NASHVILLE (BP) – With two months left in the 2023 fiscal year, the National Cooperative Program Allocation Budget remains ahead of the annual budget, but gifts reported in July were short of monthly budget projections.
Gifts reported in July, which were collected in local churches in May, totaled just over $14.3 million bringing the annual total to just under $160.5 million, just 0.15 percent above budget with two months remaining.
“Every dollar received through the Cooperative Program represents the opportunity to advance the Gospel to the nations and the neighborhoods,” SBC Executive Committee interim president and CEO Willie McLaurin said in a statement. “While the July 2023 CP gifts did not meet the monthly budget, I have a heart filled with gratitude for the faithfulness of Southern Baptist churches who continue to cooperate through their sacrificial giving. I praise the Lord that with two months remaining in the fiscal year. We are still trending slightly ahead of the National Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.”
July National Cooperative Program giving:
• Monthly budgeted amount: $16,022,500.00
• July 2023 giving: $14,328,635.76
• Above/below budget: $1,693,864.24 (10.57 percent) below budget
Total National Cooperative Program giving:
• Year to date budgeted amount: $160,225,000.00
• Year to date giving: $160,467,542.14
• Above/under budget: $242,542.14 (0.15 percent) above budget
Designated giving:
• July giving: $10,220,830.56
• Year to date giving: $189,609,593.08
• Previous year total: $196,238,461.65
• Above/below previous year: $6,628,868.57 (3.38 percent) below the previous year
The convention-adopted budget for 2022-2023 is $192,270,000 and includes an initial $200,000 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 and 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.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Jonathan Howe is vice president for communications at the SBC Executive Committee.)
