Religion: Collections

The 16 leading Protestant denominations (membership: 23,120,929—about two-thirds of U.S. Protestantism) collected $350,807,172 in fiscal 1942—an increase of 36% from the low of 1934 but a decrease of 30% from the peak year of 1927. Per capita giving has dropped from $23.03 to $15.17 in 18 years—although automobile registration has doubled to 28,804,793, movie box-office intake has doubled to a billion dollars, consumption of soft drinks has risen from $1.28 to $2.71 per capita.