Faith-based foundations are an important vehicle through which religious individuals contribute to causes that are meaningful for them. Foundation executives are usually devoted members of their religious community, and it’s not unusual for nearly all employees to share a religious affiliation. When they cross the religious-secular divide, faith-based foundations will fund causes like community development, performing arts, and disaster relief. Grantees working in these areas often do not have a faith affiliation; but, foundations and grantees will often find alignment in their values, leading to long-term partnerships.
Profiles: Faith-Based Foundations
[God] invites us to be stewards of his creation…coming alongside others, and making sure their needs are met.
Bread and Light Foundation
The Midwest Jewish Foundation
The Midwest Jewish Foundation (MJF) is a faith-based foundation that funds Jewish initiatives along with secular community organizations. MJF believes that strength of the Jewish community is tied with the strength and well-being of the overall community. MJF does not accept requests for proposals (RFPs) from secular organizations, instead they fund based on the established relationships with grantees.Thus, there is no process for organizations outside a relationship to MJF to apply for funding. The main areas that this organization funds, outside of faith-based initiatives, are arts and culture organizations.
St. Peter's Community Foundation
St. Peter's Community Fund (SPCF) is a Catholic foundation funding secular and religious organizations according to their tax records. However, the interview concluded that SACF identifies with funding only faith based organizations because it views philanthropy to be synonymous with Catholicism. SPCF has funded community theater productions, which the interviewee considers to be a faith-based activity because they consider music inherently religious. SPCF’s staff is Catholic, but they are not opposed to hiring outside of the religion. They account the consistency in Catholic identifying staff to the fact that employees seek employers with similar values as their own, not because the foundation is seeking out Catholic individuals to hire.
Bread and Light Foundation
The Bread and Light Foundation (BLF) manages donor-advised funds for Evangelical Christians. When donors cross the religious-secular divide, it is usually to fund humanitarian organizations, secular private schools, or donors’ alma maters. All potential grantees are subject to a vetting process that compares their missions against fairly narrow Evangelical principles to ensure there is no value “misalignment.” BLF’s firm internal commitment to its values and beliefs statement is part of the appeal for potential donors, so the foundation’s likelihood of denying a requested grant appears to be low. Donors and executives are most interested in using the foundation as a vehicle for radical “biblical stewardship” in accordance with the principles of their faith.