Survey Shows Faith-Based Initiative Working Well in the States: Charitable Choice Promotes Expanded, Respectful Faith-Based Services

9/4/2002

From: Amy L. Sherman of the Hudson Institute, 434-293-5656 http://www.hudsonfaithincommunities.org/

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 4 -- How are state-level faith-based initiatives like those proposed by the Bush Administration working in practice? The answer is contained in a new study released this week by the Hudson Institute. The survey of nearly 400 leaders of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in 15 states, reports that 92 percent of faith-based contractors providing social services with public funds are satisfied with their relationship with government. According to the study, the initiatives are working well because government agencies and their faith-based partners are carefully following new guidelines that safeguard the religious character of organizations and protect the religious freedom of clients receiving services. This is the first study of its kind to document how charitable choice -- the new federal guidelines regulating public funding of faith-based organizations -- is actually working.

Key findings include:

-- The contractors report few problems with government intrusiveness or with the applications process. The most common complaint concerned the burdensomeness of government reporting requirements.

-- Three-quarters of the contractors stressed the importance of removing discriminatory barriers that prohibit government funding of faith-based organizations on the same basis as secular organizations. The same proportion approved of the requirement that clients be given services from an alternative organization if they object to the religious character of a particular service provider.

-- More than half (56 percent) of the contractors were "new participants" -- they began contracting with government only after charitable choice guidelines were adopted.

-- Sixty-seven percent said that charitable choice's hiring protections are "very" or "somewhat" important to them. More than 70 percent highly value the right charitable choice gives them to control their mission and governing board.

"The survey dispels many of the critics' fears bout charitable choice," asserts co-author Amy Sherman of the Hudson Institute. One fear is that faith-based groups will use tax dollars for inherently religious purposes. But 70 percent of FBOs surveyed separate their government funds from funds used to underwrite inherently religious activities. Nearly as many hold special training sessions on the charitable choice rules for staff and volunteers. FBOs that offer optional religious worship services do so at separate times or places from the government-funded programs. Some critics worry that government funding might compromise the FBOs' spiritual character, drive away private funding, or inhibit the contractors' ability to criticize the government. But less than 5 percent of those surveyed shared these concerns.

While some opponents of charitable choice have voiced concerns that faith-based groups might not respect clients' civil rights, the survey results do not confirm such fears. The survey found that the contractors employ multiple, deliberate strategies for protecting those rights and that only 9 percent of the FBOs reported any clients leaving their programs for alternative secular programs.

"There is a growing consensus in our country that President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative is working to serve those in need," said Jim Towey, the director of the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "This report provides tremendous insight into how the government can encourage and support the compassionate and transforming work of America's unsung heroes -- those charitable groups that help their neighbors not because they have to, but because they want to."

"Government support has had a substantial impact on the social service activities of the faith-based contractors surveyed," emphasized co-author John Green, whose Survey Research Center at the University of Akron conducted the study. "Two-thirds of the respondents reported that the government-funded contract allowed them to create a new program; three-quarters noted that it allowed them to expand an existing program; and almost 90 percent claimed the contract had allowed them to serve more clients."

"Policymakers have been wondering how charitable choice is actually working on the ground," says Sherman. "Now we have hard data indicating that it is working very well." Charitable choice's attempts to level the playing field appear to be working, given the large numbers of new FBOs contracting with government. While the faith-based contractors were religiously diverse, 42 percent identified themselves as Evangelicals. Most of the churches contracting are composed predominantly of African-American or other minority members. "What we're seeing is a broadening of the social safety net," Sherman explains. "Now many people in need -- who are often people of faith -- have more choices. While the critics are right to monitor the new approach as it takes hold, the survey shows that in practice, government and its faith-based partners are doing things the right way."