Foreword by President George W. Bush 

America is rich materially, but there remains too much poverty and despair 

amidst abundance. Government can rally a military, but it cannot put hope in 

our hearts or a sense of purpose in our lives. 

Government has a solemn responsibility to help meet the needs of poor 

Americans and distressed neighborhoods, but it does not have a monopoly on 

compassion. America is richly blessed by the diversity and vigor of 

neighborhood healers: civic, social, charitable, and religious groups. These 

quiet heroes lift people’s lives in ways that are beyond government’s know-how, 

usually on shoestring budgets, and they heal our nation’s ills one heart and 

one act of kindness at a time. 

The indispensable and transforming work of faith-based and other charitable 

service groups must be encouraged. Government cannot be replaced by 

charities, but it can and should welcome them as partners. We must heed the 

growing consensus across America that successful government social programs 

work in fruitful partnership with community-serving and faith-based 

organizations – whether run by Methodists, Muslims, Mormons, or good people 

of no faith at all. 

The paramount goal must be compassionate results, not compassionate 

intentions. Federal policy should reject the failed formula of towering, distant 

bureaucracies that too often prize process over performance. We must be 

outcome-based, insisting on success and steering resources to the effective and 

to the inspired. Also, we must always value the bedrock principles of 

pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness and neutrality. Private and 

charitable groups, including religious ones, should have the fullest opportunity 

permitted by law to compete on a level playing field, so long as they achieve 

valid public purposes, like curbing crime, conquering addiction, strengthening 

families, and overcoming poverty. 

In this blueprint, I outline my agenda to enlist, equip, enable, empower and 

expand the heroic works of faith-based and community groups across America. 

The building blocks are two Executive Orders, signed yesterday, that call for 

the creation of a high-level White House Office of Faith-Based and Community 

Initiatives, and instruct five Cabinet departments to establish Centers for 

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. 

As President, I will lead the federal government to take bold steps to rally 

America’s armies of compassion. I look forward to working with Congress on 

these issues and am open to additional ideas to meet our shared goals. I invite 

all Americans to join this effort to unleash the best of America. 
Table of Contents 

Foreword by President George W. Bush 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 1 

Renewing America’s Strengths 4 

Faith-Based and Community Organizations 6 

Eliminating Federal Barriers 8 

Expanding Private Giving 10 

The New Approach in Action 12 

Creating the White House Office of Faith-Based and 14 

Community Initiatives 

Making Federal Agencies More Receptive to Faith and 16 

Community-Based Solutions 

Executive Order Establishing the White House Office of 

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives 

Executive Order Outlining Agency Responsibilities With 

Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives 
Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

The Problem 

Our Nation has a long and honorable commitment to assisting individuals, 

families, and communities who have not fully shared in America’s growing 

prosperity. Yet despite a multitude of programs and renewed commitments by 

the Federal and state governments to battle social distress, all too many of our 

neighbors still suffer poverty and despair amidst our abundance. 

Consider: 

� As many as 15 million young people are at risk of not reaching productive 

adulthood -- falling prey to crime, drugs and other problems that make it 

difficult to obtain an education, successfully enter the workforce, or 

otherwise contribute to society; 

� About 1.5 million children have a father or mother in prison; 

� Over half a million children are in foster care, more than one fifth of whom 

are awaiting adoption; 

� In 1997, more than one million babies were born to unwed mothers, many 

of them barely past their own teen years; and 

� More than one out of six American families with children live on an annual 

income of $17,000 or less. 

Millions of Americans are enslaved to drugs or alcohol. Hundreds of thousands 

of our precious citizens live on the streets. And despite the many successes of 

welfare reform, too many families remain dependent on welfare and many of 

those who have left the rolls can barely make ends meet. 

A great and prosperous nation can and must do better. Americans are a deeply 

compassionate people and will not tolerate indifference toward the poor. But 

they also want compassionate results, not just compassionate intentions. 

Welfare Reform 

The American people support a vital role for government, but they also want to 

see their Federal dollars making a real difference in the lives of the 

disadvantaged. Americans believe our society must find ways to provide 

healing and renewal. And they believe that government should help the needy 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 
achieve independence and personal responsibility, through its programs and 

those of other community and faith-based groups. 

