Brownies and Salads

Some faith-based organizations offer faith-infused social services: religious teachings and religious activities like prayer are part of the service in order, for example, to empower an addict to turn away from drugs. If the religion is removed, then the service may no longer work; certainly it would be a fundamentally different kind of assistance. Amy Sherman calls these “brownie” ministries:  the religion is baked together with the other activities and cannot be separated out without damaging the help offered. 

But other social services are different. Religion isn’t suppressed, but it isn’t mixed into the assistance. For example, in order to serve a broad public, a faith-based organization might design its job training services not to include any specifically religious components. That doesn’t mean religion has been thrown out the window, though. Because the organization is convinced that religious teaching and religious activities like prayer are important to help many people cope with life challenges, the organization offers a parallel course, taught by a clergy leader, and invites the trainees in the job course to take part if they wish. This is what Amy Sherman calls a “salad” ministry:  the religion can be separated out without damaging the social service.

Here’s why the distinction is vital: “brownie” ministries don’t fit the restrictions that come with “direct” government funding—the usual grants and contracts awarded by government agencies. When the government awards the money directly to the organization, then the social services the government supports cannot include religious activities like prayer; these activities must be kept “separate, in time or location” from the government-funded social service. Most government money is given out as “direct” funding, so religion has to be kept separate from these government-funded social services. 

If your organization’s social services are like “brownies” and not like “salads,” then don’t seek government grants or contracts because if you accept such “direct” funding you’ll have to wrench the religious talk and activities out of the social services and you may wreck those services.  If you cannot find “indirect” government funding for your services (See, for more details, Indirect government funding:  freedom for faith-based social services, then stay away from government money!  Obtain your funds some other way.

For Amy Sherman’s discussion of “brownies” and “salads”—and a lot more—you can download a free copy of her Charitable Choice Handbook for Ministry Leaders.