DESIGNATED 
 
 GIFTS 
 
 THE BUDGET AND THE 
 APPORTIONMENT 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST 
 FOREIGN MISSION SOCIETY 
 BOSTON 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2019 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/designatedgiftsbOOamer 
 
DESIGNATED GIFTS 
 
 THE BUDGET AND THE 
 APPORTIONMENT 
 
 “ Designated Gifts” is a term used 
 by the Foreign Mission Society to 
 include all contributions for the work 
 of the Society whose uses are “designated” by 
 the donors. Such gifts are sometimes called 
 “Specifics,” or “Specific Donations.” There are 
 two general classes of designated gifts: 
 
 1. Gifts designated for work scheduled in the 
 annual budget of the Society. 
 
 '2. Gifts designated for work not scheduled in 
 the annual budget of the Society — for items 
 outside or in excess of the budget. These are 
 technically known as “Specific Donations.” 
 
 Class 1: Gifts desig7iated for ivork schedided hi 
 the annual budget of the Society. 
 
 The Regular 
 Budget includes 
 Salaries of Mis¬ 
 sionaries and 
 Native Evange¬ 
 lists, School 
 Equipment, etc. 
 
 By such a gift it is possible for any 
 individual, church, Sunday school, 
 young people’s society, or other 
 organization to contribute definitely 
 to the payment, either in whole or 
 in part, of any one or more of the 
 3 
 
luiiidrcds of itcMiis in tlie hudoel: for exanij)l(.‘, 
 the salary of a nilssionarv, Ids outfit, Ids tcaielier, 
 the cost of re|)airing his lioiise, ete. 
 
 If a gift of this eharaeter is eonteni])lat(‘d it is 
 strongly advised that it he made under what is 
 ealled the “Station Plan.’’ This plan is fully 
 deserihed in a small leaflet that ean he had on 
 ap])lieation. All contrihutions in this class may 
 he counted on the ehureh’s ai)j)ortionment since 
 it was in atitieipation of the reeei])t of these eon- 
 trihutions that the hudget was made uj). 
 
 Class ‘'2; (lifts desigtiafed for irorh not scheduled 
 in the annnni budget of the Societjf—for items 
 outside or in excess of the budget. 
 
 In regard to this class of gifts 
 
 There are press¬ 
 ing needs for 
 Large Sums 
 outside the 
 Regular Budget 
 
 it will he noted: 
 
 1. That they cannot api)ly on the 
 ai)portionment of a local church for 
 the reason mentioned above. It is 
 
 obvious that only those gifts which can he ex¬ 
 pended for objects within the hudget can have 
 relation to the a])portionment. 
 
 'i. A careful study of the regular receijds from 
 the churches for the past one hundred years makes 
 clear the fact that the average annual increase 
 from this source is so small that if this were the 
 only de})endence the })rogress of the work would 
 he very slow. 
 
 3. Contrihutions for work not ])rovided for in 
 the hudget are very greatly needed. There are 
 
 4 
 
iiijiny importaivl things to be done: additional 
 work to be undertaken; l)uilding’s to be ereeted; 
 enterprises to be established or reenforced, that 
 involve hundreds of thousands of dollars of 
 ex{)enditures which cannot be included in the 
 budget. For these objects extra, designated 
 donations in sums ranging from $100 to $50,000 
 are solicited. Practically all the larger mis- 
 sionarv societies of other denominations are 
 compelled to depend entirely upon this class of 
 gifts for their buildings, and a comparison of 
 figures shows that most of these organizations 
 are expending more for this part of their work 
 than we are. Lists containing needs and oppor¬ 
 tunities for investment that have been formally 
 approved by the missionaries and by the Board 
 are available upon application. 
 
 4. This form of gift should not be made if 
 it means a lessened gift towards the appor¬ 
 tionment. That would be taking from the sup¬ 
 port of that which is recognized as an absolutely 
 essential part of the work to pay for something 
 outside the budget and hence of less importance. 
 This practise is not business-like or safe. It 
 threatens the actual support of the missionaries 
 and the work already being done. 
 
 BUDGET 
 
 In order that the foregoing may be made very 
 clear a brief discussion of the “budget” and the 
 “apportionment” is added here. 
 
 .s 
 
What is a 
 Budget? 
 
