Americans are among the most charitable people on Earth, yet in recent times there is a slump in the giving. In 2024, Americans gave $592.50 billion to charity, a whopping 6.3 percent increase over 2023 (National Philanthropic Trust, 2025). They gave to support medical research, health care for the poor, education, food banks, shelters for the homeless, youth recreation, and the arts. The figures are impressive, but donations are increasingly from the few rather than the many, and from folks over the age of 62.
Charity depends on one’s debt, job status, and attitudes towards charity. Then, there is the matter of messianic fatigue, which is a loss of altruism and the feeling that that the burden of giving outweighs the benefits. It is the belief that no matter how much one gives, there are no meaningful outcomes because nothing ever changes—the suffering never ends — the poor keep reproducing, so why bother? When Americans give, they are investing in results and when results are not forthcoming, they stop investing.
Messianic fatigue is complicated. On one hand, it arouses a sense of guilt for failure to give, and on the other hand, it arouses anger towards people who depend on it. Recent convictions in a fraud scheme in Minnesota where individuals swindled $250 million from the federal government claiming they were feeding thousands of children during the COVID pandemic caused some to stop giving to charities. (United States Attorney’s Office, 2024). They are angry at those who committed fraud and lavished themselves with luxury items at the taxpayers’ expense, and at government officials who failed to implement high standards of accountability. Messianic fatigue forces us to discern who to trust and who not to trust. It is especially problematic when people decide their government is so untrustworthy that totalitarianism is the only solution.
There is justification for empathizing with those who weary under the weight of messianic fatigue. The apostle Paul admonishes the faithful by telling them “if you don’t work, you don’t eat” (2 Thes 3:10), which is a nod to the idea that those who are able-bodied are obligated to earn their daily bread. Empathy for benevolent people whose charity is abused makes sense. Conversely, Jesus told his disciplines that the poor would always be with us (Matt. 26:11), and he repeatedly told his followers to give generously to them. He never said that charity was supposed to end poverty or change an economic system that perpetuates it. Yet, when he confronted the hypocritical pharisees on their neglect of the poor, we sense that institutions have a duty to care for the poor too.
We empathize with the poor because our judgement may be ignorant of their circumstances. We empathize with the charitable because they make sacrifices and with law enforcers who are overwhelmed by fraud. We hurt because our good will is often assaulted by people who are indifferent to decency. Charity is thus concerned with mercy and compassion though we may never know the good it will do.
References
National Philanthropic Trust. “Charitable Giving Statistics,” 2025. Charitable Giving Statistics | NPTrust.
United States Attorney’s Office District of Minnesota. “Three Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud in $250 Million Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme,” September 20, 2024. District of Minnesota | Three Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud in $250 Million Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme | United States Department of Justice.
