A new study has shown that giving to charity has been increasing among Americans but that overall giving to churches is in decline.

The Giving USA Foundation released their annual research report Tuesday and said that Americans gave about $335 billion to charity in 2013, a 3 percent increase after adjustments for inflation.  In the same time period, giving to churches was down 0.2 percent, 1.6 percent if adjusted for inflation.

Gregg Carlson, chair of the Giving USA Foundation, told The Christian Post that just 10 years ago giving to churches accounted for 57 percent of all giving.  Now that total is just 31 percent and falling.

“It continues to be a pattern trend of giving being a lower and lower percentage of the overall philanthropic pie,” Carlson said.  “It’s not that [churches] haven’t had some years of increases but it is to say that religion is a smaller and smaller percentage of the philanthropic pie.”

Carlson noted that overall, the giving by Americans was higher than the Gross Domestic Product of some entire nations like Denmark and Ireland.