The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in the Social Welfare System

INDEPENDENT SECTOR and the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy at the Rockefeller Institute of Government have published a twenty page report on The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in the Social Welfare System. The report (PDF) is the synthesis of the rich exchange of ideas between the participants and speakers who attended the two-day event.

It is all too rare that research is used to inform practice and policy, but the IS Spring Research Forum accomplished just that objective earlier this year. At the Spring Research Forum, a total of 40 peer-reviewed research papers addressed issues of effectiveness, capacity, implementation of charitable choice, giving, strengths and weaknesses of congregations, and a range of other important topics. Sessions included representatives from a variety of faiths and perspectives including government officials, journalists, scholars, practitioners, pastors, priests, rabbis, sisters, and advocates.

Some of the issues raised in the plenaries included the rich diversity of religious experience in America; the critical distinction between congregations and faith-based organizations; the importance of theology to how different religions approach social welfare work; legal, policy, and practical issues involved in the use of vouchers; and the vital importance of increasing resources from all sources to address the needs of the most vulnerable in this country.

Conference Speakers Included:

• The Reverend Cheryl Anthony, executive director, Judah International Christian Center
• Diana Aviv, vice president for public policy and director, Washington Action Office, United Jewish Communities, incoming president and CEO, INDEPENDENT SECTOR
• E.J. Dionne, Jr., senior fellow, Brookings Institution, co-chair, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
• The Reverend Robert M. Franklin, former president, Interdenominational Theological
  Center, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics, Candler School of Theology, Emory University
• The Reverend J. Bryan Hehir, president and CEO, Catholic Charities USA, INDEPENDENT SECTOR board member
• Thomas Jeavons, general secretary, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
• Les Lenkowsky, chief executive officer, Corporation for National and Community Service
• Ira C. Lupu, professor, George Washington Law School, and co-director, Project on Law and Religious Institutions and the Legal Tracking Project of the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare
• The Reverend Ray Rivera, director, Latino Pastoral Action Center
• Anne Sapp, executive deputy commissioner, Texas Department of Human Services
• Jill Schumann, president and CEO, Lutheran Services in America
• Eugene Steuerle, senior fellow, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, The Urban Institute
• Jim Towey, director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
• Robert Tuttle, professor, George Washington University Law School, co-director of the Legal Tracking Project of the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy
• Jim Wallis, editor, Sojourners magazine, and convener, Call to Renewal
• Additional Speakers and Presenters

Conference Sponsors
INDEPENDENT SECTOR gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our conference sponsors:

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation

• Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

• John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Wirthlin Worldwide

Spring Research Forum Working Papers
Conference attendees received a copy of all the research papers before the event. To order additional copies of the 2003 Spring Research Forum Working Papers ($35 for IS members and $50 for nonmembers), call toll free 888-860-8118.

About the 2003 Spring Research Forum
The Forum will continue a longstanding tradition of stimulating new research by bringing together the best and brightest researchers and practitioners from the United States and abroad.  More than 300 researchers, nonprofit and religious leaders, foundation representatives, and government officials are expected to participate. The Forum seeks to address the following questions:

• What measurement and evaluation tools are needed to assess the effectiveness of faith-based organizations offering social services?
• What are some of the effects of "charitable choice" legislation?
• What is the capacity of religious congregations to provide complex social services such as counseling teens about pregnancy and treating drug addiction?
• What is the connection between religious congregations' commitment to spiritual nurturing and to social activism?
• How will increased pressure on faith-based groups and/or their receipt of government funds affect their voluntary nature and spiritual mission?
• What kinds of collaborations should be established in funding social service delivery by religious congregations, and which should be avoided due to practical or legal considerations?
• What strengths or weaknesses do religious congregations possess in building social capital?
• What role do congregations play in reaching low-income, hard-to-serve, or other isolated communities?

• Is there any indication that either increasing competition or collaboration for federal funds among faith-based organizations, public agencies, and nonprofits will lead to more effective service to communities in need?

About INDEPENDENT SECTOR
INDEPENDENT SECTOR is a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of approximately 600 national organizations, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs, collectively representing tens of thousands of charitable groups in every state across the nation. Its mission is to promote, strengthen, and advance the nonprofit and philanthropic community to foster private initiative for the public good.

About the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s Roundtable on Religion 
and Social Welfare Policy
The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy was established in the spring of 2002 by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Roundtable is based at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York in Albany. Partnering with Rockefeller on the project are the George Washington University Law School and Search for Common Ground.

The Roundtable will study existing and developing policies related to religious social service providers at the federal, state, and local levels. Its mission is to assess and build upon extant research on the scope and efficacy of faith-based social services; and to engage policymakers, religious and civic leaders, and the media in an informed, sustained discussion on whether and how best to involve faith-based and faith-affiliated institutions in meeting important community needs.

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