1. health and fitness

THE ECONOMIC HALO EFFECT OF
THE SALVATION ARMY
RAY & JOAN KROC CORPS
COMMUNITY CENTER
GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA
a report to The Salvation Army • May 2015
Submitted by Partners
for Sacred Places
and McClanahan
Associates, Inc.
SUMMARY
Executive Summary
This report, issued by Partners for Sacred Places (Partners) with support from McClanahan Associates, Inc.,
provides an analysis of the annualized economic impact of the Greenville Kroc Center. It is part of a larger study of
twenty-five Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers that are owned and operated by The Salvation Army.
Broadly, these centers provide facilities, programs, and services that encourage positive living, offer life-changing
experiences for children and adults, strengthen families, and enrich the lives of seniors with the goal of uplifting
individuals and benefiting communities in need.
The annualized economic impact of the center is derived using Partners’ “Economic Halo Effect” methodology,
developed in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. This methodology
quantifies the financial impact of congregations and other faith-based organizations on local and regional
economies. The findings reported herein include two main categories of economic impact: the financial benefit to
the community induced through the center’s construction and the total annual economic impact of the center as it
currently operates. This total annual financial benefit monetizes a broad range of factors in four areas: 1) through the
center’s direct spending on staff, local goods, and services; 2) the value of day care and K-12 educational programs
that allow parents and care-givers to work; 3) the worth of health and fitness programs that enable people to
exercise regularly, lose weight, and eat healthily; and 4) a range of catalyzing or leveraging economic values such
as recreation space, including the free use of outdoor parks, trails, playgrounds, and sporting fields; ‘magnet effect’
– attracting visitors who patronize local businesses; and ‘invisible safety net’ – the combined value of membership
subsidy, space, volunteer, scholarship, day-pass, and in-kind support provided to individuals and community-serving
programs. Finally, this report illustrates, through stories and data provided by participants themselves, how the
center has helped strengthen the lives of individuals and benefited the community.
For this report Partners for Sacred Places collected data in three ways: 1) using pre-tested survey instruments,
Partners conducted on-site interviews with the center’s key management and program staff as well as center
users and local civic leaders; 2) Partners reviewed documents related to center expenditures, construction
costs, membership, building entries, and space-usage; and 3) working with McClanahan Associates, Inc., Partners
administered a cross-sectional participant survey to, first, gather information about the demographics of center
participants; second, get information from participants on the reasons they used center programs or services; and
third, gain more detail on the health and wellness benefits experienced due to participation in center programs.
We made a deliberate attempt to be conservative in our valuation in three ways: first, if center staff were not able
to estimate or document a particular service or activity or if the activity was not offered at the center, we assigned
it a value of zero; second, with the exception of health and fitness, we chose not to assign monetary value to any
of the data collected on how the center impacts individuals’ lives, because it is difficult to demonstrate cause-andeffect between center programs and individual benefit, and because that value is not easily corroborated by center
beneficiaries or clearly demonstrated in relevant scientific literature; and third, we used conservative estimates
related to spending induced by visitors and the value of membership subsidies.
Overall, the Greenville Kroc Center makes a significant economic impact on its community, contributing
$5,482,934 in benefits to the community in 2014 through its programming, spending, and support of community
members and organizations. Additionally, $62,046,866 in direct and induced spending was generated by the
construction of the Greenville Kroc Center.
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OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS
Kroc Centers are designed to adapt and respond to the needs and interests of the particular communities and
cities in which they are located, providing a mix of services and opportunities designed to enhance struggling
communities. No two centers share the exact same mix of programming or physical features, and each has
a unique feel, focus, and way of operating. Broadly, Kroc Centers include two core components: 1) the corps
religious congregation of The Salvation Army; and 2) the center, which offers a range of health, fitness, education,
social, arts, outdoor space, and other programs and services. Centers are led by Salvation Army officers and
staffed by a range of operations, program, and administrative experts who are not necessarily required to be
members of the Army (Salvationists).
The majority of individuals accessing the centers’ facilities and programs are not Salvationists, but come from the
wider community. Kroc Centers offer membership to individuals and families who pay either annual or monthly
membership fees. In some cases, centers provide discounted or entirely subsidized memberships for community
members to ensure the center’s accessibility irrespective of income or ability to pay. Centers also offer day passes
for individuals who do not wish to become members.
