One of the ties that bind us as a society is our network of churches. Regardless of the denomination or faith, belief in a common higher power is a unifying force throughout communities across America and especially here in Detroit. Our churches play a vital role in how we manage our communities as well, providing social and professional services that cover a wide spectrum of needs.

Many of these services include counseling on homeownershp and financial literacy. Homeownership remains the foundation for building individual wealth and stable neighborhoods for our cities. I am proud to say that Fifth Third, along with other financial institutions, supports the work done by churches in the community through programming, volunteer professional counseling and funding.

In many cases the relationship extends beyond supporting the good work in the community. We also are the business partner of many churches throughout the region. As you will gather from reading in this week’s articles, churches have a business side to them as well. Churches rely on financial services just as any multifaceted for-profit organization would.

Only with churches the services that banks provide are more specialized as are the people that provide them. Serving as a financial advisor to a church is not “business as usual.” From revenue streams to services provided, from capital investment to cash management, a church has trends, patterns and methods of operation that are different from an average business.

The Fifth Third Community Belief Banking program integrates seasoned professionals who have experience serving churches with products, services and programs designed specifically for faith-based banking. It isn’t enough to simply provide standard banking products with everyday service. It is important to educate our churches on how to benefit from the financial and legal aspects of financial management as a non-profit, community based organization of faith. When deposits, for example, come in one day a week as opposed to seven days a week there is a way to manage cash flow and interest earned to maximize the opportunity of the donations a church takes in. The investment of a church’s funds typically have a very different timeline than a normal mutual fund might have. And capital expenditures take on a more rigorous fund-raising process than in the private sector.

The end result, of course, is that the more effectively a church manages its money the more community service it can provide to the congregation. This is goal of Fifth Third’s Community Belief Banking. We hope to design financial strategies that free churches to conduct the important work that they are doing every day, making our communities stronger and more vibrant places to live. It is one of the more satisfying programs that we as bankers manage across Detroit and our entire region.