SBC exceeds budget despite reduced giving through BGCT for fiscal year

October 28, 2002

SBC exceeds budget despite reduced
giving through BGCT for fiscal year
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___NASHVILLE, Tenn.--The Southern Baptist Convention exceeded its Cooperative Program budget for the fiscal year just ended, despite continued reductions in giving through the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The SBC received $182 million in undesignated contributions to the Cooperative Program from Oct. 1, 2001, through Sept. 30, 2002. That is a 3 percent increase over the previous year and 102 percent of the convention's budget.
___SBC agencies actually received an even a greater overage than that, due to the recent pattern of designated giving sparked in part by changes in the way the BGCT forwards funds to the SBC.
___For example, the International Mission Board received 50 percent of undesignated Cooperative Program gifts, or $91.2 million. In addition, the IMB received nearly $12 million in designated gifts apart from the $103 million it received through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
___Every SBC agency and institution received more than its budget allocation for the year, due to the budget overage and to designated giving.
___Budget changes enacted over the last two years by the BGCT were designed to redirect some funds from the SBC to help fund missions and educational causes in Texas. These changes were recommended based on evaluations by BGCT study committees that three Texas Baptist seminaries are more in line with traditional Baptist teaching than the six SBC seminaries and on appeals that too many mission needs in Texas are going unmet.
___As a result, the amount of money passing through the BGCT to the SBC has dropped significantly, but that loss of funding has been more than made up by increases in direct gifts from churches, designated giving through the BGCT to select SBC agencies and increases in giving through other state conventions.
___Ironically, the entity most hurt by the budget changes has been the BGCT, which has operated on a reduced budget the last two years.
___While some of the money that has been shifted away from the BGCT has gone to a rival convention, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, a large amount appears to have gone to neither Texas convention.
___The total amount of undesignated Cooperative Program giving to the SBC from all Texas churches--including BGCT churches and SBTC churches--is down $6.6 million (2.7 percent) from two years ago, when the major budget changes began. In the 1999-2000 fiscal year, the two Texas conventions combined channelled $24.7 million in undesignated Cooperative Program gifts to the SBC. In the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the two conventions combined allocated $18.1 million.
___During the same period, Cooperative Program contributions sent directly from churches to the SBC, bypassing any state convention, more than doubled, from $3.5 million to $7.4 million.
___Designated contributions to the SBC from both Texas conventions have increased 2.6 percent during this period, from $23 million in 1999-2000 to $29 million in 2001-2002.
___Some state conventions beyond Texas have increased their Cooperative Program giving to the SBC as well. Georgia, which now is the leading contributor of undesignated Cooperative Program funds to the SBC, increased its gifts 7.5 percent last year. Florida, the third-largest contributor, increased its gifts 8 percent.
___For the 2001-2002 fiscal year just ended, the BGCT ranks as the seventh-largest contributor of undesignated Cooperative Program money to the SBC, behind Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and Mississippi.
___However, when undesignated and designated contributions are considered together, the BGCT ranks second in total gifts to the SBC, with a total of $32.86 million. Georgia ranks first with $35.6 million.
___Despite its budget reductions, the BGCT still provided 9 percent of the SBC's total income in 2001-2002.
___The SBC received $170.1 million in designated gifts for the year. Combined with $182.3 million in undesignated Cooperative Program gifts, the SBC's total income from gifts was $352.4 million. Of that total, $32.86 million came through the BGCT.
___SBC agencies and the total funding they received for the year are IMB, $206 million; North American Mission Board, $93.4 million; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, $11.3 million; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, $7.5 million; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, $7.7 million; Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, $7.8 million; Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, $4 million; Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, $3.2 million; Historical Library and Archives, $455,681; Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, $3 million; Annuity Board (for relief ministry only), $1.5 million; SBC operating budget, $6.6 million. The Baptist World Alliance allocation of $24,785 also is included in the $352 million total.
___Every SBC agency and institution received more than its budget allocation for the year, due to the budget overage and to designated giving.

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Three years of giving from Texas to the SBC

BGCT SBTC TEXAS TOTAL

99-00 Coop. Program $22,945,491 $1,780,760 $24,726,251

99-00 SBC Designated $22,036,260 $1,090,292 $23,126,552

99-00 Combined $44,981,751 $2,871,052 $47,852,803

00-01 Coop. Program $12,313,009 $5,200,706 $17,513,715

00-01 SBC Designated $26,945,547 $2,906,362 $29,851,909

00-01 Combined $39,258,556 $8,107,068 $47,365,624

01-02 Coop. Program $10,240,161 $7,884,695 $18,124,856

01-02 SBC Designated $22,621,424 $6,408,051 $29,029,475

01-02 Combined $32,861,585 $14,292,746 $47,154,331

Source: SBC Executive Committee

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