Overall Halo Total:
HALO FINDINGS BY CATEGORY:
$5,482,934
Annual Economic Benefit
Safety Net: $905,363
The Greenville Kroc Center makes a
significant contribution to the communities and
individuals it serves. At the Greenville Kroc
Center, the total annual economic impact
totals over five million dollars — almost 1.6
times its average yearly budget.
Fitness: $637,695
Direct Spending: $3,124,995
Magnet: $814,881
Financial Benefit from Construction of the Center
The construction of the Greenville Kroc Center induced significant spending and catalyzed over $62 million dollars
of direct and induced spending and local wages earned as a result.
CONSTRUCTION INDUCED
SPENDING TOTAL:
$62,046,866
= $10 Million
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SUMMARY
AMENITIES AND MISSION OF
KROC CENTERS NATIONALLY
note that amenities with asterisks are not available currently
*atPlease
the Greenville Kroc Center
Fitness, Health, and Wellness/Sports and Recreation/Aquatics
In order to address the health disparities common in low-income communities, Kroc Centers focus on
health, fitness, and wellness programming. Centers offer a broad array of health and wellness programs,
fitness equipment (including exercise equipment and weights), and specialized facilities such as
exercise classrooms, gyms, and pools. The majority of people using Kroc Centers do so to access these programs
and facilities. Among the twenty-five included in this study, all but one has fitness facilities. Kroc Centers with fitness
facilities offer a range of classes and expert instruction and also allow patrons to use gym equipment and pools on
their own. Kroc Centers offer parents Childwatch or Playcare programming to allow them to exercise in the facility
while their children are cared for in a safe and nurturing environment. Many Kroc Centers offer aquatics fitness
programs, swimming lessons, and swimming leagues, as well as free swim in the pools. Finally, many Kroc Centers
offer recreational or league sports programs and make playing fields and courts available to the public for sport
instruction, leagues, or other forms of recreation.
*
Daycare/Childcare Centers
Certified, high quality, yet low cost childcare is a challenge for parents from economically-stressed
communities. Kroc Centers aim to fill this need by providing accredited daycare facilities. By providing
high quality care, centers give parents and care-givers the peace of mind to pursue employment outside
of the home, contributing to the economic well-being of communities and their family. Moreover, the daycare
programs at these centers provide needed employment opportunities for local community members.
Senior Centers and Programs
High quality programs for senior citizens are essential to any vibrant community. Unfortunately, many
activities are inaccessible to low income, older adults. Recognizing this, the Kroc Centers provide a
range of programs specifically geared to seniors including meals, enrichment programs, fitness classes,
outings and socialization, and visits to nursing homes or senior housing facilities. By offering these range of services,
centers support seniors’ physical and emotional well-being and decrease isolation.
After School/Camps/Computer Lab
Youth from low-income communities do not have access to the same enrichment and academic support
programs as their more affluent peers. Many Kroc Centers aim to remedy this disparity by offering a
range of programs geared toward school-aged children and youth including after-school programs,
homework support and enrichment, as well as summer and school vacation camps. Many have computer labs
available to youth and adults.
*
Family Resource Centers: Social Service Referrals
To serve the most vulnerable and at-risk individuals and families in a supportive and professional
manner, most centers have formal programs in place to connect people with a range of government or
non-profit social service, food, and assistance programs. People accessing these services do not need
to be members of the Kroc Center.
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Arts and Music
High-quality arts experiences and education are frequently unaffordable for individuals living in
disadvantaged neighborhoods and are increasingly unavailable in public schools. Kroc Centers provide a
range of arts programs, especially music lessons, for members and for the general public. Often musical
instruments are provided without cost or are heavily subsidized, especially for music lessons and programs geared
towards children and youth. In addition, centers host performances by The Salvation Army bands and other groups.
Special Events/Programs
The centers have a variety of flexible meeting spaces ranging from small classrooms to large auditoriums
and outdoor gathering spaces. These spaces are used for a variety of special events, festivals, and fairs
sponsored by the Kroc Centers. These spaces are also utilized by a number of outside organizations and
individuals for trade shows, parties, meetings, conferences, and other gatherings. In many ways, the Kroc Centers
function as affordable convention and special event centers in their communities, prompting visitor spending that
supports the local economy.
