The LA Times just ran an article in their Arts and Culture section discussing the philanthropic trends of 2009 and the last four years. Every year Bank of American and Merrill Lynch publish a study called “Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy.” They found in 2009 households with incomes of $200,000+, or a net worth of at least $1 million donated 7.5 cents of their charitable dollar to the arts. The rest of the American population only gave 1 cent. Of the “rich” households, three of four gave to the arts. The “poor people” households had a rate of one in thirteen. Looking at religious giving, wealthy households give 13 cents of every charitable dollar which is nearly one fifth of the 63 cents per dollar the general population donated in 2009. From this we can clearly assume wealthy people care more about the arts than about Jesus.
Why is there such a gap between arts giving and religious giving among the social classes? I can't you give any definitive answers. I can only hypothesize. Perhaps wealthy people feel they can relate to the arts more than religion. Maybe wealthy people like that arts publish the names of donors in their programs. Perhaps it's because you need to purchase a ticket to attend most arts functions and church is free. Maybe the general population feel religion is more on their level in comparison to the arts. Perhaps the general population feels they receive all the arts they need from church. Again, I cannot make any definite claims. What I can say is the arts need donations from both the wealthy and the general population.
If you'd like to know more about the philanthropic trends of the last four years, I highly suggest reading the article and the supplementary information.
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