“Spiritual innovation” is an emerging term that is of increasing interest to scholars, funders, and practitioners interested in religion and spirituality and in orienting their work toward the future. Recent survey data suggests large majorities of Americans hold a spiritual outlook, i.e., believing in the soul, a higher power, or something beyond the natural world, and live out these beliefs both inside and outside formal religious traditions. Americans are becoming more religiously diverse as they find new ways to express and experience spirituality.

Recognizing these shifting trends, the Social Science Research Council, as part of their Religion and the Public Sphere program, is exploring opportunities for new research projects and programs to explore and understand religion, spirituality, and innovation. In coordination with other funders, this donation will contribute to important groundwork that is needed to connect agendas, foster high quality research, and provide actionable knowledge for practitioners and the public about contemporary religion and spirituality in the USA and its potential to meet today’s and future challenges.