President Appeals to Companies to Expand Giving to Religious Groups

Speaking at a White House conference this month, President Bush called on corporations and foundations to follow the federal government’s lead and make more money available to religious groups that provide social services. But some philanthropy leaders pointed out significant obstacles to making that happen.

At the meeting, Mr. Bush touted new data showing that the federal government is awarding a growing number of grants and dollars to religious charities — and urged private grant makers, especially corporate foundations, to follow suit.

“The question government and private philanthropy ought to ask is, does the program get the results that we all want, as opposed to, what is the nature of the people trying to get results,” he told the National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which was attended by about 1,200 religious and nonprofit leaders from across the country.

Mr. Bush, who set up the meeting to discuss ways grant makers can provide more money to religious organizations, complained that corporate foundations give a low percentage of dollars to religious groups, and in some cases bar such grants altogether.

“I would hope they would revisit their charters,” he said. “I would hope they’d make the priority the achievement of certain social objectives before they would make the decision to exclude some who are achieving incredible progress on behalf of our country.”

2,760 Federal Grants

The White House released a survey showing that religious groups won 2,760 competitive social-services grants worth more than $2.1-billion from seven federal agencies in fiscal year 2005 — almost 11 percent of the total dollars awarded. That translates into 22 percent more grants and 7 percent more dollars than in 2004.

Mr. Bush also referred to results of two surveys on corporate giving conducted by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. One, which reviewed the 2003 tax forms of 20 large corporate foundations, found that they awarded 16 percent of more than 160,000 grants to religious organizations, according to Jim Towey, director of the office. That is actually higher than the share of grants awarded to religious groups by the seven federal agencies in 2005 (almost 12 percent).

However, Mr. Bush in his speech said religious groups received a much smaller percentage of those dollars: 6 percent of $850-million awarded by the 20 foundations.

The other survey, which looked at 50 corporate foundations, found that one out of five specifically do not allow money to go to religious organizations, Mr. Bush said.

Some corporate foundations restrict grants to religious groups because they do not want to appear to be favoring one religion over others or because many religious organizations are not required to share their financial records with the Internal Revenue Service or the public. “We have many stakeholders, and those stakeholders have many religious, or non-religious, beliefs,” says Ellen Luger, executive director of the General Mills Foundation, in Minneapolis. “As a corporate foundation, we have to be sensitive to that.”

The foundation says in its grant-application guidelines that it does not support “religious organizations for religious purposes.”

However, Ms. Luger gave a panel presentation at the White House conference about other ways the foundation works with religious groups, such as through a project called the Hawthorne Huddle, which unites religious and other local leaders for monthly meetings to discuss problems in an urban Minneapolis neighborhood.

‘Day-to-Day Crises’

Steve Gunderson, president of the Council on Foundations, says some religious groups have trouble meeting the criteria set by foundations to ensure their grants are effective — for example, providing detailed information about their operations and their business plans.

“The reality is, in many faith-based programs, they don’t operate in that kind of detail because they respond to day-to-day crises that walk through their door,” he says. “It’s both the best part of who they are and also the challenge they face when seeking independent funds.”

One speaker at the conference, Stephen M. Wing, director of government programs for CVS/pharmacy, in Twinsburg, Ohio, says his company has started working more closely with churches since President Bush started his effort to steer more money to religious groups and has found the experience beneficial. He says his company, for example, provides grants to the Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, in Washington, to conduct homeownership seminars for CVS employees. “Our faith-based programs distinguish us from the competition,” he says.

But he says grant applicants need to do their homework and find out how their activities fit into a company’s business mission before applying for money.

Human Services

The White House data on government grants showed that the Department of Health and Human Services provided the most money to religious organizations in 2005 — $780.5-million, up 15 percent from 2004. Its competitive grants to religious charities have grown sharply since 2002, when they stood at $477-million, according to the report. But it ranked lowest among the seven agencies in the share of dollars it directed to such groups — 7.4 percent. The Department of Housing and Urban Development ranked highest, at 24 percent, with much of the money going to a housing program for older people.

The study did not say which kinds of religious groups — small churches, mosques, or synagogues, for example, versus large established programs such as Catholic Charities — received the grants.

Mr. Bush said the numbers show that his administration is making progress in its campaign to “change the culture” in Washington and ensure that religious organizations can compete on an equal footing with other groups for federal dollars.

But some critics complain that Mr. Bush is highlighting giving to religious charities while at the same time proposing cuts in federal spending on social programs.

“The faith-based initiative and ‘compassionate conservative’ rhetoric are no substitute for adequate federal funding to address social-service needs,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

An independent study released last month found that the number of federal grants to religious groups grew from 2002 to 2004. However, the dollar amount fell — from $670-million to $626-million — because overall spending on such grants declined, according to the study, which was conducted by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy, in Albany, N.Y.

The two studies examined data from different years and agencies, making them somewhat difficult to compare. R. Bryan Jackson, a spokesman for the Albany group, says the disparity is partly because his group excluded some federal programs that were introduced after 2002, such as a program to provide mentors for children of prisoners that awards grants to religious organizations.

Although religious groups are now getting a bigger share of the federal pie, the Bush administration will continue pushing for more, Mr. Towey says.

For example, it will prod state and local governments, because a survey conducted by his office found they have a poor record of distributing federal grants to religious charities, he says.

Legal Challenges

Mr. Bush’s policies aimed at helping religious groups have faced numerous legal challenges on the grounds that they violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

The administration won a victory last October when a federal district court ruled the Salvation Army could hire or fire people for their religious beliefs despite getting federal money.

But it has been forced to suspend several grants to groups that were mixing too much religion into their programs. For example, a federal judge ordered the government to suspend a grant last year to MentorKids USA, in Phoenix, because it requires mentors to have “a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ” and to monitor the religious progress of the children they mentor.

“We have made clear from day one, if government money is used for religious acitivites, that’s prohibited,” Mr. Towey said.

Last month, a U.S. appeals court in Chicago overruled a lower court and said the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in Madison, Wis., can proceed with a broader lawsuit — one charging that government financing of religious groups violates the First Amendment by using federal money to promote religion.