by a discussion on giving by religious groups, concluding with our two research hypotheses. After that, we discuss our research methods followed by the results section. Finally, we discuss these findings and provide conclusions and suggestions for future research.

The LDS Church

The LDS Church fosters high levels of commitment through a variety of methods. Iannaccone (1994) argued that the strictness of religions like Mormonism reduces free riding and stimulates additional commitment from members. Individuals who are not willing or who are unable to display the high level of commitment expected of members of the LDS Church either do not join the faith in the first place or drop out. Relying on economic theories related to clubs, McBride (2007) argued that Mormon devoutness is motivated by a menu of religious and social benefits given to highly committed members of the faith. For example, Mormon temples are only open to Latter-day Saints who comply with the above-mentioned religious teachings, including the full payment of tithing. In Latter-day Saint practice, temples are different than meetinghouses. Meetinghouses are open to anyone who wishes to attend Sunday services, social activities, and some basic religious ceremonies. Temples are separate buildings where more advanced religious ceremonies take place and are open only to fully complying members. McBride argued that this menu of goods is enforced by church policies that encourage members to monitor each other’s behavior and a certain level of “free riding” is tolerated to encourage less-committed members to become more committed. The result is that converts to Mormonism are less likely to be free riders and that participation in Mormonism will increase religious commitment.

The assertions that Mormon converts are less likely to be free riders and that participation in Mormonism increases religious commitment are bolstered by findings from Pond and Smith (2009). They found that Mormon converts score higher on measures of religious commitment than does the general religiously affiliated population. Lifelong Mormons were also more committed than converts to the faith on two measures: weekly church attendance and belief that their faith is the only true faith.

Charitable Giving by Religious Groups

Charitable giving by religious groups can be categorized into two broad categories: religious giving and social giving. In this article, religious giving is defined as charitable donations given to support religious purposes such as building religious buildings, funding proselytizing efforts, and so on. Social giving is defined as charitable donations given to support social purposes such as supporting a homeless shelter, stocking a food bank, helping an environmental organization, and so on. It is important to note that social giving can and frequently does occur through religious organizations (e.g., donations to support a church-run employment center).

Almost all world religions encourage religious and social giving (Maharaj et al., 2008), and religious participation has been positively associated with both religious and secular giving (Jackson, Bachmeier, Wood, & Craft, 1995). Putnam and Campbell (2010) found that, for each additional week an individual attends church in a year, the odds donating to a religious organization increase by 6% and the odds of donating to a secular organization increase by 0.6%. In Christian denominations, religious giving often takes the form of tithing.

The practice of tithing

Tithing is practiced by many religious traditions and is an important type of religious giving in the LDS Church. In this article and in Mormon parlance, a “full tithe” refers to giving 10% or more of one’s income to the church and a “partial tithe” refers to giving money to the church that amounts to less than 10% of one’s income. Studies across religions show a positive correlation between higher donations and religious commitment (Rooney, 2010). In one report, 85% of those who read the Bible 4 to 7 times per week are at least 2 times more likely to pay a full tithe (or more) than those who do not read the Bible (Kluth, 2011). Olson and Perl (2005) reported that

. . . strict, conservative congregations have both higher mean giving and less skewness in the pattern of their giving . . . , some combination of strict rules and/or conservative theology appears to systematically limit the proportion of free- and cheap-riding members giving far less than the mean and thus increase the proportion giving at or above the mean. (p. 123)

The rate of Americans who pay a full tithe has hovered nationally between 5% and 7% over the past decade (Barna Group, 2011). Barna places the 2011 national tithing rate at 4%, significantly lower than the 7% rate for 2010. Indeed, as the economy suffers so does full tithing. Consistent with the trend of lower giving levels, Ronsvalle and Ronsvalle (2011) found that tithing by congregants at Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and other Protestant churches in 2009 was at its lowest level (2.4%) since they began tracking it in 1968. As church membership or religious involvement declines, so does giving (Wilhelm, Rooney, & Tempel, 2007).

