The offering plate passes down your row on Sunday, and you give without a second thought. Then Tuesday comes. A coworker is walking to raise money for cancer research. A disaster relief fund is collecting after a hurricane. The animal shelter down the street is a few hundred dollars short of keeping the lights on. None of these are churches. None of them will preach a sermon or open a Bible. And a quiet question surfaces in a lot of faithful hearts. Is my giving supposed to go only to the church, or can a Christian give to a secular charity too, and still be honoring God with it? If you have ever hovered over that donate button and wondered whether it counted, this guide is for you.
“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
Galatians 6:10 (KJV)
We are going to take both the Bible and the practical details seriously. First we will look at what Scripture actually says about doing good beyond the walls of the church, and at the old and honest distinction between the tithe and freewill offerings. Then we will get concrete. You will learn how to vet a secular charity so your gift genuinely helps, how the tax rules on qualified 501(c)(3) gifts really work in 2026, and where the cautions are. Along the way we will acknowledge, charitably, that good Christians disagree about whether the tithe itself must go to the church. This is education and encouragement, not financial advice or spiritual authority over you.
Start with the anchor verse, because it settles more than people expect. In Galatians 6:10 Paul writes, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Read it slowly and notice its shape. The command is to do good to all men. That is the wide, open field of Christian generosity, and it reaches every kind of person and need. Then comes a priority, not a limit. Especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Fellow believers come first, but the word is especially, not only. The verse does not fence your kindness inside the church. It aims your kindness first at the church and then out toward everyone.
The verse just before it sets the tone. Galatians 6:9 says, and let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Paul is urging a whole life of persistent well doing, and then in verse 10 he tells us who receives that good. All men, with a special heart for the family of faith. A Christian who supports the local church and also gives to a food bank or a medical charity is not disobeying this verse. That believer is living it out.
If Galatians 6:10 tells us to do good to all, the parable of the Good Samaritan shows us what that looks like in the dust of a real road. In Luke 10 a lawyer asks Jesus who counts as his neighbor. Jesus answers with a story. A man is beaten and left half dead. A priest and a Levite, the religious insiders, pass by on the other side. Then comes the outsider, a Samaritan, a member of a group the listeners despised. Luke 10:33-35 records what he did.
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”
Luke 10:33-35 (KJV)
Look at what the Samaritan actually did. He crossed an ethnic and religious line to help a stranger who shared neither his people nor his faith. He gave his time, his supplies, his animal, and his money, two pence handed to an innkeeper, with a promise to cover any further cost. Then Jesus asks the lawyer which of the three proved to be a neighbor, and tells him, go, and do thou likewise. The point is impossible to miss. Real love for your neighbor does not first check whether the person belongs to your religion. It sees a need and moves toward it, wallet included.
This runs straight back to a proverb that reframes all of it. Proverbs 19:17 says, he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again. When you help someone who cannot pay you back, God treats it as a loan made to Him personally. Notice the verse does not say he that hath pity upon the poor Christian, or the poor churchgoer. It says the poor. The image of God rests on every person you might help through a shelter, a clinic, or a relief fund, and God Himself takes note of the kindness.
Jesus adds one more reason that giving beyond the church can honor God. In Matthew 5:16 He says, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Visible good done in the world, generosity that a watching neighbor can see, is meant to point people back to God. A Christian who quietly funds clean water or disaster relief is letting a light shine in a place the church may never physically reach.
Here is where a genuinely useful distinction helps, one the Bible itself makes. Not all giving in Scripture is the same kind of giving. Broadly there are two streams. There is the tithe, and there are freewill offerings and alms.
The tithe was the first tenth, brought to a specific place for the support of God's ordained work. Malachi 3:10 gives the classic image, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. In the Old Testament that storehouse supported the Levites and the temple. Most Christian teaching today treats the local church as the modern equivalent of the storehouse, the place where the tithe is brought to fund worship, teaching, and the care of the congregation. This is why so many pastors teach that the tithe belongs to the church specifically.
Freewill offerings and alms were different. On top of the tithe, God's people gave additional gifts. In Exodus the people brought freewill offerings for the tabernacle until Moses had to tell them to stop because there was more than enough. The law also built in provision for the poor and the foreigner, such as leaving the edges of the field unharvested so that the needy could gather food. Alms, direct gifts to the poor, run all through Scripture as a separate act of mercy. The point is that the biblical picture is not a single pot of money that must all go to one place. It is a tithe that supports God's ordained work and then a wider generosity that reaches outward.
