Introduction to the Symposium

Abstract

The literature on faith-based organizations (FBOs) includes few articles examining the larger religious context for faith-based nonprofits or the role of specific religions in FBO strategies. While articles on faith-based organizations or religious philanthropy are scattered throughout NVSQ, the last special issue on this topic (Milofsky & Cnaan Small Religious Nonprofits, Vol. 26, 1997) is more than 10 years old. This symposium brings together articles focusing on the policy and religious contexts that influence FBO behavior to understand the dynamic between government, communities, and their FBOs. As Milofsky (2008, p. 203) notes, organizations can only be understood “in relation to the communities in which they are embedded.” Most articles in this issue define FBOs as nonprofits founded by religious institutions with a primary function separate from worship. As such, we exclude congregations from our discussion, but some articles refer to FBOs attached to congregations or adjudicatories like a diocese such as Catholic Charities. This symposium came out of the Faith and Organizations Project, research fostered by FBO leaders outside of the policy context that influences most literature on this topic. A national research/practice initiative started in 2001 by a request from religious and FBO leaders from several faiths, the project focused on the relationship between faith communities and their nonprofits in a comparative framework. (see www.faithandorganizations.umd.edu). Originally, the symposium planned three articles from the Faith and Organizations Project by Schneider, Wittberg, and Sinha focusing on different aspects of the context for FBO action and supported by a literature review on FBOs. This symposium expands on that original concept by including Gocmen’s comparative article from Europe, which explores how the important relationship between church and state influences the role of FBOs in a particular national