Practicing Latter-day Saints are expected to tithe a full 10% of their annual income. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (Smith, 2011) found that 79% of Latter-day Saints fully tithe and 1% partially tithe. However, this study was carried out with self-identified Mormons over the phone as opposed to individuals attending Latter-day Saint congregations (wards), and consequently may include nonpracticing Mormons, resulting in a low estimate. Furthermore, as a significant number of respondents in the study demonstrated fundamental beliefs contrary to LDS doctrine (e.g., 11% of respondents believed in reincarnation which is decidedly not a tenet of Mormonism), it is doubtful that all of these self-identified Mormons were, in fact, baptized and practicing members.

Hoffmann, Lott, and Jeppsen, (2010) used five different national databases to ascertain the variability in religious tithing. They found that, “Mormons not only tend to give higher percentage of their income to the organization . . . but also are less variable in the proportion given” (p. 344). Furthermore, they noted, “ . . . the one group that has the most specific guidelines about giving—the Mormon Church—has also the least variability in giving . . .” (p. 343). However, Dahl and Ransom (1999) found that what counts as “income” is left to the individual member to decide, creating a potential for variation between full tithe payers.

In many Mormon families when children are given allowances or money presents they are instructed by parents to tithe. At private annual meetings with clergy, parents and children are shown how much they individually paid and asked if it is correct. During this meeting, individual family members declare to clergy whether they paid a full tithing. This practice of children paying tithing on allowances, reporting it, and observing their parents do the same help perpetuate the norm of full tithing among Mormon families.

Other religious giving

Tithing is not the only type of charitable donation made by Latter-day Saints. In addition to donating to organizations that are not the LDS Church, Latter-day Saints can donate additional funds through the church for both religious and social causes (LDS Church, 2010).

Latter-day Saint clergy do not ask members to donate in public during worship services. Rather, the process of donating to the LDS Church involves putting money in a sealed envelope and handing or mailing this envelope to local clergy at a time that is convenient to the donor. In addition to the money, a “donation slip” is included in the envelope designating how much of the donation go toward tithing versus other funds administered by the LDS Church. The donations toward nontithing funds are not counted as tithing in the LDS Church. Extra religious donations can benefit a Book of Mormon printing fund, a temple building fund, and funds supporting Mormon missionaries worldwide.

Social giving

Social giving can be directed through secular organizations or it can be directed through religious organizations. In the United States, congregations are key players in the welfare field (Cnaan & Curtis, 2013). Several studies have found that most religious congregations have programs in place to help combat social problems (for a summary and discussion of the literature on this topic, see Cnaan, 2006, pp. 77-81).

The LDS Church also encourages its members to donate to its efforts to combat social ills. The church operates its own welfare system including employment centers, food banks, thrift stores, farms, food processing facilities, counseling centers for people with addictions, as well as direct monetary aid for housing, clothing, utilities, and medical expenses for needy individuals. In addition, the LDS Church also engages in various humanitarian aid projects worldwide and runs a no-interest educational loan program for individuals in third-world countries. (For more information on LDS Church Welfare projects, see the LDS Church, 2012; Magnum & Blumell, 1993; Rudd, 1995.)

Much of the funding for these social welfare projects comes from donations made to the LDS Church known as “fast offerings.” Members are encouraged to fast for two consecutive meals the first Sunday of each month and donate the amount of money they would have spent on food to benefit LDS Church welfare efforts (Ferguson, 1992). In addition to fast offerings, Latter-day Saints can also specifically donate funds to go to the LDS Church’s humanitarian aid or an educational loan fund. Scholars do not know the extent of charitable donations provided by Mormons in addition to tithing or how much of the donations go to social versus religious causes.

Donating money to alleviate social ills can be viewed as an expression of religious commitment, similarly to the way abiding by a religion’s health code or endorsing a religion’s teachings are expressions of religious commitment. A recent study from the PEW Research Center found that almost all, 97%, of American Latter-day Saints held that helping the poor and needy is essential or important to being a good Mormon. This percentage is higher than the percentage of Latter-day Saints who reported that not consuming coffee or tea is essential or important to being a good Mormon (81%) and even higher than the percentage of Latter-day Saints who reported that believing that Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, saw God the Father and Jesus Christ is essential or important for being a good Mormon (93%; Smith, 2011).

