Posted on July 9, 2003

Religion

The Bush administration's faith-based initiative, which aimed to make more federal funding available to religious groups that provide social services, garnered considerable attention in the two years before Congress passed a stripped-down version of the bill earlier this year. By contrast, private financial support to faith-based providers — an important source of funding for religious groups looking to diversify revenue streams — has received relatively little attention, according to a study conducted by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. The group's report, Private-Sector Contributions to Faith-Based Social Service, by Jason D. Scott, anaylzes the grants of the fifty largest faith-friendly foundations and also explores the funding policies of foundations that limit or exclude faith-based groups. The study was supported by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.