This distinction is the practical key to the whole question. Even in the most traditional reading, where the tithe goes to the local church, freewill offerings and alms are exactly the category that can flow to a food bank, a hospital, a disaster fund, or a secular charity that does real good. You are not robbing the church to help your neighbor. You are giving the church its tithe and then giving beyond it, which is precisely the pattern Scripture models.
Honesty requires naming a real disagreement here, and doing it charitably, because good and godly believers land in different places. The question is whether the tithe itself, that first tenth, must go to the local church, or whether it can be spread across the church and other Kingdom causes.
One view holds the traditional line firmly. The tithe is the storehouse portion, it belongs to the local church that feeds you spiritually, and giving to charity comes out of what remains after the tithe. On this view, a believer tithes to the church first and gives to secular charities from freewill offerings above the tithe. Many pastors teach exactly this, and it has a strong Scriptural and historical pedigree.
Another view reads the tithe more as a guiding principle of proportional, first-priority generosity than as a strict rule about a single destination. Believers in this camp still give generously and still prioritize the church, but they may count support of missionaries, Christian relief work, and even certain charities within their overall tithe. Some also point out that the New Testament emphasizes cheerful, proportional, Spirit-led giving more than a fixed ten percent to one address.
You do not have to settle this debate to give faithfully, and you should not let it become a wall between you and other Christians. Both camps agree on the essentials. Give generously. Give the local church a real and central place. Do not use the freedom to give elsewhere as an excuse to starve the church that shepherds you. If your convictions land on tithing fully to the church, do that with joy, and give to charity on top. If your convictions allow a broader spread, do that prayerfully, and still make sure your church is genuinely supported. Romans 14 reminds us to hold such matters with humility and to stop judging one another over disputable things.
Once you have decided that some of your giving can flow to a secular charity, the next duty is wisdom. The same Paul who told us to give cheerfully also took great pains to handle money honorably, refusing to carry a large relief gift alone so that no one could question how it was managed. He wrote that he wanted to do what is honest in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of men. Vetting a charity is not cynicism. It is that same honesty. Here is a simple order of operations.
First, confirm the organization is real. The IRS runs a free public database called the Tax Exempt Organization Search. Type in the charity's name, and it tells you whether the group is a recognized tax-exempt organization and whether gifts to it are deductible. It takes about two minutes. A group that claims to be a charity but does not appear, with no good reason, deserves hard questions.
Second, read how the money is spent. Most tax-exempt organizations must file an annual return called the Form 990, and it is public. You can read 990s for free on Candid, formerly known as GuideStar. You do not have to be an accountant. Skim for three things. What does the group spend most of its money on, how much do the top leaders earn relative to the size of the organization, and does the picture match the story in its appeals. Independent evaluators do a lot of this work for you. Charity Navigator rates thousands of charities on financial health, accountability, and transparency, distilling it into a score you can read at a glance.
Third, understand the program expense ratio without worshiping it. This is the share of total spending that goes to the actual mission rather than to overhead and fundraising. If a charity spends one million dollars and 800,000 of that reaches programs, its program ratio is 80 percent. Many healthy charities run near 75 percent or higher, and Charity Navigator generally looks for at least 70 percent. But treat it as one gauge, not the whole dashboard. A young or specialized charity may carry higher overhead for good reasons, and the lowest overhead is not always the most good. Real results matter more than a single percentage.
Fourth, scan for red flags. The Federal Trade Commission, which tracks charity fraud, warns that scammers pressure you to give immediately, thank you for a pledge you never made, use names that mimic well known charities, and push you to pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency, which are hard to trace. Legitimate charities welcome questions, give you time, and accept normal payment methods. Slow down, verify the exact name, and never let urgency override discernment.
Now to a practical question many givers misunderstand. Does giving to a secular charity lower your taxes in 2026? For most people the honest answer is no, and that is perfectly fine. According to IRS Publication 526, you can deduct gifts to qualified organizations only if you itemize your deductions instead of taking the standard deduction. The standard deduction is large. For the 2025 tax year it was 15,000 dollars for single filers and 30,000 dollars for married couples filing jointly, with similar inflation-adjusted levels in 2026. The great majority of households find that their total itemizable expenses, including giving, do not exceed those amounts, so they take the standard deduction and get no separate tax benefit for what they gave.
Put simply, most givers get no tax break for their generosity, and they give anyway. That reality cuts through a common confusion. If you only itemize when your deductible expenses cross the standard deduction threshold, then giving an extra hundred dollars often changes your tax bill by exactly nothing. Which exposes the heart of the matter. We do not give to shrink a tax bill. We give to honor God and love our neighbor.
