First Baptist Calgary Foundation
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Mission Statement
To provide long-term financial support to the First Baptist Church of Calgary Alberta
About This Cause
What We Do First Baptist Church has cared for the people of Calgary for more than 130 years. By the grace of God, the goal of the FBC Foundation is to ensure that the First Baptist Church can continue to care for Calgarians for many decades, even centuries, more. The FBC Foundation serves to invest donations to produce long-term gains in order to use the proceeds for long-term maintenance of our Calgary historical property and for the continuance of Christ’s ministry in the heart of our great city. As the FBC Foundation provides funding beyond the day-to-day operating expenses of First Baptist Church, we help the church go above and beyond in service to the city. The FBC Foundation and the First Baptist Church of Calgary The First Baptist Calgary Foundation was created to provide long-term financial support to the First Baptist Church of Calgary, Alberta. Donations to the FBC Foundation are used to provide grant funding to the First Baptist Church of Calgary for: (1) capital and other non-routine infrastructure expenditures and (2) specific ministry related projects and expenditures in the areas of Evangelism and Outreach, Christian Education & Leadership Development, Enhanced Worship & Music, and Human Betterment. The only beneficiary of the First Baptist Calgary Foundation is the First Baptist Church Fellowship of Calgary, Alberta (FBC). A gift to the FBC Foundation is ultimately a gift to FBC. However, your gift to the FBC Foundation is handled very differently than your gift to FBC: • Unless a gift is specifically designated to be used as an endowment for a specific purpose, a gift to FBC will be used in due course to fund the day to day operations of the church to accomplish its Mission of: Inviting Faith, Acting in Mercy, and Developing Disciples. These gifts (tithes, offerings, and other gifts) are generally used in the short-term on a dollar-in-dollar-out basis. • When a gift is given to the FBC Foundation, the gift (money) is invested to produce profit over a period of time. The proceeds (profits) resulting from the investment are then used to provide grants to FBC towards specific Infrastructure and Ministry needs. The goal of the FBC Foundation is to provide an average of 5% of the total Foundation funds in grants to FBC annually. So over the course of 20 years, the amount of the original gift is provided to FBC; however, the amount of the original gift still remains in the Foundation fund where it can remain invested to continue providing future grant funding to FBC. The long-term result is that 1 dollar in yields 2+ dollars out. Thus, a gift to the FBC Foundation becomes a perpetual gift to the First Baptist Church. Financial Performance: Since its inception in 2001, the FBC Foundation has provided more than $1,026,000 in grants to the First Baptist Church of Calgary. Founded in 1888, (when the population of Calgary was approximately 500 people), the First Baptist Church of Calgary has long been part of the history of Calgary, and the many generations of its citizens. Construction of the main sanctuary building being used today for worship services was completed in 1912. The external facade of the of the sanctuary includes many of the aesthetically beautiful architectural materials of the day, including substantial amounts of native Alberta sandstone; which today is very expensive to maintain. As the city of Calgary has expanded over time, the First Baptist Church of Calgary has (without moving) gone from being a church south-of-town to being an inner-city church in Calgary’s Beltline community; on several occasions the membership of FBC has decided remain in the inner-city. Over the years FBC has provided outreach to Calgary and beyond. Operation Eyesight Universal was founded in 1963. The Mustard Seed Street Ministry originated as a ministry to the homeless in 1984. As the suburbs of Calgary expanded outward, FBC has had the lead role in planting a dozen new churches and has played a role of assisting another 6 church plants. Current outreach ministries of the church include The Calgary International Learning Centre (an English Language Learning program) and The Open Door Senior Fellowship. Like most churches, the majority of the funding received through regular tithes, offerings and other gifting is used to pay the routine operational expenditures of everyday operations of the First Baptist Church of Calgary: things such as salaries, utility bills, custodial services and general maintenance of the facilities. This can result in the situation where there is insufficient budget remaining to fund the important ministries of the church that are intended to accomplish its Mission of: Inviting Faith, Acting in Mercy, and Developing Disciples. While the historic nature of these heritage facilities provides a beautiful environment in which to worship God and serve the local community, the proper upkeep of these facilities can be daunting: over time there are less trades people available that are artisans skilled to provide repair to things such as external sandstone, stained-glass windows, curved wooden pews, and pipe organs. Unplanned capital expenditures such as boiler or HVAC breakdowns/replacement, or emergency roof repair can be very stressful on the church finances. There are other major projects that have to be put off until they can be afforded, such as repaving a parking lot or updating accessibility to portions of the historic structures. Financial assistance from the FBC Foundation towards these big-ticket items helps allow the church to focus on its core ministry activities.