On Jan. 12, the White House released a report asserting that its office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has been a success. The report titled "Innovations in Compassion The Faith-Based and Community Initiative: A Final Report to the Armies of Compassion," detailing the expanding federal partnerships with faith-based and other community organizations. Overall, the report maintains that because of the program and the increase in funding to faith-based nonprofits, thousands of lives have been improved.

Accomplishments are detailed including helping more than 250,000 recovering addicts, a 30 percent reduction in homelessness from 2005 to 2007, an increase in domestic nutrition assistance, and much more is listed on the Results Highlights page of the report. The report claims that the program is fully or partly responsible for each of these results.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) issued a press release stating that the report, "seeks to mask the shortcomings of a badly failed policy." Executive Director Rev. Barry W. Lynn said, "The Bush initiative played crass politics with social service funding and jeopardized civil rights and civil liberties."

However, federal funding was subject to legal challenges. For example, a federal appeals court ruled that a faith-based prison rehabilitation program was unconstitutional and the Supreme Court determined that taxpayers lacked standing to challenge the faith-based initiative. Particularly controversial was the push to allow participating organizations hire on the basis of religion. President-elect Obama plans on continuing the office, renamed the President's Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, but has proposed banning religious discrimination in hiring with government funds.

In early Dec. 2008 the Brookings Institution released a report on the faith-based office and gave sixteen recommendations for the incoming administration. These include clarifying restrictions on direct aid and religious organizations. "Existing executive orders and rules should be amended to prohibit the use of direct aid to subsidize 'explicitly religious activities.'" The report also sees the need to address the issue of religious discrimination in government funded jobs. For the rest of the recommendations, read the report here.