About CBF Foundation

 

Our Vision:

To perpetually fund the work of the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandment.

Our Mission:

To work alongside individuals, churches and organizations to cultivate, receive, invest and steward long-term sustaining assets and legacy gifts to support CBF mission and ministry causes.

What We Do:

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) Foundation is a vehicle for giving, not a destination for gifts. You know where you are going. We want to be your partner in achieving your dreams.

The CBF Foundation exists to raise and manage long term funds for CBF strategic initiatives and CBF partner organizations and churches. The Foundation is an autonomous organization, closely linked to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, but has a separate non-profit status governed by a separate Board of Trustees. This separation is for the purpose of ensuring integrity and protecting the assets it manages.

CBF Foundation provides two kinds of services – services for individuals and services for churches and ministry organizations. Whether you are an individual or a representative of a church or ministry organization, we invite you to take a closer look at CBF Foundation. We want to be a partner with you as you seek to fulfill your God-given mission.

Your Dreams…

Because the CBF Foundation exists to raise endowments and offer endowment management and promotional services for all ministries of CBF and its partners (including your local church), we can work with you to accomplish your goals no matter where your passion for ministry lies. Regardless of which CBF initiative, or CBF partner ministry organization you wish to support – whether it’s a ministry within the life of your church, ministries for racial reconciliation and justice, congregational leadership development, scholarships for theological education, global missions, a free Baptist press, separation of church and state, collegiate ministry and young Baptist eco systems, global issues affecting women – we can help you plan permanent financial support for that ministry… beginning today.

Our Core Values:

• Christ-centered
The foundation of our work is Jesus Christ. CBF Foundation holds to the values of our Baptist principles around freedom, diversity and equality. We protect these values when managing your funds and we make sure that your charitable gifts are stewarded in ways in line with these core Baptist beliefs.

• Collaboration
As cooperative Baptist, our work at the Foundation is one that seeks collaboration with our churches, organizations and individuals to further the mission of God in the world. We listen to your needs, your wishes, your dreams, and will work with you to meet the goals you have for your funds/gifts.

• Commitment to Excellence
We strive to be excellent in what we do. That means that integrity, transparency, accountability and humility are important to us. It also means that we value feedback and will be perpetual learners to improve our services.

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Services to Individuals

 

CBF Foundation: The Community Foundation for the CBF Community

The CBF Foundation offers individuals a way to express their generosity and their desire to provide for the future of CBF’s missions and ministries. Whether you want to establish an endowment for CBF, your church, or a CBF ministry partner, we can work with you to create and manage the fund.

 

• Legacy Gift
Contrary to popular beliefs, leaving a legacy gift is something most of us can do. Many of us are not able to make a substantial gift to the causes we believe in now. However, when we die, we will no longer need the income or our estate. This is often the time that an individual is able to give a substantial gift even after they take care of the needs of their surviving loved ones. If the work of CBF is important to you, you can be a legacy giver and CBF Foundation can help you choose the best vehicle to make that gift. It can be as simple as leaving CBF in your will — a process that is simpler than ever through our partnership with FreeWill, which can help you create your free will and legacy gift in 20 minutes online, at no cost.


 
 

You can also create a gift through a Charitable Remainder Unit Trust that can provide income through your lifetime while benefiting CBF. Your gift can be set up as an endowment that will provide long term support to the work of CBF. CBF Foundation can provide a sample bequest language for your attorney.


