WASHINGTON (CNS) — Though Giving USA Foundation reported U.S. charitable giving was down overall last year, the organization’s data showed an increase in church offerings. With charitable donations reaching an estimated $307.65 billion in 2008, the Giving USA 2009 report — released June 10 — confirmed a 2 percent drop from 2007 giving, which totaled a record $314.07 billion. It was the first decline in charitable giving the group has reported since 1987 and only the second since Giving USA began publishing annual reports in 1956.

“With the United States mired in a recession throughout 2008, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that charitable giving would be down,” said Del Martin, chairwoman of Giving USA Foundation, a research organization backed by the fundraising industry.

Charitable foundations saw the biggest decrease in giving, with a whopping 19.2 percent decline, but religious congregations and other religious organizations received an estimated $106.89 billion in 2008, a 5.5 percent increase over the previous year.