Faith-Based Organization Research

Articles, Excerpts, Tips & More
Wrap-around services: Serving Holistically: Many FBOs find that a “wrap-around” service approach is critical in meeting the multiple needs of program participants. This article describes the characteristics of organizations that successfully adopt this approach.
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Being “User Friendly:” The Benefits of a Multi-Faith Staff: Some FBOs find that a diverse staff attracts more program participants and can make service delivery more effective. This article highlights steps FBOs serving religiously diverse neighborhoods might take to ensure that their programs address community needs sensitively.
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Belief Systems in Faith-based Human Service Programs: What makes FBOs different? FASTEN researchers from Baylor University tackle the question, based on their exploration of 15 faith-based service programs.
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When the Service Delivery System is a Congregation: For social workers, public administrators, and others desiring to collaborate with churches in social service programs, it is important to know what makes congregations distinct from faith-based nonprofit organizations – and what the implications of those differences are.
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Creating Communities of Support: The Work of Coalition-Building: Based on research of effective collaboration, here are six quick tips on building coalitions that last.
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Research Brief Volunteer Roles in Faith-based Organizations: This helpful article identifies eight lessons learned about volunteer roles in faith-based organizations and offers insights about the implications of these lessons for program administrators.
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Faith-Based Organizations as Safe Spaces: Creating a safe environment for program participants is crucial. Here are creative suggestions about how to do it.
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Recommended Books
Saving America: Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society: This book compiles and analyzes the most current studies on faith-based social service programs and addresses issues of voluntarism, care giving, and clients’ viewpoints.
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Recommended Links
The Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy: The Roundtable is run by the Rockefeller Institute and offers a nonpartisan assessment of the role of faith-based organizations in the social welfare system.
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The Finance Project: The Finance Project provides a variety of educational resources of interest to practitioners and public administrators working to improve the lives of low income families and children. It also incorporates all the resources of the (formerly independent) Welfare Information Network.
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