Posted: 7/25/03
SBC funding still holding steady
NASHVILLE, Tenn.–Despite the nation's lagging economy, gifts to the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program held steady through the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
As of June 30, the SBC reported $139 million in undesignated Cooperative Program gifts forwarded through state Baptist conventions and sent directly from churches. That's a 0.41 percent increase over the same period one year before, when $138.5 million was received.
Designated gifts to the SBC, however, are down 5.19 percent for the three-quarter period, from $157.6 million to $149.4 million.
Taken together, designated and undesignated gifts to the SBC are down 2.57 percent in the first three quarters of the year.
Part of the increase in undesignated funds shows up as a decrease in designated contributions sent through the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Beginning in January, the BGCT changed its Adopted Budget to remove funding caps enacted in 2001. Those caps caused a large portion of BGCT funds to be counted as designated rather than undesignated.
For the first three quarters of the SBC's current fiscal year, the BGCT's designated contributions dropped 16.9 percent and its undesignated contributions increased 16.4 percent.
That created a net reduction in total funding from the BGCT to the SBC, however, of $2.2 million or 8 percent for the period.
Designated gifts include those directed for distribution with exceptions as well as contributions to special missions and hunger offerings.
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