Review: Social Service That Works

Third Quarter 2002

What makes faith-based organizations effective in how they serve their communities? One important and often overlooked answer to that question is wise and careful management. Serving Those in Need: A Handbook for Managing Faith-Based Human Services Organizations (Jossey-Bass 2000), edited by Edward Queen, explores the many facets of building and sustaining successful faith-based organizations (FBOs).

The handbook covers a wide range of topics from financial accountability to leadership development, from clarifying the organization's mission to deciding whether and when to accept government funds. Included in the volume are essays by practitioners working in the fields of health care, community development, and urban ministries with at-risk youth.

Some chapters are particularly timely, given the current debate over government's collaboration with FBOs. Some critics charge that faith-based groups will be less dependable and less accountable as partners in government-funded programs. Many faith-based proponents worry that to accept funding from government will inevitably lead FBOs to water down their mission and become less effective. Stephen Monsma's chapter in the book, "Deciding Whether and When to Seek Government Funds," is just the wisdom FBOs need in this regard.

Monsma reviews the historical and legal record of FBOs that have used public funds to support their programs. He suggests three specific steps that will enable them to maintain their independence and distinctive mission should they choose to apply for and accept public funds. First, says Monsma, FBO leaders should identify those principles and practices of their organization that they consider to be nonnegotiable. These should be communicated clearly to all staff members and to any potential government partner.

Second, an organization that receives public funds should be sure to cultivate other sources of funding, particularly donations from those who support their ministry. This will help the organization avoid overdependence on government.

Third, FBOs should develop good relationships with elected officials and the media so that attacks against them by opponents of government collaboration with FBOs can be fended off with the help of those in the community who know the quality and character of the FBO's good works.

Monsma, a political science professor at Pepperdine University, is also the author of a new study of "how religious organizations provide welfare-to-work services" (the subtitle), titled Working Faith (Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society and The Manhattan Institute, 2002). This detailed examination and comparison of organizations in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and Philadelphia shows just how diverse the relationships are between various kinds of FBOs and government. The data in the report provide important information that can help an FBO follow through on the advice Monsma offers in the Queen book.

John Zietlow's essay in Serving Those in Need focuses on financial accountability and controls for FBOs. Organizations, he says, need to develop careful systems of documentation and audited reviews of their finances before they even consider collaborating with government. FBOs should also learn to document as carefully as possible the results of the services they render in order to be able to show their constituents and government the valuable "return" on a financial investment.

Accountability should not be seen as an uncomfortable and unnecessary outside imposition, says editor Queen. It should arise naturally from an FBO's acknowledgment of its accountability to God. "From the way they keep their books, treat staff and those they serve, to their interactions with donors and the wider public, religious organizations ought to function differently."

Along a parallel line, Monsma concludes in Working Faith, that FBOs "tend to offer welfare-to-work services in a different, more holistic manner than do government agencies and other secular organizations...[and they] offer a higher proportion of life-oriented services, as compared to job/ oriented services, than do secular programs." The qualitative difference in service as well as in accountability and management should be nurtured by FBOs themselves and protected by government.