Empirical Evidence on Faith‐Based Organizations in an Era of Welfare Reform

Several recent policies encourage the involvement of faith‐based organizations (FBOs) in the delivery of social services to the poor. Relying on data from Indiana’s randomized welfare reform experiment, this article analyzes the characteristics of clients who seek and receive help from FBOs, particularly focusing on how exposure to the effects of welfare reform affects help seeking and the receipt of help. A separate analysis examines cross‐sectional data from social service agencies to compare matched FBOs with nonreligious organizations (NROs). In general, results suggest that the most disadvantaged welfare recipients are more likely to receive assistance from FBOs than from NROs; however, welfare reform has inconsistent effects on the receipt of social services from these organizations. Results also suggest that FBOs are significantly more likely than NROs to have tightened service eligibility criteria.