Welfare reform discussions in the 1990s included proposals for government to support religious organizations that provide social services. This fostered a debate about the proper relationship between government and faith-based organizations. This spurred an increase in academic publications by scholars from disciplines such as social work, religious studies, public policy, and nonprofit studies. Publications focused on a number of topics, including the unique characteristics of faith-based organizations, the services and outcomes they provided, their involvement with the government, and methodologies available for studying them. We found a rapid increase in publications starting in 1996. These peaked in 2003 and have declined since 2008. Our scan of the literature on U.S. noncongregation faith-based service providers identified over 600 works. In this article, we review the literature on the definition of faith-based organizations, typologies used to place them on a spectrum of religious expression, and methodological considerations for research on them.

The welfare reforms initiated in the 1990s prompted increased discussion of the use of faith-based organizations for the provision of social services. This is the second of two articles examining the progress of this debate. The first article provides the scope of inquiry, defines specific characteristics of faith-based organizations, and outlines methods used to study them. This article discusses specific services provided by faith-based organizations and how these organizations are related to the government. Faith-based organizations compared favorably to secular organizations in the services they provided while providing a somewhat narrower range of services. The implementation of Charitable Choice and other faith-based initiatives as policy required consideration of constitutional and practical issues with the implementation of collaborations and partnerships between government and faith-based organizations along with increased government funding and contracting for these organizations.

The Civil Society War involved powerful interests clashing over fundraising policies for 25 years. The United Funds coerced leading health agencies to join their federated campaigns. These health agencies insisted on independent fundraising campaigns to maintain awareness of their causes, volunteers, and funds raised. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the United Funds expanded their focus from social services by entering the health field. An important tactic in this conflict was the development of fundraising permitting regulations across the country. These regulations often included fundraising efficiency ratios, limiting the percentage spent on fundraising divided by the donations received. These fundraising efficiency ratios, along with permitting regulations giving preferential treatment to United Funds resulted in numerous lawsuits. Ultimately, the fundraising regulations were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court based on freedom of speech under the First Amendment and equal representation under the Fourteenth Amendment. While the courts struck down the use of financial ratios, these metrics continue to be used in rating charities. One positive outcome of the conflict was the development of widely used uniform accounting standards. The health agencies drove development of these standards as a way to address a legitimate concern among a barrage of criticisms of their practices influenced by the conflict with the United Funds. The Civil Society War had lasting impacts on three main areas affecting nonprofit policy: fundraising regulation, use of financial ratios in charity evaluation, and uniform accounting standards.