Hypotheses

Based on the above literature review, we propose two hypotheses to advance our knowledge regarding the practice of donations by Latter-day saints:

Hypothesis 1: Lifelong Mormons will be more likely to make all types of charitable donations than converts to Mormonism.

Hypothesis 2: Converts with a longer tenure in the LDS Church will be more likely to make all types of charitable donations than recent converts.

Method

We used a mixed-method design to carry out the study.

Phase 1

Thirty qualitative interviews, obtained through snowball sampling, were conducted with LDS members at various levels of church organization. The sample ranged from new converts to lifelong members, including those with few church responsibilities to regional leaders. Interviews consisted of open-ended questions about Latter-day Saint beliefs, education, and practices as well as what kind of volunteer and giving activities they engaged in and what motivated them. Interviews lasted from 1 to 3 hr based on the themes that were raised. The qualitative interviews led to the creation of a comprehensive, 14-page instrument asking about several different kinds of volunteer activities and charitable giving. The questionnaire was very specific and covered all possible donations that Latter-day Saints may give from tithing to supporting community secular causes. We expected that categories with more prompts will stimulate better recall among participants (Cnaan, Jones, Dickin, & Salomon, 2011; Wilhelm, 2007).

It was then pilot tested on a convenience sample of Latter-day Saints in two states (n = 11) who did not participate in the qualitative phase. These respondents clocked the time it took to respond and provided us with criticism regarding wording, order of questions, and missing items. Their feedback was also incorporated into the questionnaire.¹

Phase 2

In Phase 2, after finalizing the questionnaire, we obtained institutional review board (IRB) approval and permission from the LDS Church hierarchy to administer the instrument in various LDS congregations (known as “wards”) in the United States. The process of sampling specific wards was as follows: We requested contact information and permission from the LDS Church to conduct the survey in four specific regions of the United States. We selected which region to sample based on a desire to include new converts, minorities, new immigrants, families, to compare Utah with areas where Latter-day Saints are in the minority, and researcher convenience in traveling to the area. The LDS Church then provided us with contact information for stake leaders within the regions we selected and informed the stake leadership that we had permission to collect data in their stake. (In the LDS Church, a “stake” refers to a regional grouping of about 10-15 wards under the leadership of a president.) We then coordinated with local church leaders to carry out data collection.

We visited each participating ward during one hour-segment of the 3-hr Sunday service, while adult men and women were assembled. After a short introduction in which we explained that participation is voluntary, anonymous, and that any question can be skipped if so desired, the attendees filled out the questionnaire. It took most respondents between 40 and 50 min to complete the instrument, and completed questionnaires were handed directly to the researchers. Individuals who wanted to participate but could not (or did not want to) finish the questionnaire during church services mailed the questionnaires to the researchers or were able to fill out an online version of the questionnaire. Because the questionnaire was introduced and primarily administered during church services, our sample overwhelmingly comprised church-going Latter-day Saints and is not representative of less-committed Latter-day Saints.

Sample Description

Our final sample (N = 2,701) comprised LDS members from Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey (19.2%), Michigan (13.4%), Utah (30.3%), and California (36.4%).

The sample was balanced by gender, with about half male (47.6%) and slightly more than half female (52.4%). We only included those aged 18 and older. The average age of respondents was 50 years. The majority of the respondents were American born (91.2%), and the rest were immigrants. Racially, most of the respondents were White (87.3%), while the next largest group was Latino (5.8%), and the remainder was Asian (2.6%), Polynesian (1%), and Native American, African American, or Other (combined 3%). Five of the congregations in our sample specifically catered to the needs of immigrants by conducting Sunday services in a language other than English (three in Spanish, one in Korean, and one in Chinese).

The sample consisted of a highly educated population. A full one fifth (20.6%) reported having a graduate academic degree and 29.3% reported a bachelor’s degree. A quarter reported some college (24.6%) and an additional 12.3% reported an associate degree. Only 11.4% reported only obtaining a high school education and 2% have less than a high school education. In contrast, the U.S. Census (Ryan & Siebens, 2012) reports that only 10.3% of the U.S. population has a graduate degree, 17.6% has a bachelor’s degree, 18.9% some college, 7.5% an associate degree, 28.5% high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED), and 14.7% less than a high school education.

