THE HALO EFFECT (cont.)
Individual Impact — Congregations often serve neighborhoods
with the highest need, providing one-on-one services. This
support helps the community by preventing or mitigating costly
personal problems. Clergy help mediate struggling marriages and
relationships, saving individuals from costly legal procedures and
lost productivity. Programs also help individuals avert suicide, stay
out of prison, and end alcohol dependence.
Individual Impact: Visitation BVM
Located in a low-income neighborhood,
Visitation BVM provides needed social
services to local residents. Its economic
impact on individuals totaled $4,135,270,
of which $3 million comes from youth riskavoidance programs alone.
Community Development — Congregations with older buildings
often provide office space to start-up organizations and businesses,
many of which go on to generate growing value for the community.
Co-ops, for instance, are jointly owned, providing inexpensive
products and sharing profits with those involved. Cooperativelyowned credit unions similarly incorporate fairness into their
business practices, offering accessible and affordable banking
services. Eight of the 12 participating congregations helped to
incubate fledgling groups, which contributed a benefit of over $3
million.
Invisible Safety Net — Although it is common to include volunteer
and in-kind support as part of an organization’s budget, the impact
of this kind of support still flies under the radar. Augmenting
the city’s network of social services, the typical participating
congregation contributed the equivalent of two full-time volunteers,
supplementing the limited capacity of many social programs. Free
or inexpensive space is another benefit that congregations provide,
subsidizing the operations of small programs that run the gamut
from substance abuse groups to afterschool programs.
Magnet Effect: The Church of St. Luke
and the Epiphany
Wedding attendees stay at local hotels and
spend money in town. St. Luke and the
Epiphany hosted weddings that had a total
impact of $170,620.
What Led to this Study:
Valuing of Congregation-Supported Social Services
Since its founding in 1989, Partners for Sacred Places has focused
on understanding how congregations use their assets — including
their buildings — to serve the wider public. Co-founders Bob Jaeger
and Diane Cohen knew that congregations hosted a wide variety of
programs, ranging from soup kitchens to day care centers to job
training