Who is still giving to charity as the pandemic continues? Those who attend church. Specifically, 44% of those who attend church weekly (in-person or online) said they would eliminate other expenses before dropping their charitable giving. By contrast, among those who never attend church, only 18% said so.

This is perhaps the most important finding in a recently updated donor confidence report sponsored by Dunham & Company, a consulting group focused on nonprofits. It was conducted in September among 630 donors, with findings only recently released.

Churchgoers are not without financial hardships, however. The percentage of those who attend religious services every week who say they are facing a challenging financial situation is 27%, up from 24% in the original edition of the survey back in April.

The survey also found that younger donors report more financial stress than older generations. Specifically, 39% of Millennial donor households say they are struggling financially, up from 33% in April. The same is true of 25% of Generation X donor households, up from 20% in April

By contrast, Baby Boomers and older-generation households reported decreasing levels of economic struggles. In the September survey, only 5% of Baby Boomer donor households said they were struggling economically, compared with 9% in April. Furthermore, 35% of Baby Boomer donors said they were likely to continue giving as they did before as the pandemic, while 30% of Millennial donors said the same.

Giving has also shifted to online during the pandemic. The most generous demographic—households that attend religious services at least weekly—increased their online gifts by 12% between April and September.