For the minority who do itemize, the deduction is real and worth claiming, and this is one place where secular and church giving are treated alike. A gift to a qualified 501(c)(3) charity is deductible on the same terms as a gift to your church, provided you itemize. Keep good records. The IRS expects a bank record or written acknowledgment for monetary gifts, and for any single contribution of 250 dollars or more you need a written receipt from the organization. Most groups send an annual statement that handles this. Claim what you are entitled to with a clear conscience, and keep the deduction in its proper place, well behind your motive.
Freedom to give beyond the church comes with a few honest cautions. Take them not as fences against generosity but as guardrails that keep it wise.
First, do not let the wider world of causes crowd out the church that shepherds you. Galatians 6:10 gives a special place to the household of faith for a reason. The local church carries responsibilities that no secular charity will, teaching the Word, administering the sacraments, caring for its members, and sending the gospel out. If your giving to appealing outside causes quietly starves your own congregation, the priorities in the verse have been reversed. Fund the church first, then give outward.
Second, mind the values behind the mission. A charity can do genuine good in one area while promoting things that conflict with your faith in another. It is completely reasonable, and wise, to read a charity's mission and programs and to choose a different organization that meets the same need without the conflict. You are stewarding what God has entrusted to you, and you are allowed to be selective about where it goes.
Third, keep spontaneous mercy alive alongside your vetted, budgeted giving. The Good Samaritan did not run a background check before he stopped. For a neighbor in front of you, love in action is the standard. Do your careful homework on the larger and recurring gifts, and still keep a little margin for the person God puts in your path today.
Let us end where the heart matters most. There is a kind of teaching that frames giving as a financial strategy, a seed you plant to harvest a bigger return, money you give to get more money back. The Bible does not teach that, whether the gift goes to a church or a charity. Giving is not an investment that pays you in dollars. It is worship, and it is love for people God loves.
Scripture is honest that faithful, generous people still face hardship. The Macedonian churches gave generously out of deep poverty and severe affliction, not out of a windfall their giving had produced. The widow who gave two small coins gave out of her want, and Jesus praised her not for a return she received but for the heart she showed. Money is a tool and a test, never a reward for belief. If you give expecting a paycheck from God, you have misread Him.
So why give at all, to the church or beyond it? The most famous line on the heart of giving answers plainly. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. We give because God gave first, because our neighbor bears His image, and because a heart held captive by money is freed a little every time it lets money go.
So here is the whole of it. Give the church its due, joyfully and first. Then, as you have opportunity, do good unto all men, because Galatians 6:10 sends your kindness out into the world and not only into the pew. When you support a well vetted secular charity that clothes the naked, feeds the hungry, heals the sick, or houses the homeless, you are walking the same road as the Samaritan, letting your light shine before men. Confirm the charity is real, read how it spends, watch for the red flags, mind its values, and let the tax question stay far behind your reasons. Do that, and your generosity will be both warm and wise, which is exactly how God means it to be.
No, Scripture does not forbid it. Galatians 6:10 explicitly tells believers to do good to all people, not only to fellow Christians. The Good Samaritan crossed ethnic and religious lines to help a stranger, and Jesus held him up as the model of a good neighbor. Give the church its proper priority, then extend generosity outward with wisdom and a clear conscience.
Sincere Christians disagree on this, and it is worth holding humbly. The traditional view points to Malachi 3:10, which speaks of bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse, and treats the local church as the modern equivalent. Others see the tithe as the first and primary portion for the church while directing additional freewill offerings and alms toward the poor and other causes. Wherever you land, most believers give the church a central place and then give beyond it as they are able.
Start with the free IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search to confirm the group is a registered tax-exempt organization and that gifts are deductible. Then read its Form 990 on Candid and check its rating on Charity Navigator to see how the money is actually spent. Watch for high-pressure appeals, copycat names, and refusal to share financials, which the Federal Trade Commission lists as classic warning signs.
You can deduct gifts to a qualified 501(c)(3) organization only if you itemize instead of taking the standard deduction, according to IRS Publication 526. Because the standard deduction is large, most households do not itemize and receive no separate tax benefit for giving. When you do itemize, keep a bank record or written acknowledgment, and get a receipt for any single gift of 250 dollars or more.
This is a fair and important concern. A charity can do genuine good in one area while promoting values that conflict with your faith in another. Read the mission, the programs, and where the money flows before you give, and it is completely reasonable to choose a different organization that meets the same need without the conflict. Vetting is not judgment, it is stewardship of what God has entrusted to you.
Most Christian teaching gives the local church first priority, since it is the community where you worship, are known, and are held accountable, and Galatians 6:10 gives a special place to the household of faith. A common approach is to fund your church giving first, then dedicate additional freewill offerings to vetted causes beyond it. The order reflects priority, not a rule that giving must stop at the church door.
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