Income was measured by allowing respondents to choose which income bracket they belonged to from a variety of response choices. As we allowed people to skip questions they felt uncomfortable with, 8.1% of the sample did not answer the income item. Of the 2,481 respondents who did answer the income question, 20.1% made US$0-US$20,000; 16.9% made US$20,001-US$40,000; 17.7% made US$40,001-US$60,000; 13.2% made US$60,001-US$80,000; 8.5% made US$80,001-US$100,000; 7.4% made US$100,001-US$120,000; 10.2% made US$120,001-US$250,000; and 5.1% made more than US$250,000. The median income bracket was US$40,000-US$60,000 a year.

Most of the respondents in our sample (69%) were lifelong members of the faith. The remaining 31% were converts. The mean years since conversion was 27 with a range of a few weeks to 82 years.

Three quarters of the sample are married (76.1%) with small numbers who are single (13.8%), divorced (5.3%), widowed (4.2%), and separated (0.6%). The majority of respondents have children (84%), and 23.3% have 5 or more children. For those in our sample with children, the median number of children is three.

Findings

General Information About LDS Giving

Overall, 96.4% of the respondents in our sample gave money to a charitable cause during the previous year. Respondents donated to religious causes (94.7% of respondents) and to social causes (75.9% of respondents). By a large margin, tithing makes up the bulk of donations toward religious causes. Overall, 94.6% of the sample paid tithing to the LDS Church during the previous year. About three quarters (75.9%) of Latter-day Saints donate to social causes through faith-based and secular organizations. The bulk of Latter-day Saints giving toward social causes is channeled through the LDS Church. Most (68.7%) active Latter-day Saints donate via “fast offerings.” In addition to fast offerings, members also earmark donations specifically for the LDS Church’s worldwide humanitarian aid projects or for the no-interest educational loan program mentioned earlier. Adding in these additional donations increases the percentage of Latter-day Saints donating to social causes through their church by only one tenth of 1%. In addition to donations through the LDS Church, about half of active Latter-day Saints give to benefit social causes through other organizations. A summary of the overall giving patterns seen in the sample is given in Table 1.

Table 1.

Summary of Annual Donations by Latter-day Saints (N = 2,701).

	Respondents participating	M (in US$)^a	Median (in US$)^a
Giving to religious causes	94.7%	^b	4,895^c
Tithing	94.6%	^b	4,895^c
Extra religious giving	23%	853	150
Giving to social causes	75.9%	2,532	385
Social giving channeled through the LDS Church	69.8%	1,081	260
Social giving channeled through other organizations	48.3%	2,412	160
Total giving	96.4%	^b	5,026^c

Mean and median values are calculated based on donors to that category only. For example, the mean amount reported for “Extra religious giving” is based only on the 23% of the sample that made that type of donation.

The questionnaire did not ask for the total amount given to tithing and consequently mean that dollar amounts were impossible to calculate for the rows labeled Tithing, Giving to Religious causes, and Total Giving.

The median dollar amounts for the row labeled Tithing are estimated by applying the average percentage of income going to tithing to the median income reported. The resulting number (US$4,895) was used in calculating the median dollar amounts listed in the rows labeled Giving to religious causes and Total Giving.

The average dollar amount of donations, not including tithing, was US$2,115.35 (US$2,194.14 per Latter-day Saint if nondonors are excluded) to charitable causes with a median of US$250. The study did not ask for specific dollar amounts given toward tithing, as respondents to the qualitative phase of our study indicated that such a question would make them very uncomfortable. However, there were items measuring the income bracket of the respondent and the percentage of income given toward tithing. Combining all tithe payers, the median income bracket is between US$40,001 and US$60,000 a year and the average percentage of income given toward tithing is 9.79% (excluding those who do not tithe). Consequently, a rough estimate of the median amount of money active American Latter-day Saint tithe payers pay in tithing would be between US$3,916 and US$5,874. The average of these two numbers is US$4,895, and this amount was used to estimate the median amount of money going toward tithing in Table 1.

