Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 0.27 percent behind the same time frame in June 2007.
As of June 30, the year-to-date total of $154,556,541 for Cooperative Program missions is $418,465 behind the $154,975,007 received at the same point in 2007. For the month, receipts of $16,154,747 were 9.79 percent, or $1,752,385, behind the $17,907,132 received in June 2007.
Designated giving of $186,503,632 for the same year-to-date period is 0.07 percent, or $131,171, below gifts of $186,634,803 received at this point last year. The $15,922,211 in designated gifts received last month is $9,295,771 below the $25,217,983 received in June 2007, a decrease of 36.86 percent.
For the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget, the year-to-date total of $154,556,541 is 102.73 percent of the $150,451,152 budgeted to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America. The SBC operates on an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year.
During the last fiscal year, Southern Baptists surpassed for the first time the $400 million mark in combined Cooperative Program and designated giving. Gifts through the Cooperative Program by SBC churches reached $205.7 million during the fiscal year spanning Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2007, while designated gifts, including the SBC’s missions offerings, topped $204.9 million. CP gifts increased 2.55 percent during the year, while designated gifts increased 7.09 percent.
The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists’ method of supporting missions and ministry efforts of state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention. It is separate from the Southern Baptist disaster relief fund, of which 100 percent goes to aid the needy in the general public.
The Cooperative Program total includes receipts from individuals, churches, state conventions and fellowships for distribution according to the 2007-08 Cooperative Program allocation budget.
Designated contributions include the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund and other special gifts.