Community Gardens/Outdoor Park Space
Many centers sit on several acres or more of land and place an emphasis on using this outdoor space
as an extension of their mission and programming. Typical features include community gardens,
walking/jogging paths, sports fields, parking spaces, landscaped park-like areas, and basketball or
other court spaces. Depending on the facility, access to many of these spaces is not controlled or monitored, so
community members can use the space as a de facto park for exercise, recreation, relaxation, contemplation,
or sports. Furthermore, Kroc Centers are typically built on land or areas that had been neglected, blighted, or
underused – restoring vitality and generating a neighborhood asset.
Food
Many centers provide healthy and affordable food options for center participants. Most often, this is
achieved by providing space for a café that offers simple breakfast, lunch, or snack foods. In some
locations, these cafés are run by the center staff; in other centers, a third-party operator manages the
café. In both instances, they offer nutritious and convenient eating options for center users, as well as employment
opportunities for local residents.
MISSION STATEMENT OF THE SALVATION ARMY
“The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal
Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of
God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name
without discrimination.”
- THE SALVATION ARMY
MISSION STATEMENT OF KROC CENTERS
“In keeping with the mission of The Salvation Army, Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community
Centers provide facilities, programs and services that encourage positive living, offer
life-changing experiences for children and adults, strengthen families, and enrich the lives of
seniors. These facilities, programs and services promote educational enrichment, life skills
development, and spiritual and physical wellness. In accordance with the Christian mission
of The Salvation Army, these resources will be offered without discrimination to uplift
individuals and benefit communities in need.”
- THE SALVATION ARMY
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RESEARCH FINDINGS: ANNUAL ECONOMIC VALUE (2014)
RESEARCH FINDINGS: ONE-TIME ECONOMIC IMPACT
CONSTRUCTION SPENDING
Construction of a Kroc Center provides a significant
Construction Induced Spending Total:
infusion of economic activity into the community through
construction spending and jobs, which induce spending in
the community. We derived our estimates of the economic
benefit of building the Greenville Kroc Center by collecting the design, site preparation, material, labor, and
construction management costs associated with the project and then applying data from the Research
Foundation of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP). The NAIOP provides estimates
of the impact of construction using state-specific multipliers (including personal earnings, wages, and salaries of
workers) and jobs created, which can be applied to direct construction costs to derive spending induced from new
construction projects. Overall, the construction of the Greenville Kroc Center generated $62,046,866 in direct and
induced spending.
$62,046,866
CONSTRUCTION INDUCED PERSONAL
EARNINGS TOTAL:
ANNUAL ECONOMIC IMPACT
OF KROC CENTER OPERATIONS
The economic value that the Greenville Kroc Center brings to its community did not end when construction of
the center was completed. The Greenville Kroc Center attracts people into the community and provides spaces,
services, and jobs – all of which have meaningful financial impacts for community and constituents. We categorize
the ways that Kroc Centers benefit the local area in four broad areas: 1) through direct spending to hire staff and
purchase local goods and services; 2) the value of day care and K-12 educational programs that allow families to
work; 3) the benefits of health and fitness programs that enable people to exercise regularly, lose weight, and eat
healthily; and 4) a range of catalyzing or leveraging economic values, such as recreation space, including the free
use of outdoor parks, trails, playgrounds, and sporting fields; ‘magnet effect’ – attracting visitors who patronize local
businesses, and ‘invisible safety net’ – the combined value of membership subsidy, space, volunteer, and in-kind
support provided to individuals and community-serving programs.
Conservatively, the Greenville Kroc Center contributed over $5,482,934 annually (2014) in local value, bringing
economic and social vitality to the community. We describe each benefit in more detail in the sections that follow.