Our findings regarding social and religious giving replicate several general trends seen in other studies of charitable giving, including the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS) (see Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011). Specifically, those with higher levels of education, those with higher incomes, and those who are married or widowed are more likely to donate than younger respondents, those with lower levels of education, those with lower incomes, and those who are single, divorced, or separated.

Age and region were significantly associated with social giving but not with religious giving. Regarding social giving, we found California Mormons to be significantly less generous than all other regions. A summary of one-way ANOVA analyses testing between-group differences without controlling for other variables can be found in Table 2.

Table 2.

Demographic Differences in Donating to Religious and Secular Causes (N = 2,701).

	Giving to religious causes		Giving to social causes
	n ^a	Respondents participating (%)	n ^a	Respondents participating (%)
Region^b	2,583	94.9	2,682	76***
Utah	813	95	819	84.3
Pennsylvania and New Jersey	512	92.8	519	77.7
Michigan	354	94.6	362	74.3
California	904	96	982	68.7
Age^b	2,544	94.8	2,639	76***
<40	982	94.5	1,016	71.2
40-65	1,134	94.5	1,176	78
>65	428	96	447	81.9*
Education^b	2,572	94.8**	2,667	76***
Less than high school	42	85.7	53	37.7
High school	284	94	299	64.9
Some college	621	93.1	656	69.8
Associates	322	93.8	328	76.2
Bachelors	762	96.5	781	81.3
Graduate or Professional	541	96.1	550	85.5
Income bracket (in US$)^b	2,415	95.1***	2,481	77.7***
0-20,000	492	90.5	517	63.6
20,001-40,000	408	97.3	420	73.3
40,001-60,000	427	95.6	440	80.7
60,001-80,000	320	96.6	328	81.7
80,001-100,000	208	96.2	211	83.4
100,001-120,000	181	92.8	184	85.3
120,001-250,000	254	97.6	254	89
>250,000	125	97.6	127	85.8
Marital status^b	2,588	94.7***	2,687	75.9***
Married	1,992	96.4	2,044	78.8
Single	347	89.9	370	62.2
Divorced	127	83.5	142	71.1
Separated	14	71.4	17	52.9
Widowed	108	95.4	114	77.2
Convert status^b	2,577	94.8*	2,670	76.3***
Lifelong member	1,794	95.4	1,845	78.6
Convert	783	93.4	825	71

Bold numbers in columns labeled n correspond to the number of respondents for which there is no missing data on either the demographic or donation variable indicated by the cell’s position in the table.

Asterisks in rows labeled Region, Age, Education, Income bracket, Marital status, and Convert status correspond to a one-way ANOVA test indicating whether or not significant between groups differences exist.

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Comparing Converts With Lifelong Members

To test our first hypothesis, we used logistic regression to compare the likelihood of converts and lifelong members making religious and social cause donations. The logistic regression analyses controlled for the respondent’s region, age, education level, income bracket, and marital status. The results indicate that lifelong members in our sample had 24% higher odds of making contributions toward social causes than converts, a difference that is statistically significant (p < .05). The difference in odds between lifelong members and converts in making donations toward religious causes was not statistically significant, possibly due to limited variability on the religious giving measure. Summaries of these logistic regression analyses can be found in Table 3.

Table 3.

Odds Ratios Predicting Likelihood of Donating to Religious and Social Causes (N = 2,701).

	Odds ratio predicting donating to a religious cause	Odds ratio predicting donating to a social cause
Region	*	***
Utah	Reference category	Reference category
Pennsylvania and New Jersey	0.88	0.67*
Michigan	1.54	0.68*
California	1.65	0.49***
Age	Not significant	***
<40	Reference category	Reference category
40-65	0.87	1.28
>65	1.11	2.06***
Education	Not significant	***
Less than high school	Reference category	Reference category
High school	2.91	1.87
Some college	2.46	2.48*
Associates	2.34	3.37**
Bachelors	4.05	4.12***
Graduate or Professional	4.11	4.58***
Income bracket (in US$)	**	**
0-20,000	Reference category	Reference category
20,001-40,000	4.27***	1.26
40,001-60,000	1.61	1.70**
60,001-80,000	1.99	1.69**
80,001-100,000	1.5	2.01**
100,001-120,000	0.71	1.94**
120,001-250,000	2.12	2.84***
>250,000	2.16	1.87*
Marital status	***	Not significant
Married	Reference category	Reference category
Single	0.56	0.99
Divorced	0.20***	0.92
Separated	0.08***	0.51
Widowed	0.59	1.34
Convert status	Not significant	*
Lifelong member	Reference category	Reference category
Convert	0.71	0.76*

Note. Asterisks in rows labeled Region, Age, Education, Income bracket, Marital status, and Convert status correspond to Wald tests and indicate whether or not any of the coefficients pertaining to a factor variable are significantly different from zero, invariant to the choice of reference category.

