The Cooperative Program

The shared funding engine behind every SBC ministry — how it works, why churches give, and how giving earns a real voice and vote.

What the Cooperative Program is

Before 1925, Southern Baptist agencies each raised money on their own — sending fundraisers to churches and competing for the same dollars. The Cooperative Program (CP), launched in 1925 and championed by pastor M. E. Dodd, replaced that scramble with one unified giving plan. A church gives a single undesignated gift, and that one gift is divided to support state missions, North American missions, international missions, theological education, and more — all at once. The CP marked its 100th anniversary in 2025, and it remains the financial fuel behind nearly everything the SBC does.

How the money flows

CP giving moves in two steps, and understanding both is important:

1.     Church to state convention. Your church sends its undesignated CP gift to its state (or regional) Baptist convention. The state keeps a portion for in-state ministry — evangelism, church planting, disaster relief, children’s homes — and forwards the remainder to the national SBC.

2.    State convention to the national SBC. The forwarded share is then divided among the national SBC entities according to the CP Allocation Budget that messengers approve each year.

The split between state and national is set by each state convention, so it varies. Nationally it has averaged roughly 60 percent kept in the state and about 40 percent forwarded to the SBC — confirm your own state’s current percentages, since they differ.

Where the national share goes (2025–26)

Of the portion that reaches the national SBC, the messenger-approved CP Allocation Budget for 2025–26 distributes the funds as follows:

Two things worth noting for accuracy. First, these percentages apply only to the national share — because the state typically keeps the larger part first, a dollar given in church does not reach the IMB at 50 percent, but at roughly 50 percent of the 40 percent or so that is forwarded. Second, these figures change: for 2026–27 the Executive Committee has approved a budget raising the IMB to 51 percent (with small reductions to the other entities), which goes to messengers for approval at the June 2026 Annual Meeting.

Why churches give — and why it is beneficial

Churches give through the CP because it accomplishes together what no single congregation could do alone. The most commonly cited reasons:

•       It multiplies impact. Pooling resources lets a church of any size help support thousands of missionaries worldwide. Even the largest church could not fund that reach on its own.

•       It frees missionaries to serve. Because the family funds them together, IMB missionaries are fully funded and do not have to raise their own salaries — they give their attention to the field, not to fundraising.

•       It makes every member a missionary. Not everyone is called overseas, but through the CP every member shares in sending and supporting those who are.

•       It trains the next generation of pastors. CP support keeps tuition at the six SBC seminaries roughly 50 percent lower for students from cooperating churches.

•       It is proportional and fair. A small church giving a faithful percentage participates just as meaningfully as a large one — the system honors proportional giving rather than raw dollars.

•       It blesses the giving church in return. Cooperating churches gain access to statewide evangelism and discipleship training and low-cost resources; and eligible pastors whose church gives through the CP and participates in GuideStone’s retirement plan receive added protection benefits, such as disability income and survivor’s protection.

How giving earns a voice — and a vote

This is the part most directly tied to giving. The SBC has no individual memberships and no bound delegates; it acts through messengers — individuals sent by cooperating churches who each cast their own votes at the Annual Meeting. The number of messengers a church may send is set by the SBC Constitution, Article III, and it is tied directly to the church’s giving. Here is the exact, current rule.

First, the church must be “in friendly cooperation”

To be recognized at all, a church must (among the Convention’s standards) have a faith and practice that closely identifies with the Baptist Faith & Message, and must have made an undesignated financial contribution during the preceding fiscal year through the Cooperative Program, through the Executive Committee for Convention causes, or directly to any SBC entity. (The fuller conduct standards are covered in the SBC profile in this hub.)

Then, the messenger formula

A cooperating church is recognized for two (2) messengers automatically. It then earns additional messengers by whichever of these two methods yields the greater number:

•       One additional messenger for each full percent of the church’s undesignated receipts that it contributed in the preceding fiscal year through the CP, the Executive Committee for Convention causes, or directly to any SBC entity; or

•       One additional messenger for each $6,000 the church contributed in the preceding fiscal year through those same channels.

The total is capped at a maximum of twelve (12) messengers from any one church, and each messenger must be a member of the church that appoints them. (A church struck by a natural disaster may keep its prior messenger count for up to three following Annual Meetings.)

Worked examples

3.    A church gives a 10% tithe of its undesignated receipts through the CP. The percent method yields 10 additional messengers; with the base of 2, that reaches the cap of 12 — regardless of the church’s size. A tithing church of any budget can hold full representation.

4.    A larger church gives 3% of a $2,000,000 budget through the CP ($60,000). The percent method gives 3; the dollar method gives $60,000 ÷ $6,000 = 10. The greater applies: 10 additional + 2 = 12, the cap.

5.    A small church gives 8% of a $200,000 budget ($16,000). Percent method: 8 additional. Dollar method: $16,000 ÷ $6,000 = 2. The greater (8) applies: 8 + 2 = 10 messengers.

6.    A small church gives a modest gift of any size. It still qualifies as cooperating and is recognized for the base of 2 messengers — a real seat at the table.

A note on the formula’s history

The current rule dates to 2014, when messengers (meeting in Baltimore) amended Article III. The old formula — one additional messenger for each 250 members or each $250 given, with a maximum of 10 — used a $250 threshold unchanged since 1888. The 2014 update set the base at two messengers, added the “full percent” option, raised the dollar threshold to $6,000 (adjusted from the 1888 figure for inflation), lifted the maximum to 12, and — for the first time in the Convention’s history — named the Cooperative Program in its constitution as the preferred channel of giving.

Two precision points

What this means for you

For a new Slavic church plant, the lesson is practical: begin giving through the Cooperative Program early, even modestly. Doing so funds the very missions, seminaries, and church-planting structures your plant draws on — and it earns your congregation real messengers and real votes at the table where the SBC’s direction and budget are decided. A faithful percentage matters more than a large dollar figure; a tithing church of any size can hold full representation. Giving is how a church both fuels the family’s mission and helps steer it.

In the SBC, the churches that fund the mission are the churches that govern it — and the Cooperative Program is the instrument that joins the two.

The Cooperative Program — an expanded profile within the Slavic Church Planting & Missions Hub. Allocation percentages and budget totals are set yearly by messengers and change; the messenger formula is governed by SBC Constitution Article III. Figures here reflect the 2025–26 budget and the current Article III; confirm at sbc.net/cp and sbc.net (Constitution, Article III) before publishing.