Frequently Asked Questions

 
1What is a bequest?
A bequest, which is a type of planned gift, is a percentage or amount of your estate that you can designate to support a charitable cause beyond your lifetime. Many visionary donors have chosen to include charitable bequests to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation in their will or trust.
2What are the benefits of including a planned gift in my will?
Your planned gift doesn’t cost you a cent today, but it will have a major future impact on our work to turn faith into meaningful action around the world. This is one of the most powerful ways to donate: no matter your age or current circumstances, anyone can make this commitment today for the missions and ministries of tomorrow.
3What if I do not have a will?
If you don’t have an estate plan in place, you’re not alone: 70% of Americans do not have an up-to-date will. However, creating your will an essential step to support the people and causes you love. It ensures that your wishes are known, saves your loved ones the stress and cost of probate proceedings, and lets you (and not the government) decide where your property goes. And creating a will doesn’t have to be costly or complicated — in fact, we have partnered with FreeWill​ to make it easy and completely free.
4What is FreeWill?
FreeWill is a team of 60+ engineers, lawyers, designers, nonprofit experts, and more who are dedicated to making estate planning more accessible — and have raised $2B in planned gifts — through their f​ree will-writing tool.​ Through this online platform, you can join the 185,000 others who have created their legal wills in under 20 minutes, at zero cost. All you have to do is answer simple questions about you and your wishes. Once you’re finished, you will receive a document to download, print, and sign. Your final will is valid in all 50 states.
5I already have a will. Can I use FreeWill to update it and create my bequest?
Yes, you can! To do so, simply create and execute a new will using FreeWill, and destroy the earlier version
6What if I have a complex or large estate?
FreeWill can still help — even if you’d prefer to finalize your will with an attorney! At the end of your will-making process, you’ll get a set of your documented wishes that may save you time and money with your lawyer.
7Can FreeWill help me with other types of estate planning?
Absolutely — estate plans encompass much more than a legally valid will! FreeWill can also help you with two other types of estate planning: Please note that even with the above plans in place, you still need to have a will or trust. While these cover financial or medical decisions should you be unable to make them during your lifetime, while a will or trust covers how you would like your belongings to be distributed beyond your lifetime.
8Where can I get started?
Are you ready to protect your loved ones while making a powerful commitment to renew God’s world?

Begin your faithful legacy today


Legacy Gift Guide

 

We have a handy Legacy Gift Guide available for download. To receive your free copy, please fill out the form below.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

• Fellowship Heritage Society
The Fellowship Heritage Society celebrates generosity! The society is made up of all individuals who have informed us that they will be including CBF, CBF Foundation, and/or a CBF partner in their estate plans. The Fellowship Heritage Society gathers annually at CBF’s General Assembly. If you are interested in hearing stories of passionate ministry made possible through the generosity of long-term giving, come join us for this annual event. There is no business, just celebration!

• Endowment Fund
You can turn an inheritance or a substantial cash gift into an endowment fund to support CBF ministry and mission causes that are important to you. An endowment fund is also a great way to honor or memorialize an important person/mentor in your life. Endowments are a helpful way to provide support for permanent ministry needs. CBF Foundation can help you set up an endowment fund that matches your passion, as well as crafting the parameters of the fund usage in such a way that allows for flexibility to accommodate changes to the ministry over time.

 

  1. You make a gift to establish the fund. That gift may come in many forms: cash, appreciated stock, real estate, life insurance, or some other asset of value. Or, you may convert a donor advised fund to a permanent endowment.
  2. The money used to create an endowment, referred to as principal, is prudently and strategically invested for long-term growth and income.
  3. Your permanent endowment will make annual distributions to support the CBF ministry or causes you’ve identified. For example, you could fund: CBF general operations, Global Missions, scholarships for young Baptists, racial equity and justice work, rural poverty, advocacy, chaplaincy, etc. You decide.

Most endowments have a predetermined annual payout rate, which is calculated as a percentage of the value of the principal. A good, general rule is that an endowment can provide an amount of annual income equal to about four to five percent (4-5%) of its principal value.


Frequently Asked Questions

 
1How do I set up an endowment?
If you are passionate about a particular ministry of CBF, your church, or a CBF partner, and you want to help provide permanent financial support for that ministry, the first step to setting up and endowment is to talk with a CBF Foundation staff member. We will work with you to establish an Endowment Fund Agreement and assist you with the transfer of the assets you are considering using to fund the endowment.
2What kinds of ministries can be supported by endowments?
Endowments are designed to be permanent sources of financial support for ministry. Any ministry which is permanent can be endowed. Ministries which are short term, or temporary in nature should not be endowed. For example, it would be appropriate to establish an endowment for field personnel support in general because CBF will always be involved in supporting missions. However, it would not be appropriate to establish an endowment to support a specific missions field worker because all field personnel will eventually end their individual service.
3How much money does it take to start an endowment?
Currently an endowment can be started for any amount. CBF Foundation does not give public name recognition for endowments until they reach a principal value of $20,000. It is common for donors to establish an endowment with regular annual gifts during life while also making plans to complete the funding of the endowment with a bequest, or other planned gift as a part or their estate plans.
4How can endowments be funded?
Nearly any asset of value may be used to fund an endowment as long as that asset may be sold and converted to cash and invested to produce income. Endowments are funded with outright gifts of cash or other assets such as; stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, valuable collectables, or “paid up” life insurance. In addition to outright gifts of current assets, endowments may be funded by making a gift in one’s last will and testament (a bequest) or by establishing a planned gift, which provides lifetime income to the donor such as a Charitable Remainder Trust or a Charitable Gift Annuity, or a Life Estate gift of one’s home while still living in it.
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Services to Churches and Ministry Organizations

