In 2001, the White House created a new Office of Faith- Based and Community Initiatives, and in 2002, the USA Freedom Corps – a national service council and office that coordinated community and national service policy across the U.S. government. Both efforts worked closely with nonprofits across America and the world. In 2001, the White House issued a new report, Unlevel Playing Field, that showed the significant barriers that faith- based and smaller community-based nonprofits face in accessing federal support for the delivery of social services. In 2003, the White House issued a report from its Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth, showing the lack of coordination among federal agencies and non-profits in serving the needs of the more than 15 million youth at risk of reaching productive adulthood. The two efforts put in place executive orders, legislation, and new funding to support non-profits in the provision of a wide array of social services, including mentoring children, prisoner re-entry, volunteer mobilization and more.

We asked about “providing federal money to support nonprofit, faith-based, and civic organizations that use volunteers.” This idea proved somewhat controversial. Sixty-one percent of respondents favored the idea (39% strongly), but 31.5% opposed it, including 17% strongly. Support was almost perfectly bipartisan: 39% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans strongly supported the idea. African Americans showed the highest level of support: 60% strongly favored it. White males over the age of 55 were among the most likely to oppose the idea: 46% were against it, 31% strongly. Although we cannot tell whether the mention of “faith-based” organizations was responsible for the controversy, there were differences by religious affiliation. People who identified as Protestants were most divided: 42% in strong support and 20% in strong opposition—which may reflect the diversity of Protestant denominations. Attendance at religious services was not a clear predictor of opinions on this question, although regular attendees were more supportive than occasional ones (65% versus 58%).