WASHINGTON — Khachkar Studios is drawing national attention for pioneering a performance-based approach to religious philanthropy. On April 11, the studio announced a US$10+ million pilot program supporting US Armenian churches based on measurable engagement outcomes and a strategic faith-driven model.
At the heart of the program is a concern over dwindling participation. Research from 2024 shows that only 13,000 individuals — less than 3 percent of the US Armenian population — attend Sunday services outside holidays (non-holiday badarak). This places Armenian churches at the bottom of Orthodox Christian engagement in America.
Khachkar Studios aims to reverse this trend by selecting a group of 37 churches, chosen for their potential to expand “the faithful” and demonstrate strong social return on investment (SROI). SROI is measured by the change in the initiative’s primary metric — KPI #1 — which tracks non-holiday badarak attendance.
“Every dollar must be spent to increase the faithful,” said a Khachkar spokesperson. “That’s our mission, and our measure of success.”
The program also addresses a second major gap: the almost complete lack of media outreach by Armenian religious institutions. Khachkar Studios plans to invest more than 25 times the combined media spending of all US Armenian churches, focusing on seven content workstreams such as short clips, podcasts, written content, and music.
Annual support for participating churches ranges from $40,000 to $80,000 — equivalent to a US$1 million endowment or 16 percent of a typical parish’s annual budget. Each church will execute a tailored plan across eight activities such as training role models, expanding Bible study, and conducting outreach visits. These are detailed in the April 2025 Pilot Briefing Packet, now available online.