To achieve these goals, Federal assistance must become more effective and 

more tailored to local needs. We must not only devolve Federal support to state 

and local governments where appropriate, but move support out to 

neighborhood-based caregivers. Traditional social programs are often too 

bureaucratic, inflexible, and impersonal to meet the acute and complex needs 

of the poor. Reforms must make the Federal Government a partner with faithbased and community organizations that are close to the needs of people and 

trusted by those who hurt. These organizations boast uncommon successes, 

but they are outmanned and outflanked. 

Building on Success 

This Administration proposes a different role for government in social policy – a 

fresh start and a bold new approach. We will realign Federal policy and 

programs to better use, empower, and collaborate with grassroots and 

nonprofit groups. We will reinforce and support programs that work and 

increase their scale. 

We must continue to ask: What are the Federal Government’s social 

responsibilities? What budget should be allocated to social programs? These 

are vital questions. Yet equally vital is the question of how the Federal 

Government should fulfill its social task. In social policy, the nonprofit sector ­

- secular and religiously affiliated providers, civic groups, foundations and 

other grant-givers -- has long been a vital and valued partner of government. 

We honor both nonprofit agencies and government programs. We seek to add 

to, not take away from, their good work. 

We will focus on expanding the role in social services of faith-based and other 

community-serving groups that have traditionally been distant from 

government. We do so not because of favoritism or because they are the only 

important organizations, but because they typically have been neglected or 

excluded in Federal policy. Our aim is equal opportunity for such groups, a 

level playing field, a fair chance for them to participate when their programs 

are successful. We will encourage Federal agencies to continue to become 

more hospitable to grassroots and small-scale programs, both secular and 

faith-based, because they have unique strengths that government can’t 

duplicate. 

The Federal Government must continue to play a prominent role in addressing 

poverty and social distress. But that role must move beyond funding 

traditional non-governmental organizations. Americans deserve a rich mix of 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

2 
options because when it comes to conquering addiction, poverty, recidivism, 

and other social ills, one size does not fit all. 

Faith-based and grassroots groups that achieve good results should be eligible 

to compete for federal funds. And the Federal Government should do more to 

encourage private giving – from individuals, corporations, foundations and 

others – to the armies of compassion that labor daily to strengthen families and 

communities. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

3 
Renewing America’s Strengths 

Over the past decade, the public and their elected representatives have come to 

a renewed appreciation for the variety of civic and social groups that make up 

civil society. Faith-based programs, volunteers, and grassroots groups are 

indispensable partners with nonprofit service providers and government 

programs to serve the poor, renew families, and rebuild neighborhoods. As 

part of welfare reform and in an effort to address tough issues such as drug 

addiction, the federal and state governments have begun to collaborate with 

community and faith-based groups. We want to expand that effort, offer 

individuals and families more choice, and do so in a manner fully consistent 

with the Constitution. 

Throughout America, hundreds of thousands of people of all faiths reach out 

every day to the hurting among their neighbors, demonstrating care and 

compassion through a rich diversity of programs, small and large, caring for 

kids after school, providing emergency food or shelter, offering mentoring and 

counseling, uplifting the families of prisoners, and helping to rehabilitate exoffenders. 

In Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and many other places, 

people of faith and other unsung local heroes have started innovative 

partnerships with the police and juvenile authorities to divert and rescue 

young men and women from gangs, violence, and dead-end streets. Hundreds 

of community development corporations, often connected with one or more 

houses of worship, work to stimulate economic activity, rebuild run-down 

housing, renew neighborhood pride, and revive municipal services. Faith-based 

programs attack dependency on drugs with faith and love, often helping men 

and women for whom conventional treatment seemed to provide little lasting 

help. 

Faith-based and grassroots organizations do not always perform miracles. 

Some do well and others are less effective. Together, however, they are a vitally 

important resource in our communities, reaching out to needy neighbors and 

neighborhoods in thousands of ways. And when they do so, they often help in 

ways that government programs cannot, providing love as well as services, 

guidance and friendship as well as a meal or training. These are precious 

resources, great gifts of American society. 

