Where your treasure is…

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Posted: 10/26/07

Where your treasure is…

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Advocates of Christian education and human care institutions insist their ministries represent the best example of what Texas Baptists can accomplish when they work together. But they fear what budget decisions over the last decade mean for the future of cooperative giving.

Changes in accounting make direct comparisons somewhat difficult. Some institutions and ministries—such as Baptist University of the Americas and chaplaincy—have moved from one funding category to another in recent years.

See chart of CP funding of education institutions below

But the trend remains unmistakable. Whether examined in terms of dollars or as a percentage of the total budget, Texas Baptists provide less support for educational and human care institutions through the Cooperative Program budget now than in the past.

The 2008 recommended Cooperative Program budget includes $10.2 million for Christian education, not counting funds specifically for ministerial financial aid and funding for seminaries—down from more than $13.26 million in 2003. Add in support for the seminaries and aid to ministerial students, and the totals drop from $15.2 million in 2003 to a little less than $12.3 million.

The proposed 2008 budget also includes $4,695,000 for human care institutions, compared to a high of $5.69 million in 2000.

Several BGCT Executive Board directors have expressed concern about declining financial support for institutions during budget discussions the last two years. But the trend predates the recent round of cutbacks.

While funds in the annual budget earmarked for training ministers have risen $1.4 million since 1999, other Cooperative Program funding for education has dropped more than $3.8 million, and annual funding for human care institutions declined $921,000 during that same period.

In 1999, support for Christian education and human care institutions represented about 48 percent of the BGCT Cooperative Program budget, but it accounts for 43 percent of the proposed 2008 budget.

Remove theological education from the equation, and the drop in support for institutions appears even more striking—43 percent of the 1999 budget compared to 34 percent of the recommended 2008 budget.

At Baylor University, for example, Cooperative Program support has declined from about $3.2 million in 2003 to the current $2.3 million, not counting ministerial financial assistance. Counting the financial aid for ministerial students, the allocation dropped from $3.6 million to a little bit more than $2.5 million.

While Cooperative Program support provides a small percentage of the operating budget at a large school like Baylor, smaller universities feel the impact even more.

East Texas Baptist University has seen its Cooperative Program support drop from a $1.6 million high in 1999 to $1.2 million, ETBU President Bob Riley noted.

“That kind of significant decrease makes a huge difference in our ability to provide services to students,” Riley said. “It means we buy fewer computers and have less money for faculty. We have to adjust operations.”

Likewise, Hardin-Simmons University has been forced to make significant adjustments as it has seen Cooperative Program support—exclusive of money for Logsdon Seminary—drop from more than $1.26 million to $1 million, said President Craig Turner.

“We have to make up the money somewhere,” he said. “So, the impact ultimately is felt by the students.”

Hardin-Simmons has seen its endowment and similar funds grow to about $122.5 million, and those funds have helped the school offset tuition increases by offering additional scholarship aid. Similarly, ETBU’s $60 million endowment helps generate scholarship aid for students.

But both Turner and Riley pointed to the key difference between Cooperative Program funds and gifts from other donors. Almost always, individual donors designate their gifts, whether to a building campaign, a scholarship or some other specific project.

“Donor gifts usually are restricted. The wonderful thing about the BGCT funds is that we are able to apply them to meet needs wherever they are, when the funds are available,” Riley said.

Turner agreed, noting, “Any fundraiser will tell you that operational dollars are the hardest to raise.”

Consequently, as Cooperative Program funds have become scarcer, each school’s ability to maintain its facilities and to remain current in technology has suffered.

Likewise, human care institutions have felt the impact of the declining Cooperative Program support—none more so than South Texas Children’s Home.

Historically, the children’s home has depended on Cooperative Program funds for 25 percent to 30 percent of its annual operating budget, said Todd Roberson, interim president at South Texas Children’s Home.

In the last few years, the institution has only been able to rely on the Cooperative Program for 15 to 17 percent of its support.

Although Roberson just recently assumed interim duties as president, he has been on staff at the children’s home 15 years, including a long tenure as chief operating officer, and he has witnessed the impact of the declining funds on South Texas Children’s Home.

“It’s just like a household budget. If the money isn’t there, you have to hold off on (building) maintenance, and you can’t spend money on some things that are needed,” he said.

“Our situation is unique in two respects. We’ve never taken on debt, and our board is committed to remaining debt-free. So, it takes that option off the table. The other factor is that we do not take any state or federal funds.”

Most institutions have thrived in spite of declining Cooperative Program dollars. During the same period financial support from the BGCT failed to keep pace with rising costs, Buckner Baptist Benevolences became Buckner International and expanded its ministries far beyond Texas.

In Buckner’s case, fewer dollars from the BGCT did not translate into fewer services to children and families.

On the contrary, Buckner grew significantly, but the BGCT missed the blessing of being a strategic partner in Buckner’s ministry—at least to the degree it had been in the past, said Buckner President Ken Hall.

Within the last five years, the BGCT ceased to be the largest annual donor to Buckner, he noted. Cooperative Program funds represent about 1 percent of Buckner’s annual budget.

A decline in dollars from the Texas Cooperative Program “means we minister to fewer people with BGCT funds in a direct way,” Hall said.

“I hurt for the BGCT. … As God has expanded our opportunities, the BGCT has missed the joy of participation.”



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