Cooperative Program gifts received by the South Carolina Baptist Convention continue to run ahead of last year’s pace, according to information released by Pam Carroll, SCBC chief financial officer.

At the three-quarter mark for fiscal 2016, churches had forwarded in excess of $20.5 million to the state convention, putting CP giving more than $200,000 ahead of last year’s pace. However, giving was nearly 4 percent short of budgeted needs for the year.

At the national level, the Southern Baptist Convention ended its fiscal year $9.23 million over its 2015-2016 budgeted goal and $6.57 million over the previous year’s CP gifts, according to Frank S. Page, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee.

“We are thankful for the strategic decisions of many of our state conventions who are forwarding more and more to the national level,” Page said. “We have just finished five years of increase [from the states], only the third period of time in our history when national CP forwarded from the states has reached or exceeded 38.75 percent.”

South Carolina Baptists voted several years ago to increase direct giving to the International Mission Board at a level that emulates what IMB would receive if the SCBC were to split Cooperative Program receipts 50-50 with the SBC. In addition to the convention’s goal of sending a direct gift to IMB each year, the SCBC annual budget currently allocates 41 percent of CP revenue to the SBC.