In addition to providing Saint Philip’s with a grant of $150,000, being part of the National Fund for Sacred Places 2026 cohort opened the door to technical support to determine the parish’s economic impact.

This proprietary research approach was developed by Partners for Sacred Places with funding from the William Penn Foundation and in collaboration with Dr. Cnaan and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

It is called the “Economic Halo Effect of Sacred Places,” and it determined that Saint Philip’s has an overall economic impact of $6.6 million.

Over the coming weeks, some of the surprising insights from their study will be shared. Today’s story is about the impact of space sharing.

Space sharing
The parish provides space to numerous organizations for meetings and events. In the Tucson area and especially the Catalina Foothills community, affordable meeting and event space is limited. The church is one of the only venues that offers high quality, accessibly located space, with free parking at below-market rates. The economic impact that can be attributed to space sharing is $121,334. A few examples include:

Program Rental Subsidy
12 Step Meetings: $48,180
Clay Studio: $33,480
Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society: $10,000

If you know of a group looking for affordable rental space, please have them contact Parish Administrator Kiki Cheney at kiki.cheney@stphilipstucson.org.