The Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich. publishes The Foundation Review. Kathy Agard is executive director and can discuss the general health of nonprofits, including religion-based ones, in the Grand Rapids area.

Score International sends Christians on short-term ministries. It has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator and is based in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Pat James is the press officer of the Salvation Army’s Northern New England Division, which covers Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The Rev. Larry Snyder is president of Catholic Charities USA, a nonprofit that benefits the poor. In September 2009, he told The New York Times that increasing numbers of the charity’s volunteers are becoming clients.

Mary Oates is a lecturer in economics at Regis College in Weston, Mass. She is an expert on Catholic philanthropy in America.

Tami Heim is president and CEO of the Christian Leadership Alliance in San Clemente, Calif., which works with some 4,500 church and parachurch organizations worldwide. The CLA sponsored a study (see in background section) in April on the effects of the recession on Christian nonprofits.

Read a July 9, 2009, story in The Christian Post about a survey showing that Christian nonprofits are increasingly relying on volunteers. The study, conducted by J. David Schmidt & Associates for the Christian Leadership Alliance, showed that one out of five Christian nonprofits is relying on volunteers to offset labor and income losses due to the recession.

Jennifer McKinney is an associate professor of sociology at Seattle Pacific University. At the 2009 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, she made a presentation titled “Real Men Don’t Wear Sweater Vests: Masculinity in an Evangelical Megachurch.”

Gary McIntosh is professor of Christian ministry and leadership at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. He is also a consultant and the author of 13 books on church growth.