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

When looking at the control variables, we found that California Mormons gave more to religious causes than the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Mormons and significantly less to social causes than all other regions. As before, older people and those with higher education and higher income gave to social causes.

Additional logistic regression analyses, controlling for the same variables, reveal that converts in our sample are significantly different from lifelong members regarding tithing. Specifically, converts have 33% lower odds of giving a full tithing (p < .05) and a 43% higher odds of partially tithing (defined as giving less than 10% of one’s income to the LDS Church. This finding does not quite attain statistical significance, p = .071).

There are also significant differences regarding social donations channeled through the LDS Church. Specifically, converts in our sample had 37% lower odds of making a social donation through the LDS Church (p < .01). There was no significant difference between converts and lifelong members in making a social donation through non-LDS organizations.

We also performed multiple regression analyses to determine whether or not converts differed significantly in the amount of money given toward social causes overall, social causes channeled through the LDS Church, social causes channeled through non-LDS organizations, and religious causes in addition to tithing. Our analyses revealed no significant difference in the amount of money given for these categories when comparing converts with lifelong members.

The above findings provide partial support for our second hypothesis. Converts in our sample are as likely to tithe though are less likely to provide full tithing. They are equally likely to make social donations through non-LDS organizations, but less likely to donate to social causes through the church. Finally, excluding tithing which could not be tested, the amount of money given to these various causes does not vary significantly between converts and lifelong members of the LDS Church.

The Impact of Time Since Conversion

To test our second hypothesis regarding the impact of time since conversion on charitable giving, a dataset containing only converts was created. Of the 856 converts in our dataset, 718 had completed both the demographic and philanthropy sections of the questionnaire. Logistic regression analyses were then carried out testing the relationship of years of conversion with the likelihood of making a donation toward religious and social causes as well as the different types of donations that comprise those categories. All of the logistic regression analyses controlled for the respondent’s age, income bracket, educational attainment, marital status, and region.

The findings indicate that each year since conversion corresponds to a significantly higher likelihood of paying full tithing and making nontithing religious donations, and a lower likelihood of paying a partial tithe. Similarly, each year since conversion corresponds to a higher likelihood of making a donation to a social cause and especially a donation through the LDS Church. There is no statistically significant relationship between years since conversion and making a donation to a social cause through a non-LDS organization in our sample. Table 4 displays the odds ratios corresponding to our findings regarding years since conversion.

Table 4.

Odds Ratios Predicting the Relationship of Years Since Conversion on the Likelihood of Making Different Types of Donations (n = 718).

Type of donation	Odds ratio
Religious cause	1.022
Full tithing (10% or more of income)	1.038***
Part tithing (less than 10% of income)	0.957***
Other religious cause donations	1.017*
Social cause	1.024**
Social cause donation through LDS church	1.026***
Social cause donation through other organization	1.009

Note. The models used to create the odds ratios in this table controlled for respondent’s age, income bracket, educational attainment, marital status, and region. Lifelong members were excluded from the models in this table.

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

We performed multiple regression analyses to determine whether or not there was a significant relationship between years since conversion and the amount of money given toward social causes overall, social causes channeled through the LDS Church, social causes channeled through non-LDS organizations, and religious causes in addition to tithing. Our analyses revealed no significant relationship between the amount of money given for these categories and the years since an individual converted to the faith.

The above findings provide support for our second hypothesis. Longtime converts are much more likely to pay full tithing, to donate to religious causes, and to donate socially through the church. However, the number of years since conversion does not have a significant relationship with the likelihood of making a social donation through a non-LDS charity. The amount of years since conversion also does not significantly impact the amount of money given toward social causes or religious causes in addition to tithing.