$20,748,791
NUMBER OF JOBS CREATED:
583
The Greenville Kroc Center’s state-of-the-art building
opened to the public in September of 2011
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= $5 Million
Community building happens every
day through special events and regular
programming options
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RESEARCH FINDINGS: ANNUALIZED ECONOMIC IMPACT (2014)
RESEARCH FINDINGS: ANNUALIZED ECONOMIC IMPACT (2014)
$
DIRECT SPENDING
Kroc Centers invigorate local and regional economies
by buying goods and services locally and employing
local residents. The Greenville Kroc Center employs 25
full-time staff and 70 part-time staff with an emphasis
on hiring from the community. The research of Chaves
and Miller, Cnaan, and others suggests we can attribute
80% of a faith-based organization’s budget and other
spending to supporting staff and local vendors and
businesses. The Greenville Kroc Center’s spending
results in a local impact of $3,124,995.
Direct Spending Total:
$3,124,995
Full-Time Staff: 25
Part-Time Staff: 70
= 5 Staff Members
HEALTH AND FITNESS
The Kroc Centers’ central focus is health and fitness, striving to remedy health disparities faced by individuals
from low income communities by providing access to robust and high quality fitness and wellness activities for
community members. To estimate the economic value of the Greenville Kroc Center’s fitness offerings, using the
participant survey we asked about the frequency of center users’ participation in fitness activities most commonly
offered across centers, including the gym, aquatics, and sports activities. Using this data, we multiplied the
percentage of participants who are regular exercisers at the Greenville Kroc Center by the average, per individual,
monetary benefit of physical activity as calculated by methodologies developed by East Carolina University, which
monetizes the value of lower health care costs to both individuals and
the community and the value of increased productivity that results from
Fitness Impact Total:
routine exercise. We estimate that the value to the community of the
Greenville Kroc Center’s fitness programming totals $637,695 annually.
$637,695
MAGNET EFFECT
In addition to direct spending, centers attract both regular and out of
Visitor Induced Spending Total:
town visitors for routine and special events. These individuals spend
money in the community. Recreational users – those who come
to the center to use the fitness center, participate in a program, or
get a service – spend locally on items such as beverages, food,
and transportation. Those visiting the center for special events that require an overnight stay – such as sporting
events and tournaments, conferences or workshops, reunions, parties, and trainings – spend money on overnight
accommodations, meals, and incidentals.
$814,881
To estimate the amount of money each recreational user spent, center visitors who had attended one of the 25 Kroc
Centers more than once were asked how much they spend going to and from the center in a given week, which
yielded an average value of $5.30 per visit. The Greenville Kroc Center logged 70,680 building entries over a oneyear period, each of which was assigned a value of $5.30. Overnight visitors in Greenville were assigned a value of
$129 based on federal General Services Administration per diem rates for travel, lodging, food, and other expenses
for overnight visits. In addition, the center reported a total of 3,413 nights spent over a year due to Kroc Center hosted
events. In total, participants in center events and activities infuse $814,881 into the local economy annually.
VISITS VS. OVERNIGHT VISITS
Number of Visits: 70,680
Number of Overnight Visits: 35
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Exercise classes and rock climbing are some of the
many fitness options available to Kroc members
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RESEARCH FINDINGS: ANNUALIZED ECONOMIC IMPACT (2014)
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SAFETY NET
Kroc Centers routinely provide volunteer and in-kind support for a
Safety Net Impact Total:
wide range of programs and events that serve the wider public, and
that are not primarily religious in nature. Free or inexpensive space is
another benefit that the centers provide, subsidizing the operations of
a wide range of activities for community organizations and programs.
All of these activities result in economic benefits for the community. In addition, centers provide free day passes to
allow people short-term access to the centers and also offer scholarships to increase access to programs. Kroc
Centers also significantly subsidize membership in two ways: by providing high quality programs and services at
below market rates for those who can pay; and, in addition, by providing these services free-of-charge or well
below published rates to ensure access to others.
$905,363
We used the center’s own published rental rates as the market rate value of donated or subsidized space for
programs benefiting the wider community. To value volunteer time at each center, we use the Independent
Sector’s estimates of the average value of a volunteer hour for every state or for major metropolitan areas, where
applicable. To value the subsidy provided to members, we compared the average costs of membership to facilities
similar to Kroc Centers (in terms of amenities and non-profit status) and compared those costs to the average
income per member received by the Greenville Kroc Center. In total, the estimated annual value of the Greenville
Kroc Center’s safety net is $905,363.
