Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money  by Christian Smith, Michael O. Emerson, and Patricia Snell Herzog was mentioned the Christianity Today  article titled "The Read More

Americans pride themselves on being generous. According to a generosity survey by the University of Notre Dame, two-thirds of Americans believe it’s important to be generous. Yet, almost half of the U.S. population actually give no money to charity at all. Joy Cardin and her guest sociology expert Read More

American charitable giving veers from the hyperbolically generous to the hyperbolically stingy. On some days, no one has a quarter to spare; in times of disaster, Americans will put their lives on hold to build houses for those displaced by hurricanes. The crucial question of who gives and why they Read More

Modern philanthropy has long had an ambivalent relationship with its own history. On the one hand, every decade or so has brought tidings of a New Philanthropy, or sometimes even of a New, New Philanthropy, a designation that promotes a virtuous discontinuity with the giving that had marked the benighted old days.  Read More

An unexpected rebound in giving in the US so soon after the recession is attributed to a healthier economy. But one study finds other, less material motives for generosity. Read More

The lecture was delivered by Smith, principal investigator of the Science of Generosity Initiative, on April 22, 2015 and was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University.

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Notre Dame professor finds that ungenerous Americans do not think of giving as a moral obligation

The most generous people don't have the biggest bank accounts. But they are rich in other ways.

This isn't a faith-based assessment. It's science, according to a University of Notre Dame professor.

Generous people are happier and healthier. They have a greater sense of purpose and emotional well-being. But are they happier because they give, or do they give because they're happier?

Both, says Christian Smith, co-author of "The Paradox of Generosity" with Hilary Davidson. He will speak Thursday at the Thomas H. Lake Lecture at the Indiana History Center.

It’s one of my favorite Darwin quotes—"He who understands baboon would do more toward metaphysics than Locke"—scribbled furtively in a notebook between visits to the London Zoo in the summer of 1838. Twenty-one years would pass before On the Origin of Species would shock the world, but Darwin already knew: If man wanted to comprehend his mind, he’d need to train an unflustered gaze into the deep caverns of his animal past. Read More

America has a generosity problem. Despite our relative wealth and voluntarist spirit, the majority of us clutch tightly to our pocketbooks and schedules. According to our data collected with the Science of Generosity survey, only 3 percent of American adults give away 10 percent or more of their income. This number is calculated by dividing the amount respondents reported giving away by their reported total salary. Read More

For most of his life, Christian Smith didn’t donate much to charity. The sociologist at the University of Notre Dame knew he had the means to give and knew that he should. But there was a psychological hurdle standing in his way, what Mr. Smith calls a "comfortable guilt." Read More