CP: 2.22% ahead of last year

Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 2.22 percent ahead of the same time frame in 2006.

As of May 31, the year-to-date total of $137,067,874 for Cooperative Program missions is $2,975,905 ahead of the $134,091,968 received at the same point in 2006. For the month, receipts of $16,429,108 were 0.41 percent, or $67,194, below the $16,496,303 received in May 2006.

Designated giving of $161,416,820 for the same year-to-date period is 9.23 percent, or $13,635,224, above gifts of $147,781,595 received at this point last year. The $18,302,195 in designated gifts received last month is $2,393,272 above the $15,908,923 received in May 2006, an increase of 15.04 percent.

For the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget, the year-to-date total of $137,067,874 is 104.93 percent of the $130,632,281 budgeted to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America. The SBC operates on an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year.

During the SBC’s last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, Cooperative Program gifts topped the $200-million mark for the first time. — BP