Giving and going: US congregational participation in disaster response

Abstract

With the increase in the severity of natural disasters linked to climate change, the role religious congregations play in response is not well known, despite their substantial involvement in general charitable activity. Most disaster response research is event-based, ex post, and not focused on religious institutions or donor capacity considerations. Data from the National Study of Congregational Economic Practices fill this gap. The findings indicate that in 2017, a substantial percentage of US congregations participated in disaster-related charitable giving and volunteering. However, the profiles of participating congregations are nuanced and do not always follow prior theory. A congregation's religious tradition is less predictive than some might expect in the context of disasters. Consistent with open systems theory, we find that congregations' interorganizational networks and their proximity to disaster areas are better predictors of participating in disaster relief efforts. Based on our finding of robust congregational participation in disasters, we call for more integration of religious institutions in nonprofit disaster response research.

Prevalence and Predictors of Substance Use Support Programming Among U.S. Religious Congregations

“…In many communities, congregations are often the first-place people turn to for support for their substance use problems (Grim & Grim, 2019; White, Kelly, & Roth, 2012; Wong, Derose, Litt, & Miles, 2018). Congregations are particularly effective in community mobilization, responding swiftly to crises, and delivering health and social services (Bopp, Peterson, & Webb, 2012; Gazley, Fulton, Zebrowski, & King, 2022; Walker et al, 2015; Whisenant, Cortes, & Hill, 2014). In fact, some congregations provide free or low-cost services related to addressing substance use problems (Hidalgo et al, 2019).…”

Faith-Based Public Foundations: Identifying the Field and Assessing Its Impact

“…money in grants. Amount given to foreign grantees: given religious people's predilection for giving to international aid (Schnable, 2015;Austin et al, 2022;Gazley et al, 2022), we expected faith-based foundations, compared to secular foundations, to distribute more grant funds to foreign grantees.…”