 A budget is a term common in 
 business and means simi)ly a list of 
 proposed ex})enditures over against 
 a si)ecified i)robable income. A budget is not 
 an api)ortionment as will be explained later. 
 The budget of the Foreign Mission Society is 
 made out annually in December. It contains 
 more than a thousand items, ddie first group of 
 these items consumes thirty ])er cent, of the 
 total budget and covers items of ])ersonal supj)ort 
 such as the salaries of the missionaries. These 
 are matters of contract and are estimated ac¬ 
 cording to fixed rules. A reduction of the amount 
 
 FROM 
 
 FROM 
 
 to 
 
 So 
 
 zO 
 
 FROM 
 
 LEGACIES 
 
 INCOME 
 
 •3:9. 
 
 INDIVIDUALS 
 
 a MATURED 
 
 OF 
 
 1.1 e; 
 
 (Oi/) 
 
 OUTSIDE APPORTIONM 
 
 ANNUITIES 
 
 $115,000. 
 
 FUNDS 
 
 $64,000. 
 
 ZQ: 
 
 OO 
 
 crO 
 
 U-tO 
 
 $300,000. 
 
 The length of the above horizontal line represents a totiil 
 prospective income for the year lhl4-l!)l.) of and pro¬ 
 
 posed expenditures of exactly the same amount. See page 19. 
 
 for anv of them could not be made without 
 
 t 
 
 violation of contract. 
 
 The ap})ropriations for the work 
 
 How the Society tbe missionaries and the care of 
 liecides What 
 
 to Spend pro])erty are determined as follows: 
 
 6 
 
1. Each missionary on the field fills out a 
 specially [)repared blank in which he itemizes his 
 needs for the next fiscal year. 
 
 ‘2, This blank, filled in, is forwarded to the 
 Reference Committee of his mission (for example, 
 Rnrina, Assam, etc.) for review, alteration and 
 endorsement. 
 
 3. The Reference Committee forwards the 
 estimates of all the missionaries to the Rooms 
 in Boston with their recommendation on each 
 item for each missionary. 
 
 4. To the items mentioned in the foregoing is 
 
 FROM 
 
 CHURCHES,YOUNG PEOPLES SOCIETIES 
 AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS 
 "THE APPORTIONMENT” 
 $472,000. 
 
 The spaces in the line represent graphically the relative 
 proportion of the amounts received from the five general 
 sources indicated. 
 
 added the amount deemed necessary for the 
 
 t. 
 
 development and maintenance of missionary 
 interest in the churches at home, the adminis¬ 
 tration of the work, the expense of the homes for 
 missionaries’ children, the care of aged and 
 infirm missionaries, etc. 
 
 7 
 
5. A c()iul)inati()ii of all tliese |)roi)()se(l expen¬ 
 ditures oil the one side and a detailed state¬ 
 ment of the prospective income on the other 
 constitutes the budget which is formally approved 
 by the Board of Managers. 
 
 0. This budget is then sent to the Finance 
 Committee of the Northern Ihiptist (’onvention 
 whose members scrutinize it carefully and invite 
 representatives of the Society to meet with them 
 for a frank discussion of its ])rovisions. 
 
 7. After any necessary revision the Finance 
 Committee incor})orates this budget with the 
 budgets of the other societies, similarly prepared, 
 into a joint budget for presentation to the Con¬ 
 vention at the annual meeting. 
 
 8. The Convention approves the joint budget 
 and by that action authorizes the several socie¬ 
 ties to expend the full amounts mentioned in 
 their budgets. It is interesting to note that 
 in no year since the organization of the ('on- 
 vention did the Foreign Mission Society expend 
 the full amount authorized by the convention 
 but effected a considerable saving each year, 
 not including amounts received as designated 
 gifts. 
 
 These details are dwelt upon for the ])urj)Ose 
 of emphasizing three ])oints; 
 
 1. That in the ])reparation of the budget 
 every known fact is taken into consideration, 
 
 8 
 
the result representing the eoinbined indgnient 
 of all who have assisted in its j)rodnction. While 
 it is made np in a modern, business-like manner, 
 sympathy, faith and courage actuate all who are 
 related to it. Obviously it is not always possible 
 to grant all the recpiests of the missionaries. The 
 actual needs of the work are always greater than 
 the resources at the command of the Board. 
 The process outlined above, however, probably 
 comes as near to securing wise and ecpiitable 
 distribution of the funds available as can be 
 devised. 
 
