Gary Rosenblatt is editor and publisher of The (New York) Jewish Week. He and other reporters at the paper have written extensively about the effects of the recession and the Madoff scandal on Jewish philanthropies.

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

Stephen V. Monsma is a research fellow at the Paul Henry Institute at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., whose books include (as author) When Sacred & Secular Mix: Religious Nonprofit Organizations & Public Money and (as co-author) Faith, Hope and Jobs: Welfare to Work in Los Angeles.

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.

Naomi Levine is executive director of New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and is an expert on Jewish philanthropy and nonprofits.

New York University’s Heyman Program for Philanthropy and Fundraising provides professional development training for nonprofit executives, employees and volunteers.

The Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal encourages donations that support small, local, often faith-based grassroots associations.

Charity Navigator is a watchdog group that keeps an eye on nonprofits and charitable organizations. It has a database searchable by religion.

Read a Sept. 29, 2009, Associated Press story (posted by the National Conference on Citizenship) about the recession’s effect on social service charities, some of them religion-based.