And yet, all too often, the Federal Government has ignored their efforts and 

even impeded them. With the best of intentions, but operating under an 

unnecessarily and improperly restrictive view of the appropriate role faithbased organizations can play in delivering needed social services, Federal policy 

and programs have often disregarded or hampered faith-based groups as 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

4 
resources for social assistance. Federal, state and local governments have 

often acted as if the law banishes religious providers and mandates rigid 

secularism instead of simple volunteerism, evenhandedness, and neutrality. 

Even when the Federal Government has done no harm, it also has often not 

done as much as it could to enlist and assist neighborhood healers, both 

secular and religious, and their important work. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

5 
Faith-Based and Community Organizations 

Starting now, the Federal Government is adopting a new attitude to honor and 

not restrict faith-based and community initiatives, to accept rather than 

dismiss such programs, and to empower rather than ignore them. 

In welfare and social policy, the Federal Government will play a new role as 

supporter, enabler, catalyst and collaborator with faith-based and community 

organizations. We will build on past innovations, most notably bipartisan 

Charitable Choice legislation, but move forward to make Federal programs 

more friendly to faith-based and community solutions. 

This initiative is not anti-government, but pro-results. It is designed to make 

sure that faith-based community-serving groups have a seat at the table. It 

will eliminate the federal government’s discrimination against faith-based 

organizations while also applauding and aiding secular nonprofit initiatives. It 

will reach out to grassroots groups without marginalizing established 

organizations. America has a strong, thriving nonprofit sector. Recent figures 

indicate that the 1.4 million organizations comprising the independent sector 

receive over $621 billion in total annual revenue, representing six percent of 

the national economy. Charities and other nonprofits employ over 10 million 

individuals, comprising over seven percent of the American workforce. 

Our goal is to energize civil society and rebuild social capital, particularly by 

uplifting small non-profit organizations, congregations and other faith-based 

institutions that are lonely outposts of energy, service, and vision in poor and 

declining neighborhoods and rural enclaves. 

Without diminishing the important work of government agencies and the wide 

range of nonprofit service providers, this initiative will support the unique 

capacity of local faith-based and other community programs to serve people in 

need, not just by providing services but also by transforming lives. 

This initiative is designed to improve the Federal response to need, to ensure 

that we draw on all good works in our Nation so that every person, every child 

and family, and every community can enjoy the fruits of our common 

prosperity. 

Our faith-based and community agenda will be organized around three lines of 

action: 

� Identifying and eliminating improper Federal barriers to effective faith-based 

and community-serving programs through legislative, regulatory, and 

programmatic reforms; 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

6 
� Stimulating an outpouring of private giving to nonprofits, faith-based 

programs, and community groups by expanding tax deductions and through 

other initiatives; and 

� Pioneering a new model of cooperation through Federal initiatives that 

expand the involvement of faith-based and community groups in afterschool and literacy services, help the children of prisoners, and support 

other citizens in need. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

7 
Eliminating Federal Barriers 

Social scientists are increasingly documenting the power of faith-based groups 

to fortify families and communities and to conquer our toughest social 

problems. America must stop trying to eliminate poverty, crime and addiction 

with one hand tied behind its back. 

The government can do many things, but it cannot put hope in our hearts or a 

sense of purpose in our lives. This is done by churches, synagogues, mosques 

and charities that warm the cold of life -- a quiet river of goodness and 

kindness that cuts through stone. The Administration is committed to a 

concerted effort to identify and remove needless barriers that thwart the heroic 

work of faith-based groups. 

The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community 

Initiatives: 

To help promote public/private partnerships that enable diverse sacred places 

and grassroots secular programs to achieve civic purposes, a new White House 

Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has been created. It will be 

the Federal Government’s lead agency in promoting a policy of respect for and 

cooperation with religious and grassroots groups. It will identify barriers to 

such groups in Federal rules and practices, propose regulatory and statutory 

relief, and coordinate new Federal initiatives to empower and partner with 

faith-based and community problem solvers. The Office of Faith-Based and 

Community Initiatives will work in close conjunction with new parallel centers 

in Federal agencies that operate social programs, including the Departments of 

Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor 

and Education. 

