Standards of the Federal Faith-Based and Community Initiative

The faith-based and community initiative aims to improve social services by encouraging government collaboration with the wide range of organizations that people seeking help turn to for effective and trusted assistance. It is also a reform effort to bring government social-service procurement standards into line with current federal constitutional interpretations, which require government neutrality rather than the exclusion of "pervasively sectarian" providers.

Charitable Choice is the best known new set of rules, but it applies only to a few federal programs. To cover the other social programs, over the past few years the federal government has promulgated Equal Treatment standards, similar to Charitable Choice. View a comparison chart here.

View a list of the various federal "level playing field" standards, with CFR or other citations, here.

Charitable Choice, first adopted as part as the 1996 federal welfare reform law, the Personal Responsibilitiy and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), applies to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program (and to the new fatherhood and marriage strengthening funds designated in the TANF reauthorization law), to the Community Services Block Grant, and to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) substance abuse prevention and treatment funds. Charitable Choice regulations came into effect in 2003. For an overview of the Charitable Choice requirements, see Charitable Choice Basics.

Equal Treatment rules were promulgated by Executive Order 13279, "Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and Community Organizations," Dec. 12, 2002. These rules now govern federal social-service spending that is not covered by Charitable Choice, including support from the Corporation for National and Community Service. General administrative regulations incorporating the Equal Treatment rules, to cover federal discretionary spending and also block grants and formula grants, were adopted by various federal departments in 2004. For an overview of the Equal Treatment requirements, see Equal Treatment Basics.

Thus, the federal funds for social services that come to state and local agencies are now governed either by Equal Treatment rules or by Charitable Choice. These standards apply to the federal funds, to required state or local matching funds (including Maintenance of Effort funds in the TANF program), and to state and local funds that are voluntarily commingled with the federal funds. There are some exceptions for states with "Blaine" amendments. In general, agencies can shield state or local funds from the Charitable Choice or Equal Treatment requirements if those funds are not required to be matched with the federal funds.

The federal government has also revised regulations or issued rulings to clarify the church-state rules in certain specific areas: HUD programs (among others: CDBG, HOME, ESG, Youthbuild, and Indian programs); WIA; federal contracting standards; eligibility of faith-based drug treatment programs for Food Stamps; FEMA support to faith-based organizations; and historic preservation grants for religious building.

In addition to these legal changes, the federal government encourages officials to expand their utilization of smaller organizations (whether secular or faith-based), where feasible and useful. Grassroots organizations, though they may not as easily manage government funds and requirements, may have advantages of closeness to the needs, trust, nimbleness, and creativity. Greater engagement with such organizations does not require updating church-state standards but may require other changes, such as offering more extensive technical assistance, reducing the size of grants and contracts, and cultivating and utilizing larger organizations willing to act as intermediaries for networks of small organizations.