ABSTRACT
Introduction What are often referred to as “faith-based organizations” (FBOs) make up a significant sector of non-profit organizations working in economic development and on other global issues. In recent years, donors, development professionals, and scholars have demonstrated a willingness to engage with religion, with a moral framework for development, and with religious organizations that have long been an important part of providing services to the poor. These FBOs draw on symbolic and material resources that appear to make them distinct in the world of NGOs and secular development, building on religious traditions of charity and justice, institutional networks that span global regions as well as social classes, and a position of moral legitimacy and authority. For most FBOs, faith is not an “add-on” to development work but an essential part of it, and often is the primary reason for engaging in such work at all. Yet the category “faithbased organization” is itself often taken for granted,1 without clarification or definition, despite the enormous variation in organizations that could fall within this category. This could include places of worship that carry out welfare and development work, informal and local organizations that may be linked to places of worship or may have sprung up independently, and formally registered organizations that resemble NGOs and which may have an international reach. There is a diverse range of FBOs that are influenced by the faith tradition from which they come, not just in terms of their theology but in terms of their structure and scope; they vary in size, from one or two people working out of the back room of a church to international professional service providers; they vary in their approach to development and the ways in which they conceptualize what people need in order to live a dignified life. Moreover, is it really so easy always to distinguish between faith-based and non-faith-based organizations, particularly in settings where religion permeates all aspects of life?