The Office will also work with the Corporation for National Service to enlist 

volunteers for grassroots community service programs, including faith-based 

programs. This collaboration will expand a public-private partnership that 

already assists both secular and religious organizations to better respond to 

local needs. 

Encouraging State-Level Offices of Faith-Based and Community 

Initiatives: 

The Administration is also committed to helping states create their own 

versions of the new White House Office, and supports making Federal matching 

funds available to help states design and establish state-level offices to advance 

this empowerment agenda and assist social entrepreneurs across the country. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

8 
Expanding Charitable Choice: 

In recognition of the growing success of grassroots religious charities, Congress 

in 1996 started to remove restrictions on faith-based action by adopting the 

Charitable Choice provision for welfare and other Federal programs. Charitable 

Choice -- passed four separate times by a bipartisan Congress -- enables 

private, religious and charitable organizations to compete on an equal footing 

for Federal funding to provide services, and it protects their religious character 

if they choose to accept Federal funds. 

Charitable Choice does little more than reflect the prevailing commitment to 

neutrality and nondiscrimination. Moreover, Charitable Choice is carefully 

designed to ensure the religious liberty of recipients of services, forbidding any 

religious discrimination against them and mandating a secular alternative for 

those who do not want services from a religious provider. Charitable Choice 

also preserves government accountability. It honors the constitutional 

prohibition on the establishment of religion by requiring that government funds 

not be spent on inherently religious activities like sectarian worship or 

proselytizing. 

Charitable Choice has moved many faith-based providers from the sidelines to 

the front lines, enabling many to collaborate with state and local governments 

to assist welfare families to gain their independence. 

Yet Charitable Choice applies to only a small portion of Federal social 

spending. Many states and localities continue to ignore the legal requirements 

of Charitable Choice when they spend covered Federal funds. The regulations 

of some Federal programs restrict the involvement of faith-based groups more 

than current law warrants. And beyond barriers, Federal agencies do too little 

to reach out to faith-based organizations and grassroots community groups 

that could be among their most potent allies. 

This Administration will ensure that Federal agencies do not diminish or 

dismiss the contributions that can be made by faith-based and other 

community groups. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

9 
Expanding Private Giving 

The independent sector is on the threshold of a great renaissance. We 

anticipate that America’s nonprofit sector will emerge as perhaps the most 

dynamic arena for creative problem solving in the 21st Century. Some envision 

a new “civic capital economy” in which enormous sums of money are pooled 

and targeted to new social enterprises. Estimates, for example, of the transfer 

of wealth from today’s retired generation to their children range in the tens of 

trillions of dollars. We must act affirmatively to capture this wealth for 

purposes of generating social renewal. 

We should encourage the inspiring trend among America’s growing class of 

entrepreneurs of lending their talents as “social entrepreneurs.” All across 

America, successful businessmen and women are creating or “adopting” local 

charities, supplying both funds and business management savvy. 

Much of the good that religious and charitable organizations have done and 

always will do rightly takes place independent of government direction and 

government funding. America is blessed with social entrepreneurs who see a 

problem and set about with energy, ingenuity, and organizational savvy to 

provide solutions. Foundations provide private support for the public good. 

This is civil society at work. At the least, government must be sure not to harm 

such efforts by over-regulation or providing insufficient legal protections for 

good-faith volunteers, nonprofit groups, and philanthropic companies. The 

White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives will advise the 

federal government about both over-regulation, insufficient legal protections, 

and other disincentives that trip up Good Samaritans across America. 

Yet there is more that the Federal Government can and should do to support 

private groups. Tax law promotes civil society by encouraging individual and 

corporate donations to a wide range of charitable and religious organizations 

through tax deductions. This Administration will help water the garden of civil 

society through innovative measures like these: 

Granting a Charitable Deduction for Non-Itemizers: 

The Federal charitable deduction will be expanded to the 80 million taxpayers – 

70 percent of all filers -- who do not itemize and thus currently cannot claim 

this benefit. This initiative will spark billions of dollars in new donations to 

charitable organizations. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

10 
Promoting Corporate In-Kind Donations: 

The Administration seeks to limit the liability of corporations that in good faith 

donate equipment, facilities, vehicles, or aircraft to charitable organizations, 

thus enhancing the ability of those organizations to serve neighborhoods and 

families. 

