NASHVILLE (BP) — The 2024 fiscal year is off to a sluggish start as giving to the National Cooperative Program Allocation Budget is a little more than 5 percent behind budget.
Gifts reported in October, which were collected in local churches in August, totaled just over $14.7 million, or 5.39 percent behind budget one month into the fiscal year.
“The slow start to the fiscal year is a bit typical, but I don’t sense this is an indicator of the lack of support or cooperation by Southern Baptists,” said Jonathan Howe, interim president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. “As I’ve talked with Southern Baptists around the country during their state convention annual meetings, I’ve never been so encouraged about the future of the SBC and the Cooperative Program. I’m thankful Southern Baptists remain committed to cooperative missions, church planting, disaster relief, higher education, and advocating for life and religious liberty.”
CP contributions from five state/regional conventions were still outstanding at time of publication, according to SBC Executive Committee financial data. The report indicated the California Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist Convention of New England, the Baptist Convention of New Mexico, the Northwest Baptist Convention and the Convention of Southern Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico had not yet forwarded contributions.
October National Cooperative Program giving:
- Monthly budgeted amount: $15,543,000.00
- October 2023 giving: $14,704,527.25
- Above/below budget: $838,472.75 (5.39 percent) below budget
Total National Cooperative Program giving:
- Year to date budgeted amount: $15,543,000.00
- Year to date giving: $14,704,527.25
- Above/under budget: $838,472.75 (5.39 percent) below budget
Designated giving:
- October giving: $4,182,892.91
- Year to date giving: $4,182,892.91
- Previous year total: $3,816,407.68
- Above/below previous year: $366,485.23 (9.60 percent) above the previous year
The convention-adopted budget for 2023-2024 is $195,250,000 and includes a $250,000 special priority allocation for the SBC 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 SBC seminaries and the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
- 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget
- 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
If national CP gifts exceed the budget projection at the end of the fiscal year, the balance of the overage is distributed according to the percentages approved for budgetary distribution. The SBC Executive Committee distributes all CP and designated gifts it receives on a weekly basis to the SBC ministry 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.
