This month people will celebrate Ashura, Christmas, Hanukah, and other holy traditions in wonderfully different, awe-inspiring, ways. At the same time, congregations everywhere are launching coat drives, collecting donations, and volunteering for the local soup kitchen. Their efforts are all the more urgent as demand for help spirals and the economic recovery continues to flag.

As religious leaders mobilize congregants during a season that reminds us of giving and gratitude, I can’t help but reflect on the complex relationship between the secular charitable sector and the faith-based community. We seem to operate in parallel worlds, like two planets circling in different orbits. Religious organizations are fundamentally different from secular nonprofit and philanthropic organizations of course. Communities of faith are rooted in the teachings of the Koran, Bible, Talmud, and other sacred texts. They offer their followers distinct belief systems, narratives, and creeds that help them find an answer to larger questions such as ‘what is my purpose in life?’ At their core, faith-based organizations have a spiritual component that secular organizations in the nonprofit and philanthropic community rarely articulate.

Even as I write that last sentence, however, I know in my heart that staff and volunteers in our sector have tremendous faith that…

• Devoted and engaged people working together can make a difference;
• There is intrinsic value in helping another human being without personal gain; and
• We can and must make the world a better place for all.

Organizations across our sector share a legal obligation as 501(c)3s, but we are also bound by a profound moral commitment to help others. Although I risk generalizing, we in fact share a number of common values such as promoting the worth and dignity of all people and extending to them fair and full opportunities for economic equity. From civil rights to civil disobedience, religious leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi have tapped into such core beliefs to promote social justice, as have civic leaders such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Given how closely aligned our values, there is tremendous untapped potential for collaboration between secular and faith-based organizations. Imagine if we could throw the full weight of our aggregate resources against complementary agendas? We might start by developing a better understanding among sector leaders of how our two communities can find common ground. Doing so might also begin with grantmakers backing such cooperative efforts. I am told that all too often religious leaders find themselves pigeonholed by foundation professionals, who exclude them from portfolios addressing the very issues that compel their actions. As leaders in mosques, churches, and synagogues look for ways to help in your neighborhood, you might consider meeting with them to see how your organizations can tackle a particular issue together this holiday season – a small stepping stone that could lead to more in the coming year. (If you have other suggestions on how to develop this partnership, please leave a comment below.)

Hanging on the wall of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, not far from Independent Sector’s offices, is a sign that reads: “During the liturgy, the only call you should take should be from the Holy Spirit. Please turn your cell phones off.” As you celebrate the holidays, the call I hope you will hear is the one to cooperate more fully with the faith-based community; the call I hope you will make is to work with your brothers and sisters in the struggle for a better life. We fail to do so only at the peril of suffering communities, as the economy recovers all too slowly.

In my final blog of the year, I would like to sign off by thanking staff and volunteers alike for their herculean efforts in 2010, a truly challenging year for our community. At Independent Sector, I am blessed with an incredibly talented team of dedicated staff who are deeply committed to working with you and helping you any way they can. Our staff also thanks the IS Board for its leadership, guidance, and support in helping IS to change continually, take risks and have courage.

As we embark on another year together, I look forward to working as closely as ever with you in transforming good intentions into concrete solutions, solving social problems, and improving lives everywhere. Gandhi said, “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” Together we can keep such faith alive.