Permit Charitable Contributions from IRAs Without Penalty: 

Under current law, withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts are 

subject to income tax. This creates a disincentive for retirees to contribute 

some or all of their IRA funds to charity. Thus, President Bush supports 

legislation that would permit individuals over the age of 59 to contribute IRA 

funds to charities without having to pay income tax on their gifts. 

Promote a Charitable State Tax Credit: 

States would be encouraged to provide a credit (of up to 50 percent of the first 

$500 for individuals and $1,000 for married couples and corporations) against 

state income or other taxes for contributions to charities addressing poverty 

and its impact. States would be given the flexibility to offset the costs of a 

charitable state tax credit by using money from the Temporary Assistance to 

Needy Families (TANF) program. 

Raise the Cap on Corporate Charitable Deductions: 

Corporations would be permitted to deduct charitable donations until their 

value exceeds 15 percent of the company’s taxable income, instead of the 10 

percent limit under current law. 

Creating a Compassion Capital Fund: 

This public/private partnership will match private giving with Federal dollars 

to achieve two aims. First, it will fund increased technical assistance to help 

small community and faith-based charities increase their capacity, improve 

their competence and expand their programs. Second, it will provide start-up 

capital to enable smaller groups to expand or emulate model programs. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

11 
The New Approach In Action 

To illustrate and expand the Federal Government’s faith-neutral social policy 

stance, several new Federal programs will be initiated to test partnerships 

between the Federal Government and faith-based and grassroots groups to 

serve particular needs. These programs will pilot new approaches and new 

fields of collaboration. Programs will be results-oriented with systematic 

evaluation of outcomes and procedures. 

Helping the Children of Prisoners: 

Federal competitive grants will be provided for services reaching the children of 

prisoners. On any given day, America is home to 1.5 million children of 

prisoners. The low-income children of prisoners suffer disproportionate rates 

of many severe social problems. People of faith and others can mentor and 

reach out to these children, and help to heal broken families once prisoners are 

released. 

Improving Inmate Rehabilitation: 

A new pre-release pilot Program for inmates nearing release will be launched. 

Prisons are necessary for punishment. Too often, however, inmates leave them 

unprepared to take up productive roles in their communities. Congregations of 

various faiths already play an important informal role in rehabilitating former 

prisoners. Federal funds will be made available on a competitive basis for 

faith-based pre-release programs at Federal facilities, to make sure inmates 

avoid old habits, old haunts and old friendships. 

Support “Second Chance” Maternity Group Homes: 

Funds would be provided to states for pilot maternity group homes. States 

would be authorized to make funds available either as certificates to 

individuals, or as competitive grants to providers, who will be able to use the 

funds to purchase or operate a facility. 

More After-School Opportunities: 

Provide more after-school programs for low-income children: The federal 21st 

Century Community Learning Centers program should open 100 percent of its 

funding to competitive bidding. In addition to schools, faith-based and 

neighborhood groups should be able to apply for such funds. Also, we should 

allocate Federal funds to create community technology centers to help bridge 

the digital divide in poor neighborhoods. Finally, low-income parents will be 

provided certificates to help defray the costs of after-school programs, whether 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

12 
run by a community group, neighborhood church, synagogue or mosque, or a 

local school. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

13
Creating the White House Office of Faith-Based 

and Community Initiatives 

To lead and develop the Administration’s agenda to strengthen and expand 

grassroots and faith-based services, President Bush has created by Executive 

Order a new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. 

Located within the Executive Office of the President and operational within 30 

days, the OFBCI will take the lead responsibility in the Executive Branch to 

establish policies, priorities, and objectives for the Federal Government’s effort 

to enlist, expand, equip, empower and enable the work of faith-based and 

community service groups. 

It is a long, honored, and successful tradition for the Federal Government to 

work with nonprofit organizations to serve the needy. The new Office will 

promote initiatives and reforms throughout the Executive Branch not to 

diminish the federal role in assistance but to enrich it. The Office and the 

Administration’s initiative will benefit all nonprofit service organizations, but 

especially small and faith-based groups that have traditionally been neglected 

or excluded in the past. 

