The Scale of Faith-Based Philanthropy
Faith-based philanthropic institutions — denominational development organizations, religious foundations, congregational grant programs, and faith-affiliated community foundations — collectively manage assets that rival many bilateral aid programs. In the United States alone, religious organizations account for nearly one-third of all charitable giving. Internationally, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Lutheran World Federation, Islamic Relief, Aga Khan Foundation, American Jewish World Service, and dozens of other faith-affiliated organizations collectively disburse billions annually in development and humanitarian assistance. For non-profit organizations seeking to diversify their funding base beyond secular institutional funders, faith-based funders represent a significant and often underexplored opportunity — one that is accessible to both faith-affiliated and secular organizations, provided you understand how to navigate the relationship appropriately.
What Faith-Based Funders Look For
Faith-based funders vary enormously in their requirements for grantees. Some denominational funders restrict grant-making to organizations sharing their specific faith tradition. Others fund broadly across faith traditions and secular organizations alike, guided by principles of human dignity, justice, and solidarity that transcend specific denominational boundaries. The most important research question to answer about any faith-based funder before applying is: Do they fund secular organizations? If yes, do they require any alignment with their faith principles, and if so, what does that alignment mean in practice? Many faith-based funders that fund secular organizations simply require that the proposed work align with their understanding of human dignity, community solidarity, and care for the most marginalized — criteria that most well-governed non-profits satisfy without any programmatic adaptation. Others may have restrictions around certain program content (reproductive health, LGBTQ+ inclusion) that may create genuine tension with your organization's values, in which case the funding relationship is not appropriate regardless of the financial attractiveness.
Building Relationships With Faith-Based Funders
Relationship-building with faith-based funders often has a distinctive character compared to secular institutional funders. Many faith-based organizations place particularly high value on personal relationships, shared values conversations, and community connection rather than purely organizational and technical capacity. Meeting faith-based program officers at sector conferences, engaging with their published thought leadership and faith-informed development frameworks, and demonstrating genuine understanding of and respect for their values and theological motivations tends to build stronger funding relationships than purely transactional grant prospecting. If your organization has staff with personal faith connections to the relevant tradition, their engagement in relationship-building can be valuable — not as a manipulation strategy but as an authentic expression of shared values that builds genuine mutual trust.
The Largest Faith-Based Funding Channels
For non-profits seeking to access faith-based funding systematically, understanding the major channels in your sector is essential. In international development and humanitarian response, the largest faith-based funders include Catholic Relief Services (which also provides sub-grants to local partners), World Vision International, Lutheran World Relief, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Church World Service, Caritas Internationalis, American Jewish World Service, and the Aga Khan Foundation. In the United States for domestic programs, major faith-based funders include the Lilly Endowment (rooted in Christian philanthropy), the E.W. Scripps Trust, the Louisville Institute, the Jewish Federations of North America, and hundreds of community and congregational foundations with local grant programs. Research the specific funders most active in your geographic and thematic area, study their published guidelines and previous grantee lists carefully, and build a targeted outreach strategy rather than mass-applying to every faith-based funder you identify.
