NASHVILLE (BP) — Nine months into the 2023 fiscal year, the national Cooperative Program Allocation Budget remains nearly $2 million ahead of budget after another strong month of giving in June with more than $16.1 million given nationally through the Cooperative Program.

“Southern Baptist churches continue to display generosity through Cooperative Program giving,” SBC Executive Committee interim president and CEO Willie McLaurin said in a statement. “The strength of our convention is the sacrificial cooperation of our churches. Each church giving faithfully and consistently through the Cooperative Program enables the fulfillment of Acts 1:8. I am incredibly thankful for every church that chooses to cooperate to ensure that the Gospel is spread around the corner and around the globe. What Southern Baptists do best, we do together.”

June National Cooperative Program giving:

• Monthly budgeted amount: $16,022,500.00
• June 2023 giving: $16,145,088.65
• Above/under budget: $122,588.65 (0.77 percent) above budget

Total National Cooperative Program giving:

• Year to date budgeted amount: $144,202,500.00
• Year to date giving: $146,138,906.38
• Above/under budget: $1,936,406.38 (1.34 percent) above budget

Designated giving:

• June giving: $28,401,212.45
• Year to date giving: $179,388,762.52
• Previous year total: $184,124,792.01
• Above/under previous year: $4,736,029.49 (2.57 percent) under 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.)