“Churches are the dominant neighborhood organization here, and offer the best medium to effect change at the community level,” says J.F. Bryan, a community trustee and past president of the foundation, located in Jacksonville, Florida. “By partnering with the churches, we could make a big impact with a small amount of money from a donor-advised fund. The churches had the infrastructure, the space, the ideas for the projects and the resources to implement them.”

Since that realization, Jacksonville has been home to a wide array of faith-based community projects. One of the first initiatives through the community foundation brought together Catholic churches in an effort designed to get volunteers involved in social ministry work. Another invited individual churches to apply for grants to initiate their own family support program. Elsewhere, one congregation developed an after-school-tutoring program, while another created a child care program.

These small, tightly focused projects all strengthened the religious community as well as the neighborhood at large.

Thinking Nationally About Faith-Based Work

Recently, faith initiatives have been further bolstered thanks to some help from the White House.

After much debate, President Bush’s original faith-based proposal has reappeared. It has been revised, reformed and renamed CARE, the Charity Aid, Recovery and Empowerment Act of 2002. Some of the key components include:

• Creating tax incentives for charitable donations, including allowing tax-free gifts from IRAs.
• Creating a charitable tax deduction for individual taxpayers and for couples who do not itemize on their tax returns.
• Allowing faith-based social service groups to compete for federal funds. That means if the CARE initiative passes, religious institutions, even if they link their religion to their services, can apply for federal grants.

Margaret Craddock, of the Metropolitan Interfaith Association (MIFA), in Memphis, Tennessee, attended the press conference for the new CARE Act. She sees many positive attributes, including the proposal to give assistance to some of the new faith-based nonprofits. This assistance would include writing and managing grants, incorporating and gaining tax-exempt status, and researching model social service programs.

Several provisions of the CARE Act were approved by the Senate Finance Committee on June 18th, but the bill has not yet gone to the Senate floor for consideration, and will not likely do so until after the July recess.

New Opportunities for Community Foundation Donors

Faith-based giving coupled with aid from the CARE Act offers donors opportunities to explore different kinds of partnerships and giving.

For example, if you wanted to start a donor advised fund with your local community foundation, CARE would enable you to do so with a tax-free donation from your IRA.

Because a community foundation can serve as a forum, bringing together diverse religious groups to discuss the issues in the community, many new opportunities and partnerships for donors may arise. If you have an idea but lack sufficient funding to implement it, your community foundation can help by bringing together other interested donors.

Conversely, if your church, synagogue, or mosque has interest in social outreach, but isn’t sure how to reach the intended beneficiaries of the program, a community foundation can be an excellent matchmaker. A suburban organization, for example, might want to support inner city families, but not know how. Call on your community foundation to help establish relationships and locate additional resources, if necessary.

While the CARE act will enhance opportunities for faith-based giving, keep in mind that many of these opportunities already exist through your community foundation.

An Extra Component to Giving

While faith-based initiatives can pack a powerful punch, there are more than just the monetary benefits at work.

“When working with a faith-based initiative, donors and volunteers have a special dedication to the effort,” says Mr. Bryan, who is also on the national board of Episcopal Relief and Development. “There’s an unallocated resource at work that doesn’t show up on the balance sheet—the power of faith.”

Ms. Craddock agrees that faith can add an extra dimension, one that can be very uplifting. “Our clients know that people from all faiths have volunteered to come together and serve them,” she says.

Exploring opportunities with faith-based non-profits or community foundations that foster faith-based initiatives can add a spiritual dimension to your charitable endeavors, strengthening the connection between you and the causes you support.