Scale and Scope of Faith Based Social Action

Faith based organisations are ‘a strong force’ in the charitable sector, which encompasses a large range of social action projects and programmes (NCVO, 2007:15). Within this, some charities are engaged in religious activities and NCVO’s 2007 report notes that at least one registered charity in seven is thus engaged. Of these, Christian-based chari- ties outnumber charities based on other faith tra- ditions. It is noted that “The total income of faith based registered charities is estimated at £4.6 bil- lion” though income appears to be unevenly spread across organisations so that “those with an income of less than £200,000 account for 90% of organi- sations but generate only 11% of the total income (NCVO, 2007:16). This reflects the case that many faith based organisations are very small, informal and heavily dependent on volunteers, although oth- ers are amongst some of the largest charities.

Over half of faith based charities aim to serve the general public, and two fifths place a particular focus on children or young people (NCVO 2007, p15). Grant-making is the majority area of activity (56% of faith based organisations) followed by service provision (35%) (NCVO 2007, p15). This is supported in other research which shows that a significant amount of work across England focuses on children/ young people and the elderly, although faith based organisations are engaged in many other activities (see Dinham 2006, p9).

At the same time, most faith based social action takes place through projects and associations. Many of these are not established as charities and oper- ate within the formal structures of the wider faith organisation, often the religious framework, such as a diocese or equivalent structure. The majority of these are orientated towards the wider community and not confined only to the faith group itself.

Some faith based social action is distinctive because of its pioneering work with groups that others have found difficult to address. A good example is the work of the Lighthouse Project set up by Hull Community Church.

In each of the nine English regions there has been some sort of mapping of faith based social action activity to identify what faith groups are doing. In some regions this has been extensive. Thus, Beyond Belief (March 2004) reports that there are at least two community action projects for each faith centre in the South East. Faith in the East of England (July 2005) identifies 180,000 beneficiaries of faith based community development in the East.

Neighbourhood Renewal in London: the role of faith communities (May 2002) identifies 7000 projects and 2200 faith buildings in London. Believing in the Region (May 2006) reports that 80% of faith groups deliver some kind of service to the wider community in the West Midlands. Faith in England's North West (November 2003) shows that faith communities are running more than 5000 social action projects and generating income of £69m - £94m per annum in the North West.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, Count Us In (2000) shows that in Hull 90% of churches are involved in social action and Angels and Advocates (November 2002) reports that there are 6500 social action projects in churches across Yorkshire and the Humber. Faith in the North East (September 2004) shows that there are more than 2500 faith based projects in the North East. Faith in Action (June 2006) demonstrates that 165,000 people are supported by faith groups in the South West by 4762 activities. Faith in Derbyshire (May 2006) claims that, on average, churches run nine community activities in the East Midlands.

It should be noted that a major difficulty in establishing an analysis of this faith based social action is that there is no national dataset nor at this stage any standardised tools for building one. This means that the wealth of regional and sub-regional data which is available cannot be effectively compared, except crudely.

A process of agreeing shared definitions of terms would be of great value both to faiths and to policy makers in developing tangible ways of communicating activity within, between and beyond faith groups. This in itself would provide a framework for establishing a standardised tool for analysis across a national dataset and is an important strategic next stage.

It should also be noted that the data does not currently distinguish between activities undertaken by different faiths and there is practically no data therefore on what each tradition contributes. It would be beneficial in terms of targeting capacity building to map activities by faith tradition.

Nevertheless, even in its absence, a review of the regional data shows that there are four key ways in which faith communities engage in their wider contexts (Dinham 2007):

• Faiths in projects (partnerships, projects and associations more widely)
• Faiths in fellowship (within congregations, in faiths forums and their equivalents)
• Faiths in strategies (partnerships, networks)
• Faiths in governance structures (leaders and representatives)

The regional aspect of this last point is addressed in the 'Regional Forums' section of this report.

We can also aggregate the regional data to consider the predominating forms of faith based social action. This is necessarily crude because the data is not comparable. The following table does this, though it should be noted that this is indicative rather than conclusive. These figures should not be read as exhaustive. They indicate the trends and represent what regions report themselves to be active in doing. It is highly likely that there is considerably more activity than the existing data shows and a detailed census of activity nationally would be a very desirable next step in more fully apprehending the scale and scope of faith based social action. It should be noted that this would also give a sharper understanding of the exact nature of those activities, some of which is currently captured in a very general way through the use of self-reporting 'catch all' categories like 'community support'.

Aggregate of Faith Based Social Action Activities

Source: These data are derived from a range of regional sources reviewed in Priceless, Unmeasurable: faith and community development in 21^st century England (Dinham A 2007). They are aggregated to give an overall indication of the frequency of the range of activities. They are not exhaustive. The aggregation is crude because there are currently no national data sets nor modes for achieving them which can ensure comparability

Faith and Social Enterprise

Another area in which faiths are active in wider society is through social enterprise. As non-government partners, faiths have increasingly demonstrated a limited but significant capacity for delivering social action, and government has become increasingly interested in how they can be encouraged, with other social actors, to 'stand on their own feet' by generating income from the services provided which are then ploughed back into those services. At its starkest, this is the model of social enterprise which government has committed to.

Faiths have a long tradition of engaging in social enterprise and they are important because they:

• Are seedbeds for this type of enterprise. Many of the most quoted examples of social enterprise began as faith based organisations
• Make a significant contribution to economic and social life in the UK
• Have the potential to reach the most marginalised and excluded groups

Research about the role of faiths in social enterprise carried out in 2006/07 identifies a number of issues which are distinctive to faiths in this regard. Working with multi-faith focus groups, we asked what role faiths think they play in social enterprise. They identified a number of distinctive characteristics which they felt add value. These included a range of values, such as non-judgementalism, hopefulness, compassion, commitment, and a 'whole-person' view of problems.

They also identified distinctive practice orientations, including stability, continuity, long-termism, sustainability, leading by example, buildings and resources, responsiveness & speed and an ability to reach parts others can't reach.

A third important area they identified is associated with relationships and networks. These include rootedness in communities, reaching into communities more broadly, community cohesion/social capital, an educative bent which includes reaching beyond faith groups, as well as being educative about faith in wider contexts.

At the same time, these focus groups identified some concerns about their engagement with social enterprise. Some of these were to do with a sense of lacking - that they do not necessarily have the skills, resources, partnership experience and capacity, adaptability, governance know-how or time to be effective.

Others were associated with a sense of fear - of not knowing how to professionalise, of competition with others, of getting on the wrong side of legal requirements, of corrupting or diluting their values with a business ethos, and finally a fear of failure.

These are all serious concerns which will need to be addressed through targeted programmes of support and research in framing approaches to interfaith social action as it relates to social enterprise. What is also striking about these findings is that they might apply more widely both to what faiths can offer and also to what they need in social action outside social enterprise as well as within it. It is likely that the lessons here can be applied more widely across faith based social action in general.

But for faiths, social enterprise is not a panacea. It is also crucial to recognise that much of the social action undertaken by faiths is unlikely to attract financial self-sustainability and that resources may need to be committed in the long term in these cases outside of social enterprise.