Sacred Places Spring 2011 | Page 19

However, the selection of specific congregations allowed the range of factors and methodologies to be tested. The aim of the study was to test the feasibility of valuing congregations in a more complex and comprehensive manner than had been previously attempted. While this was successfully achieved, it should be noted that the estimates obtained are representative only of the twelve congregations studied. Determining Valuation Methodologies The most difficult task was determining the best methodology to assess the financial value of each factor. For example, it is difficult to assign a dollar value to a person who is kept healthy and alive because of direct congregational activity. Partners looked to Cnaan’s earlier work and followed his assessments regarding a few of the items. For the rest, the research team interviewed experts, reviewed relavant literature, and applied some original methodologies. Even when a contribution can be quantified, translating the numbers into monetary values can be difficult. Congregational contributions are also often difficult to separate from other factors – family, community, government – and even more difficult to evaluate across a length of time. Any effort to measure the value of a congregation must contend with these complexities. As the team attempted to do so, it found that many important contributions could not be measured using current methodologies. In some of these cases, it came up with proxy measurements. For example, the contribution that congregations make to the social capital of their communities is extremely important but difficult to quantify. The group calculated this by looking at wht it would cost to pay their volunteers. A standard hourly wage, used as a proxy, was multiplied by the hours of volunteer work donated to the congregation by its members and neighbors to estimate their total value. Having identified fields of inquiry and methodologies, the group interviewed participating congregations’ pastors and Broad Street Ministry offers health screenings as part of its Breaking Bread program. Photo by Ashley Collinson, courtesy of Broad Street Ministry. staff, who supplied most of the financial and operational information during on-site interviews, which were supplemented by data on the congregations’ social outreach collected from program directors and other staff members. Conservative Estimates The team was intentionally conservative with fiscal estimates. For example, regarding benefits offered to members or neighbors, clergy were asked to limit their estimates to members and neighbors with whom the congregation had worked directly. Thus, if a member decided, solely through general participation in the congregation but not through someone’s dedicated effort, to improve marital relations or to go for a medical checkup, that member was not included in the calculations because the intervention was not direct. When any interviewee had difficulty assessing the value of a service, the interviewer assigned a zero value to that category, despite under-valuing the actual benefit. The Findings According to the calculations, the estimated annual economic-impact value of the twelve studied congregations is $51,850,178. This estimate translates into an average value of $4,320,848 per studied congregation. This is more than 30 times higher than the value calculated in Sacred Places at Risk. Clearly congregations are key employers; purchasers of local goods and services; magnets for bringing in cash, volunteer time, and other resources from outside the city; educators of pro-social values; and providers of critical “invisible safety net” programs like counseling and other services that help individuals and families be productive workers and citizens. Policy Implications For policy makers, community and business leaders, and funders interested in a particular facet of economic life, this data should help guide their investment. For those interested in tourism, understanding how congregations attract travelers regionally and nationally is key. For those wanting to strengthen commercial corridors, understanding the flow of people from a congregation and how they support local business, or how congregations incubate small ventures is critical. Even in an area where the overall value is relatively low, like open space, the study found two congregations with significant green space and trees. In effect they manage mid-size urban parks that contribute to the economic and environmental well-being of the City and region. Partners for Sacred Places will continue to work with the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice and other academic/research advisors. We will now refine the valuation methodologies where needed, slightly expand the scope of factors studied, and most importantly, conduct a wider study, randomly selecting congregations from multiple cities or states to get a clearer, national picture of the halo effect of America’s sacred places. Sacred Place ̃