Throughout history, religious organizations have played a vital role in improving social welfare and in strengthening communities—particularly in the United States—and the government has provided support for some of these programs for many years. Recent legislation and President Bush’s faith-based and community initiatives proposals now seek to expand this support, and America’s 354,000 religious organizations are being asked to expand their role in providing services. In light of the longstanding significance of this group's activities, INDEPENDENT SECTOR continues to explore and assess the efforts of this subsector and the relation of religious congregations to the nonprofit and philanthropic community as a whole.

INDEPENDENT SECTOR Resources

• The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in the Social Welfare System (PDF), a report from the 2003 Spring Research Forum, convened in March 2003 by INDEPENDENT SECTOR in collaboration with The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy at the Rockefeller Institute of Government
  
  

• Faith and Philanthropy: The Connection Between Charitable Behavior and Giving to Religion, a report on the giving and volunteering habits of givers to religion
  
  
• America's Religious Congregations (PDF), a study of the social service activities of religious congregations
  
  
• Beyond Charitable Choice (PDF), highlights from the Summit on Government Funding of Social Services Provided by Religious Congregations convened in June 2001 by INDEPENDENT SECTOR and the Aspen Institute
  
  
• Statistics on giving to and volunteering with religious congregations from Giving and Volunteering in the United States 2001: Key Findings  (PDF):

Giving—Households with people who attend religious services on a regular basis, at least once or twice a month (53 percent of respondents), give more than twice as much annually as those who are not regular attendees ($2,151 and $964, respectively).

Volunteering—People who regularly attend religious services volunteer at a much higher rate than those who do not. Fifty-four percent of regular attendees volunteer, as compared to 32 percent of those who do not attend religious services on a regular basis.

• USA Freedom Corps and the Faith-Based Initiative: A New Commitment to Service and Giving in America?, a Cleveland Regional Membership Event convened in April 2002
  
  
• The Strengths—and Weaknesses—of Faith-Based Organizations in Providing Social Services: Perspectives of Grantmakers, a forum from the 2001 IS Annual Conference, November 2001