By Rickey Letson Many congregations today are confused by whether they need 501(c)(3) status. This confusion comes through what they hear on the news, are told by denominational partners or as a result of advice they receive from people inside and outside of their church. To clear up the confusion, we talked with Jason Cogdill, … Continue reading
By Rickey LetsonCBF Congregational Stewardship Officer When I was pastoring, our church embarked on a significant capital campaign to fund much-needed improvements to our facility. In the process, our leadership felt that we should tithe on gifts to the campaign and thus trust that 90 percent of the funds received would be sufficient for our … Continue reading
By Shauw Chin CappsCBF Foundation President Endowments ─ Blessing or Curse? The answer is it depends. I have heard a spectrum of answers from pastors and ministers on this topic. I have heard horror stories and hopeful stories. In both cases, there are common themes for when endowments are blessings and when they are curses. … Continue reading
By Rickey Letson A dear friend shared a box of books with me recently. He is at the end of his professional career and had been doing some cleaning and down-sizing. In the process, he had gathered some items from his library that he thought I might like to have. As I thumbed through the box, one … Continue reading
By Shauw Chin Capps CBF Foundation began in 1994 with the goals of stewarding funds for CBF Global, CBF state and regional organizations, CBF partner churches and partner organizations. Presently, we are proud to have more than $62 million under management. Both CBF and CBF Foundation exist out of a deep desire to partner with … Continue reading
By James Jordan The Merriam-WebsterDictionary defines transparent as “free from pretense or deceit: frank; easily detected or seen through: obvious; readily understood and characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices.” What does transparency of financial matters have to do with a church? Everything. People join organizations they perceive are successful. They leave them because of … Continue reading
By James Jordan, CPA When it comes to church transparency, a needed practice for congregations to prioritize is a regular audit. An important first step for many ministers and churches when considering an audit is simply learning what is meant by the term as well as understanding how a proper audit is carried out. An … Continue reading
By Rickey Letson, CBF Congregational Stewardship Officer My wife and I had our annual financial review recently. Our advisor has worked with us for years and the hour-long meeting had a very natural, conversational tone to it. Over the course of the call, we moved between three major topics. We started by discussing our careers, current salaries … Continue reading
By Rickey Letson, CBF Congregational Stewardship Officer When I was a pastor, I always dreaded seeing the January church financial report. The first month of the year was almost always our worst month from a giving perspective. In our church, only July rivaled January for the top spot in the list of low giving months. Each … Continue reading
By Shauw Chin Capps, CBF Chief Development Officer & CBF Foundation President While getting a tax deduction is not the sole motivation for most people who give to their church, research suggests that it has always been an important factor for all types of charitable giving. If we can create a win-win for both the church … Continue reading