Early Research
In 1996, with the support of the Lilly Endowment and other funders, Partners sponsored the first scientific, national
study to quantify how congregations serve the public by hosting and supporting a wide array of outreach and
social service programs. Conducted in partnership with Dr. Ram Cnaan and the University of Pennsylvania’s School
of Social Policy and Practice and published by Partners as Sacred Places at Risk, the research found that onaverage urban congregations provide over $140,000 (in 1997 dollars) in “replacement value” resources – volunteer,
staff
and clergy time, free or below-market space, cash and in-kind services – to support community-serving
programs each year. In addition, the study found that four out of five of those benefiting from church or synagoguehosted outreach are not members of those congregations.
Sacred Places at Risk established a new methodology for documenting the public value of congregations and led
to a new course of scholarly study, inaugurated by Cnaan’s (with Robert Wineburg and Stephanie Boddie) book
The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership, and subsequent studies that validated the research
methodology: The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare and The Other
Philadelphia Story: How Local Congregations Support Quality of Life in Urban America.
Economic Halo
However groundbreaking, Sacred Places at Risk, or subsequent studies conducted by Dr. Cnaan that used the
same methodology, did not attempt to look at all of the ways that congregations impact their communities.
SAFETY NET FINDINGS BY CATEGORY:
Scholarships: $105,000
Day Pass Giveaways: $95,287
Space Donations: $19,204
In Kind Dollars: $11,270
Volunteer Hours Monetized: $10,217
Membership Subsidy: $664,385
In 2010, Partners was funded by the William Penn Foundation to test the concept of a new study. Partners joined
with Dr. Ram Cnaan once again, and began to lay out a quantitative approach to understanding the fuller value
congregations provide to their local economy. The pilot sought to factor in the value of green space/trees, building
projects, tourism, and visitors to congregations, support for local business and vendors, budget and taxes, affiliated
community development corporations and a congregation’s role as an incubator for new businesses or nonprofits and role in impacting individual lives. Based on an extensive review of available, academically sound, and
vetted methodologies, we identified over fifty areas in which we thought congregations made an impact on their
communities that might be measured economically.
Based on this test, Partners and Cnaan quantified a more comprehensive dollar value estimates of each
congregation’s contribution to its local economy; overall, it allowed us to conclude that the approach was feasible,
though still in need of additional fine-tuning. The results of the study were published in 2013 as “If you do not
count it, it does not count: a pilot study of valuing urban congregations” in the scholarly peer-reviewed Journal of
Management, Spirituality, and Religion.
The results from the pilot suggested the need for a larger study, so Partners and Cnaan decided to take the
next step in further testing the “Economic Halo” concept and methodology, with funding support from the Lilly
Endowment and the McCormick Foundation. The significant changes in research design and scope were to: 1)
greatly increase the number of congregations studied; 2) select those congregations at random; and 3) to expand
the scope geographically, including the cities of Fort Worth and Chicago along with Philadelphia. We also decided
to not analyze or monetize certain types of data we valued in the pilot. Results of this study affirm the findings of the
original pilot and will be published in the summer of 2015.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Partners for Sacred Places
Partners for Sacred Places was founded in 1989 by a task force of religious, heritage, community development,
and philanthropic leaders as a national, non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated to care and support of
America’s sacred places. Since then, Partners has served thousands of congregations, faith-based and other
organizations through a range of programs and services including consulting, training, information, publications,
and research.
Partners’ research initiatives began in the mid 1990s focusing on the role that religious congregations played in
providing social services to their communities, which culminated in a national study conducted with the University
of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. Other research topics include identifying exemplary social
service programs housed in historic sacred places, gathering and analyzing data on congregation-hosted arts
programs, and documenting how congregations that host social service programs positively contribute to the
economic health and vitality of their communities.
McClanahan Associates, Inc.
McClanahan Associates, Inc. conducts evaluations that help non-profit organizations and funders achieve their
missions of improving people’s lives. We work closely with the organizations we partner with — capitalizing on their
deep knowledge of the local context, the population they serve, and their own program — to generate information
and recommendations that are understandable, practical, and useful. Our team, comprised of evaluation experts
with deep knowledge of programs for young people living in marginalized communities has over thirty years of
experience in advocating for and conducting evaluations for social progress.
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