NASHVILLE (BP) – As the 2021-22 fiscal year winds down, giving through the national Cooperative Program Allocation Budget sits just shy of $184 million with one month left in the budget year. This year’s giving is poised to greatly exceed last year’s total of $192.2 million and the current year’s goal of $190 million.
“I am so thankful for the faithfulness of local churches in their giving through the Cooperative Program,” Executive Committee interim president Willie McLaurin said in a statement. “As we finish out the final month of the current fiscal year, I am anticipating a strong end to the year. We are trending toward having the largest Cooperative Program year since 2008. Great Commission Baptists continue to fund and fuel our work of advancing the Gospel to the nations and the neighborhoods.”
The amount given through the Cooperative Program in August 2022 totaled $15,088,166.56, which was $1,781,554.14 (10.56 percent) less than the $16,869,720.70 received in August 2021 and $745,166.78 (4.71 percent) less than the monthly budgeted amount of $15,833,333.34.
As of August 31, gifts received by the EC for distribution through the CP Allocation Budget totalling $183,848,856.88. This is $4,932,849.06 or 2.76 percent more than last year’s budget contribution of $178,916,007.82. The amount given is ahead of the $174,166,666.74 year-to-date budgeted projection to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America by $9,682,190.14 or 5.56 percent.
Designated gifts received in August amounted to $5,877,681.04. This total was $1,166,881.78, or 16.56 percent, less than gifts of $7,044,562.82 received last August. However, this year’s designated gifts through the first eleven months of the fiscal year amount to $202,116,142.69, which is $13,231,068.94 or 7.00 percent more than the $188,885,073.75 given through the same period in the previous fiscal year.
The Cooperative Program is the financial fuel to fund the Great Commission mission and vision of reaching every person for Jesus Christ in every town, every city, every state, and every nation. Begun in 1925, local churches contribute to the ministries of its state convention and the missions and ministries through a unified giving plan to support both sets of ministries. Monies include receipts from individuals, churches and state conventions for distribution according to the 2021-2022 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.
State and regional conventions retain a portion of church contributions through the Cooperative Program to support work in their respective areas and forward a percentage to national and international causes. The percentage of distribution is at the discretion of each state or regional convention.
The convention-adopted budget for 2021-2022 is $190 million and includes an initial $200,000 special priority allocation for the Vision 2025 initiative. Cooperative Program funds are then disbursed as follows: 50.41 percent to international missions through the International Mission Board, 22.79 percent to North American missions through the North American Mission Board, 22.16 percent to theological education through the six seminaries and the Historical Library and Archives, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. If national CP gifts exceed the $190 million budget projection at the end of the fiscal year, 10 percent of the overage is to be used to support the Vision 2025 initiative with the balance of the overage distributed according to the percentages approved for budgetary distribution. The Executive Committee distributes all CP and designated gifts it receives on a weekly basis to the national entities.
Month-to-month swings reflect a number of factors, including the timing of when the cooperating state Baptist conventions forward the national portion of Cooperative Program contributions to the Executive Committee, the day of the month churches forward their CP contributions to their state conventions, the number of Sundays in a given month, and the percentage of CP contributions forwarded to the Executive Committee by the state conventions after shared ministry expenses are deducted.
Designated contributions include the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, Global Hunger Relief, Disaster Relief and other special gifts. This total includes only those gifts received and distributed by the Executive Committee and does not reflect designated gifts contributed directly to national entities.
CP allocation budget gifts received by the Executive Committee are reported monthly to the executives of the entities of the convention, to the state convention offices, to the state Baptist papers and are posted online at sbc.net/cp.
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