 

The wellbeing of our churches and ministry organizations is tied to their abilities to accomplish their mission. That means that sustainability of the institution and organization is critical. In short, “no money, no mission”. At CBF Foundation, we walk alongside CBF partner churches and organizations to support their mission by providing a way for them to invest in their future.

The CBF Foundation offers account administration, investment and fund management, and endowment fund promotion services to churches and CBF ministry partners. Whether your fund is a scholarship fund, building fund, cemetery fund, ministry fund, or just an operating reserve, we offer a variety of prudent investment vehicles.

We provide monthly accounting statements, quarterly investment performance summaries, and can help establish and administer planned gifts with your donors to benefit your organization.

Endowment Promotion Services

Because endowments are so significant, the CBF Foundation provides specific promotion services such as:

  • Offer private consultation and workshops on endowment promotion strategies
  • Conduct seminars on the importance of endowments and how churches and organizations use them to support missions and ministry
  • Lead seminars on giving through bequests in wills, charitable gift annuities, and charitable trusts
  • Assist with direct donor solicitation
  • Help find trustworthy professional advisors for your donors

Fund Management Services

The CBF Foundation in partnership with HighGround Advisors, offers a full range of investment options specifically designed for churches or ministry organizations. Whether you intend to use all of your funds in less than a year or keep the principal invested permanently, we have a fund or combination of funds that will meet your needs.

  • Assist in developing endowment asset allocation and spending policies
  • Administer charitable gift annuities and charitable trusts
  • Report on investment performance in monthly account statements
  • Distribute endowment income according to organizational needs
  • Monitor preservation of endowment principal

Legacy Conversation Video

 

 
This 20 minute-video is helpful to introduce members of your church who may be considering leaving a legacy/planned gift for your church. It provides helpful information about legacy giving – what it is, why having a will is so important, what the different types of giving instruments are, what an endowment is, and important things to consider when making a legacy/planned gift.
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Meet the Foundation Staff

 

Shauw Chin Capps
Foundation President & Chief Development Officer
scapps@cbf.net
770-220-1622

Shauw Chin stepped into the role of president of the Foundation and CBF’s Chief Legacy Officer in March 2020 after a nation-wide search. She is not a stranger to CBF life as Shauw Chin has served on CBF’s Governing Board and as the Moderator in 2017/2018. She is also no stranger to Baptist life as her faith journey started as a result of the faithful work of Baptist missionaries in Singapore. She is married to Paul Capps, an ordained Baptist minister working at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. They have two daughters, Phoebe and Lydia.

Shauw Chin is a Baylor graduate and received her Master of Social Work degree from the Carver School of Church Social Work at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She was in the last graduating class at Carver. Shauw Chin spent over twenty years in the non-profit world as a social worker working with abused women and children. Fifteen plus of those years she was the CEO of Hopeful Horizons in Beaufort, South Carolina, a Children’s Advocacy, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center. She brings her organizational leadership, fund development and management expertise along with her love for her CBF family to the Foundation.

 

Leslie Brogdon
Director of Operations
770-220-1648
lbrogdon@cbf.net

Leslie joined the Foundation as the Director of Operations in August 2021. She brings eight years of operations experience as the previous Director of Operations at a digital marketing agency. She is also an ordained minister most recently serving as the Minister to Families at Peachtree Baptist Church. She has worked in the non-profit sector as the Executive Director of the YMCA, as a case manager for foster children, and running social media for various organizations.

Leslie is, at her core, a problem-solver—whether it’s managing the growing pains encountered by the "unprecedented times" of COVID-19 or handling the minor crises of day-to-day operations, she is always up for a challenge. Even Leslie’s hobbies revolve around problem-solving: She is a board game enthusiast and loves to attend board game conferences. She lives in Decatur with her two young children.

CBF Foundation     |     888-322-3018     |     160 Clairemont Avenue, Suite 500, Decatur, GA 30030