In late February, the Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention will consider a recommendation from its budget, finance and audit committee to count Cooperative Program gifts received in early January as part of the previous budget year’s receipts.
Jim Austin, SCBC executive director-treasurer, told the Courier the BF&A committee held a conference call last week and voted to recommend shifting $743,757 (which was posted on Jan. 2, 3 and 7) to the 2012 books.
Austin said SCBC president Ralph Carter and Executive Board chairman Tom Tucker were included in the BF&A committee conference call, as was the convention’s auditor.
The committee’s recommendation reflects the intent of the churches, Austin said.
Many checks written in 2012 were not received by the convention until early 2013 because the last Sunday of the year fell on Dec. 30, and the next day was a holiday.
“I am thrilled that it appears, based on the intent of the churches and when checks were mailed, we will be able to meet our obligations for GCR,” said Austin, “and we either met budget or came right at meeting budget in 2012 for the first time since the recession started.
“Our churches have really stepped up. I want to commend them and thank them for their sacrificial gifts.”
If the transfer of funds from 2013 to 2012 is approved by the Executive Board, South Carolina Baptists will be able to honor a $400,263 supplemental allocation to the International Mission Board, which was included in the 2012 budget and reflects a provision of the Great Commission Resurgence report calling for increased funding for global missions.
January giving
Pam Carroll, the SCBC’s chief financial officer, released a giving report for January that does not include the $743,757 posted on Jan. 2, 3 and 7.
The report listed receipts of $2,629,594 for Jan. 8-31, 10.7 percent ahead of budgeted needs for the year ($2,375,000) but 3.7 percent shy of the amount received in January of 2012 ($2,731,679).
Austin said he was “excited our January giving was over budget.”
“We are ending strong in 2012 and beginning strong in 2013,” he said.