Liberal Drift in Churches - Aaron M. Renn looks at how wealthy donors no longer trust churches enough to just give, so they're wrapping their gifts in legal structures. The Pulte family took control of a Detroit basilica through a captive nonprofit in exchange for $50 million. The ostensible reason for this structure is that many churches have not handled their endowments well as their congregants age out and the endowments end up in the hands of congregations with very different values. This has happened a lot the last few decades so unsurprisingly, givers are more hesitant. Low-trust societies substitute lawyers for covenant, and this is an indicator that trust in churches, or at least their futures is at an all-time low.

If I were a wealthy donor I wouldn't trust donating to large religious orgs either, especially mainline denominations.