The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives will be 

headed by an Assistant to the President, who will direct a small staff of proven 

innovators and policy experts who both respect the indispensable role of 

government and have a passion to unleash the power of faith-based and 

community solutions. 

In cooperation with parallel Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives 

that are being created in five major Cabinet agencies concerned with social 

policy, the Office will: 

� Identify and act to remedy statutory, regulatory, and bureaucratic barriers 

that stand in the way of effective faith-based and community social 

programs; 

� Ensure that, consistent with the law, faith-based programs have equal 

opportunity to compete for federal funding and other support; 

� Work to improve, harmonize, and as appropriate, expand Charitable Choice, 

and promote its implementation by federal, state, and local authorities; 

� Coordinate public education and outreach activities to mobilize public 

support for charitable organizations through volunteerism, public-private 

partnerships, and increased financial giving; 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

14 
� Bring concerns, ideas, and policy options to the President concerning 

Federal cooperation with and strengthening of successful faith-based and 

community organizations; 

� Provide policy guidance to state and local officials and other policymakers 

seeking ways to empower faith-based and grass roots programs and to 

improve the opportunities and expertise of service providers; 

� Develop and implement strategic new programs that exemplify the 

President’s agenda to strengthen civil society and America’s communities; 

� Highlight and herald innovative grassroots nonprofit organizations and civic 

initiatives; and 

� Monitor implementation of the President’s agenda concerning faith-based 

and community groups. 

The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives will advance new 

recommendations for increasing the capacity of small-scale organizations. We 

recognize that many small, but effective nonprofits are in need of technical 

assistance in order to bring their programming to scale. 

The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives will be the 

engine that drives the Administration’s goal of reorienting Federal social policy 

across the board. And it will coordinate and nurture in Federal agencies these 

new attitudes of empowerment and fruitful partnership. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

15 
Making Federal Agencies More Receptive to 

Faith and Community-Based Solutions 

By Executive Order, President Bush has also called for each of the following 

Cabinet agencies to create a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: 

� Department of Health and Human Services; 

� Department of Housing and Urban Development; 

� Department of Labor; 

� Department of Justice; and 

� Department of Education. 

These Centers will work with and under the direction of the new White House 

Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to make these agencies as 

open and supportive as possible to successful faith-based and grassroots 

organizations. 

Within their respective agencies, each Center, which will be operational within 

45 days, will coordinate efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other 

programmatic obstacles to the full participation of faith-based and community 

organizations in the provision of social services. The Centers will also work 

positively to create a hospitable environment for groups that have not 

traditionally collaborated with government, make sure that departmental 

communications and technical assistance efforts are open to faith-based and 

community organizations, and implement special programs designed to 

showcase and pioneer innovative efforts. 

The Centers located in the Department of Health and Human Services and in 

the Department of Labor will have the additional responsibilities to review 

departmental policies and practices concerning compliance with Charitable 

Choice as it applies to funds under their control and to promote compliance by 

its partners in state and local governments. 

The Center in the Department of Education will be concerned with the agency’s 

social programs, such as after-school programs and efforts to link public 

schools with community partners, including neighborhood faith-based groups. 

It will not work on K-12 or higher education policy as such. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

16 
Each Center will be supervised by a Director, appointed by the respective 

Department heads in consultation with the White House Office of Faith-Based 

and Community Initiatives. Each Center will have a small staff of experts in 

the area of the Department’s responsibility and in respecting faith and 

community solutions. 

Each Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives will, within 180 days, 

and then annually thereafter, report to the White House Office on barriers it 

has identified to the participation of faith-based and community groups in the 

delivery of social services and on the solutions it has identified; provide a 

summary of technical assistance and other information that is offered to faithbased and community organizations that desire to work with the Department; 

and develop and issue a set of performance indicators and measurable 

objectives for the reform of the Department’s policies and practices. 