 '2. The expenditure side of the budget as 
 finally agreed upon, provides for a total outlay 
 equal to the probable income carefully estimated. 
 If it is unwise for an individual to expend, or 
 plan to expend, in a given year more than he is 
 likely to receive during that year, it is even more 
 wrong for a missionary society or a denomina¬ 
 tion to do so. Faith may still anticipate increased 
 offerings but Christian prudence will not exy^end 
 them until they are in the treasury. This ])rin- 
 ciple does not limit income but ])rovides that 
 expenditures shall not exceed a given sum until 
 a larger income may reasonably be expected. 
 
 3. The first obligation, therefore, of each church 
 and of each individual donor is to help meet the 
 regular budget as ap])roved by the Convention. 
 That is the only sure way to prevent debt and 
 possible curtailment of the work. 
 
 9 
 
THE APPORTIONMENT 
 
 To make a budget, however earet'ully, is one 
 tiling’; to seeure tlie money to meet it is (jiiite 
 another tiling. The sources of tlie income of 
 the Foreign ^lission Society are grajilheally 
 illustrated in the diagram shown on jiages (i 
 and 7, the figures used being those for tlu‘ fiscal 
 year 1914-1915. It was estimated that apjiroxi- 
 matelv tlie amounts named would be received 
 
 t 
 
 from the sources indicated. On that basis the 
 expenditure of the total prospective income is 
 planned, the budget being fixed at this exact 
 amount. 
 
 From the above it is perfectly clear 
 The Apportion- . . * . .1 
 
 ment represents that the a])poitionment is not the 
 
 only a part of })udget, but the fact is also revealed 
 the Proposed , , . . • i • 1 
 
 Expenditures that the ai)i)ortionnient is designed 
 
 to provide only a relatively small proportion of 
 
 the monev needed to meet the budget. In no 
 
 vear since the organization of the Xorthern 
 
 Baptist Convention have the chnrches met 
 
 their full a])portionnient, as will be seen from 
 
 the following figures taken from the Society’s 
 
 Annual Reiiort of 1919, jiage K). 
 
 Years 
 
 Anticipated on 
 .Apportionment 
 
 Iteeeived on 
 Apportionment 
 
 1908-09 
 
 $042,000.00 
 
 $350,819.93 
 
 1909-10 
 
 531,270.00 
 
 357,549.35 
 
 1910-11 
 
 503.454.04 
 
 373,818.33 
 
 1911-P2 
 
 522,384.92 
 
 375,000.97 
 
 1912-13 
 
 513,807.22 
 
 427,009.90 
 
 1913-14 
 
 402,110.05 
 
 10 
 
 381,509.()3 
 
It sonu'tinu's liap|)(Mis lliat receipts from otlier 
 sourc’cs, e.g., Ici’aeies, exceed the ainoiint esti¬ 
 mated. ddiis surplus has more than oiiee supplied 
 the detieieuey in the amouut received from the 
 ehurehes and saved the Society from debt. 
 
 IN CONCLUSION 
 
 Designated gifts have always constituted more 
 or less of a problem. This pamphlet is the out¬ 
 come of one hundred years of experience of this 
 and many other societies, and has been prepared 
 with a view to help those who desire to make 
 such gifts toward special objects either within or 
 without the budget. It is important to call at¬ 
 tention to the fact that the budget of a million 
 dollars is itself just as concrete as any one of 
 its constituent items, e.g., the support of a native 
 worker or the cost of a building. An ordinary 
 contribution, therefore, undesignated, accom¬ 
 plishes a very definite purpose in helping meet 
 the total budget. 
 
 Coo])eration in the selection of the objects to 
 which gifts may be designated is very desirable. 
 Correspondence therefore is earnestly solicited, 
 if possible before selections are made. Letters 
 addressed to any one of the District Secretaries 
 of the Society or to the Home Secretary in Boston 
 will receive prompt attention. From these also 
 may be obtained copies of the pamphlets, “Station 
 Plan,” the lists of “Needs and Opportunities” 
 and other literature relating to this subject and 
 to the work in general. 
 
 It 
 
i >R additional literature or other in- 
 
 formation regarding the nvork oj the 
 American Baptiit Foreign Mission Society, 
 •ivrite to any of the folton.vin^: — 
 
 I. The nearest District Secretary. 
 
 J. Department of Missionary Edu¬ 
 cation, 2J East 26th Street, AV-ic York 
 City. 
 
 j. I.iterature Department, Box 41, 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 )07K-5M-11-6.14 
 
 12