Summary and Discussion

Our first and second hypotheses relied on the same theoretical foundation. As converts to Mormonism generally come from faiths that request less religious commitment, we theorized that converts would take time and socialization to adjust to the higher level of commitment requested by Mormonism. The lifelong members and converts with longer tenures participating in the church will have had more cumulative exposure to factors promoting charitable giving among religiously committed individuals, including solicitations to give, the formations of social ties that encourage giving, and teachings about the religious value of giving (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011). Consequently, this adjustment from lower religious commitment to higher religious commitment would be reflected in the likelihood of making charitable donations with lifelong members being more likely to donate than converts, and converts being more likely to donate the longer they have been in the church.

We found some support for our hypotheses in our findings. Converts to Mormonism in our sample were less likely to donate 10% of their income to the LDS Church in tithing and to donate to social causes when compared with lifelong members. The number of years since conversion was also significantly and positively related to the likelihood of paying a full tithe and making a donation toward a social cause.

However, neither convert status nor years since conversion were significantly related to making donations to charitable organizations beyond the LDS Church or to the amount of money donated toward social causes. Converts were also as likely as lifelong members to make religious donations, just not to donate a full 10% of their income.

These findings suggest that lifelong members and converts with longer tenures in the LDS Church are more likely to donate according to specific guidelines laid out by the church, but not in other ways. Donating through tithing and the church’s fast offering fund (which benefits the LDS Church’s welfare system) both are often encouraged in religious meetings and both donations have fairly clear guidelines regarding the amount the individual is supposed to donate. In the case of tithing, the requested amount is 10% of one’s income annually. In the case of fast offerings, members are encouraged to donate an amount equivalent or greater than the cost of two meals each month (Ferguson, 1992). While the LDS Church encourages its members to help the needy in general, it does not specify how much of that help should be channeled through non-LDS organizations.

Our findings could be viewed as supporting economic theories of religious participation outlined by Iannaccone (1994) or McBride (2007). As Iannaccone (1994) suggested, membership in strict religious groups comes with willingness to bear high costs. In most cases, converts show greater zeal and willingness to bear costs than lifelong members (see, for example, Pond & Smith, 2009). However, in strict religious groups such as the LDS Church, lifelong members are already actively bearing a high cost of belonging and converts have to decide whether to fully participate. The most costly part of participation, that almost all active members bear, is tithing and fast offerings. Our findings support the assertion that developing the higher levels of commitment asked of them takes time. It is also possible that such a high standard for charitable donations screens out some converts who do not adhere to these specific guidelines of the LDS Church, and that these converts are in the process of decreasing participation. Given the cross-sectional nature of our study, we could not directly test this explanation and we suggest that this issue should be a topic for future research.

These findings may be generalizable to other strict religious organizations. As suggested by the literature (Iannaccone, 1994; Olson & Perl, 2005), members of such groups are highly dedicated to their faith and are making significant contributions. Yet, literature on converts and their ability to reach the level of commitment of longtime members is in its infancy. Too few studies focus on converts and their generosity. The scant literature suggests that converts need time to blend into the original group and, in the case of a strict religion, we expected longtime members to give more. Future research could determine if these findings hold for members of other strict religious groups: Jehovah’s Witnesses, certain Protestant groups, conservative Muslim groups, Orthodox Jews, and so on. Also, based on these findings, we might expect that converts from strict religions to more lax religions would take time to reduce their level of donations to match their coreligionists.

Clearly more research is needed to overcome our methodological limitations and to better understand how converts compare with lifelong members in other faith traditions, in volunteering, and based on country of origin. Besides conversion to a strict faith, there are other situations in which people become more or less religiously committed. Future research could also determine whether these situations also result in a change in levels of charitable donations.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

Author Biographies

Daniel W. Curtis is a PhD candidate in the field of social welfare at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. His research focuses on faith-based social service organizations.

Van Evans is a research associate and a PhD candidate in philanthropic studies at Indiana University’s Lily Family School of Philanthropy.

Ram A. Cnaan is a professor and the director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. He also serves as an eminent international scholar at Kyunghee University, South Korea.

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