Rallying the Armies of Compassion 

17 
- - - - - - -

EXECUTIVE ORDER 

ESTABLISHMENT OF WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED 

AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES 

By the authority vested in me as President of the United States 

by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and 

in order to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort 

to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community 

organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet social 

needs in America’s communities, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Policy. Faith-based and other community 

organizations are indispensable in meeting the needs of poor 

Americans and distressed neighborhoods. Government cannot be 

replaced by such organizations, but it can and should welcome them as 

partners. The paramount goal is compassionate results, and private 

and charitable community groups, including religious ones, should 

have the fullest opportunity permitted by law to compete on a level 

playing field, so long as they achieve valid public purposes, such as 

curbing crime, conquering addiction, strengthening families and 

neighborhoods, and overcoming poverty. This delivery of social 

services must be results oriented and should value the bedrock 

principles of pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness, and 

neutrality. 

Sec. 2. Establishment. There is established a White House 

Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (White House OFBCI) 

within the Executive Office of the President that will have lead 

responsibility in the executive branch to establish policies, 

priorities, and objectives for the Federal Government’s comprehensive 

effort to enlist, equip, enable, empower, and expand the work of 

faith-based and other community organizations to the extent permitted 

by law. 

Sec. 3. Functions. The principal functions of the White House 

OFBCI are, to the extent permitted by law: (a) to develop, lead, and 

coordinate the Administration’s policy agenda affecting faith-based 

and other community programs and initiatives, expand the role of such 

efforts in communities, and increase their capacity through executive 

action, legislation, Federal and private funding, and regulatory 

relief; 

(b) to ensure that Administration and Federal Government 

policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President’s 

stated goals with respect to faith-based and other community 

initiatives; 

(c) to help integrate the President’s policy agenda affecting 

faith-based and other community organizations across the Federal 

Government; 

(d) to coordinate public education activities designed to 

mobilize public support for faith-based and community nonprofit 

initiatives through volunteerism, special projects, demonstration 

pilots, and public-private partnerships; 

more 

(OVER) 
2

(e) to encourage private charitable giving to support faithbased and community initiatives; 

(f) to bring concerns, ideas, and policy options to 

the President for assisting, strengthening, and replicating 

successful faith-based and other community programs; 

(g) to provide policy and legal education to State, local, and 

community policymakers and public officials seeking ways to empower 

faith-based and other community organizations and to improve the 

opportunities, capacity, and expertise of such groups; 

(h) to develop and implement strategic initiatives under 

the President’s agenda to strengthen the institutions of civil 

society and America’s families and communities; 

(i) to showcase and herald innovative grassroots nonprofit 

organizations and civic initiatives; 

(j) to eliminate unnecessary legislative, regulatory, and 

other bureaucratic barriers that impede effective faith-based 

and other community efforts to solve social problems; 

(k) to monitor implementation of the President’s agenda 

affecting faith-based and other community organizations; and 

(l) to ensure that the efforts of faith-based and other 

community organizations meet high standards of excellence and 

accountability. 

Sec. 4. Administration. (a) The White House OFBCI may function 

through established or ad hoc committees, task forces, or interagency 

groups. 

(b) The White House OFBCI shall have a staff to be headed 

by the Assistant to the President for Faith-Based and Community 

Initiatives. The White House OFBCI shall have such staff and other 

assistance, to the extent permitted by law, as may be necessary to 

carry out the provisions of this order. The White House OFBCI 

operations shall begin no later than 30 days from the date of this 

order. 

(c) The White House OFBCI shall coordinate with the liaison 

and point of contact designated by each executive department and 

agency with respect to this initiative. 

(d) All executive departments and agencies (agencies) 

shall cooperate with the White House OFBCI and provide such 

information, support, and assistance to the White House OFBCI as it 

may request, to the extent permitted by law. 

(e) The agencies’ actions directed by this Executive 

Order shall be carried out subject to the availability of 

appropriations and to the extent permitted by law. 

Sec. 5. Judicial Review. This order does not create any right 

or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity 

by a party against the United States, its agencies 

or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person. 

GEORGE W. BUSH 
THE WHITE HOUSE, 

January 29, 2001. 
- - - - - - -

EXECUTIVE ORDER 

AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES WITH RESPECT TO FAITH-BASED 

AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to help 

the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand 

opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and 

to strengthen their capacity to better meet social needs in America’s 

communities, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Establishment of Executive Department Centers for 

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. (a) The Attorney General, 

the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

Development shall each establish within their respective departments 

a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (Center). 

(b) Each executive department Center shall be supervised by a 

Director, appointed by the department head in consultation with the 

White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (White 

House OFBCI). 

(c) Each department shall provide its Center with appropriate 

staff, administrative support, and other resources to meet its 

responsibilities under this order. 

(d) Each department’s Center shall begin operations no later 

than 45 days from the date of this order. 

Sec. 2. Purpose of Executive Department Centers for 

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The purpose of the executive 

department Centers will be to coordinate department efforts to 

eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles 

to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations 

in the provision of social services. 

Sec. 3. Responsibilities of Executive Department Centers for 

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Each Center shall, to the 

extent permitted by law: (a) conduct, in coordination with the 

White House OFBCI, a department-wide audit to identify all existing 

barriers to the participation of faith-based and other community 

organizations in the delivery of social services by the department, 

including but not limited to regulations, rules, orders, procurement, 

and other internal policies and practices, and outreach activities 

that either facially discriminate against or otherwise discourage or 

disadvantage the participation of faith-based and other community 

organizations in Federal programs; 

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(b) coordinate a comprehensive departmental effort to 

incorporate faith-based and other community organizations in 

department programs and initiatives to the greatest extent possible; 

(c) propose initiatives to remove barriers identified pursuant 

to section 3(a) of this order, including but not limited to reform of 

regulations, procurement, and other internal policies and practices, 

and outreach activities; 

(d) propose the development of innovative pilot 

and demonstration programs to increase the participation of 

faith-based and other community organizations in Federal as well as 

State and local initiatives; and 

(e) develop and coordinate department outreach efforts 

to disseminate information more effectively to faith-based and other 

community organizations with respect to programming changes, 

contracting opportunities, and other department initiatives, 

including but not limited to Web and Internet resources. 

Sec. 4. Additional Responsibilities of the Department of 

Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor Centers. In 

addition to those responsibilities described in section 3 of this 

order, the Department of Health and Human Services and 

the Department of Labor Centers shall, to the extent permitted 

by law: (a) conduct a comprehensive review of policies and practices 

affecting existing funding streams governed by so-called "Charitable 

Choice" legislation to assess the department’s compliance with the 

requirements of Charitable Choice; and (b) promote and ensure 

compliance with existing Charitable Choice legislation by the 

department, as well as its partners in State and local government, 

and their contractors. 

Sec. 5. Reporting Requirements. (a) Report. Not later than 

180 days after the date of this order and annually thereafter, each 

of the five executive department Centers described in section 1 of 

this order shall prepare and submit a report to the White House 

OFBCI. 

(b) Contents. The report shall include a description of the 

department’s efforts in carrying out its responsibilities under this 

order, including but not limited to: 

(1) a comprehensive analysis of the barriers to the 

full participation of faith-based and other community organizations 

in the delivery of social services identified pursuant 

to section 3(a) of this order and the proposed strategies to 

eliminate those barriers; and 

(2) a summary of the technical assistance and other 

information that will be available to faith-based and other community 

organizations regarding the program activities of the department and 

the preparation of applications or proposals for grants, cooperative 

agreements, contracts, and procurement. 

(c) Performance Indicators. The first report, filed 180 days 

after the date of this order, shall include annual performance 

indicators and measurable objectives for department action. Each 

report filed thereafter shall measure the department’s performance 

against the objectives set forth in the initial report. 

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Sec. 6. Responsibilities of All Executive Departments and 

Agencies. All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall: 

(a) designate an agency employee to serve as the liaison and point 

of contact with the White House OFBCI; and 

(b) cooperate with the White House OFBCI and provide such 

information, support, and assistance to the White House OFBCI as it 

may request, to the extent permitted by law. 

Sec. 7. Administration and Judicial Review. (a) The 

agencies’ actions directed by this Executive Order shall be carried 

out subject to the availability of appropriations and to the extent 

permitted by law. 

(b) This order does not create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity against the 

United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or 

employees, or any other person. 

GEORGE W. BUSH 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

January 29, 2001.