nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

RELIEF AND ANNUITY BOARD 449
Again, if we should have $30,000,000 within 15 years, that would not mean
that we had received that amount from the churches, institutions, and agencies
of the southern and state conventions and their employees. A large portion
of such an amount would have come from interest compounded on the gathered
funds over the long years, just as our present reserves of approximately $10,
000,000 may thus be accounted for. However, with lowered and possibly still
lower interest rates in the future, these accumulations from investments will
not be as significant as they have been in the past, but still they will be very
material.
Let it be noted that of all the funds which the Relief and Annuity. Board has
in its custody, less than a quarter of a million dollars constitutes its surplus.
All of the funds above that amount are ear marked. These are all sacred trust
funds, and cannot be diverted from their proper use to any other purpose. The
funds accumulated in the several annuity plans, amounting to $8,544,024.71,
will be used exclusively for paying benefits to the members of the plans in which
they have participated.
Now, here is another important matter: While the Southern Baptist Convention
has underwriten the (Old) Annuity Fund, and thus is contractually obbligated
to furnish much of the money to create the necessary reserves to pay
an additional $10,000,000 to the beneficiaries of that fund, the Convention, as
such, has not assumed any contractual financial obligation with reference to the
several new plans which we have inaugurated. All of these plans are financially
sponsored, indeed financially sustained, by the several Convention boards, institutions,
and agencies whose employees hold membership therein and contribute
monthly dues. Likewise, neither of the three individual plans operated by the
Board look to the Southern Baptist Convention for its financial support. The
increased reserves, therefore, which are being built up are from members' dues,
contributions from the employing agencies, and the interest additions added
thereto. It will, of course, be understood that the Relief and Annuity Board has
not made any of these contracts independently of the Convention. Every
certificate which it has issued stipulated that, "Pursuant to the authority of the
Southern Baptist Convention, the Relief and Annuity Board issues this Certificate
of participation," etc. Under section one of this report, we have sought
to make it clear that all the plans which the Board has operated have been
started under the authority vested in it by the Convention. In making many
contracts with state and southern convention boards, institutions, and agencies,
and with their employees, we have not lost sight of the fact that much of the
money received has been denominationally provided, and though the funds have
not come through the Cooperative Program, still these funds have come largely
from the sources which are integrated with the Cooperative Program. It should
also be understood that these funds which we are collecting from boards, agencies,
and institutions of southern and state conventions, constitute the minimum
requirements for the building of the reserves actuarially computed as necessary.
While making these contracts with the agencies of the state convention and
the Southern Baptist Convention, this Board must claim its birthright, i.e, its
claim to the right of participation in the distribution of funds raised under the
auspices of the Southern Baptist Convention. This was recognized by the
Executive Committee of the Convention when it appointed a special committee
on survey. This committee did not omit to come, to Dallas and inquire of the
Relief and Annuity Board concerning its capital needs. These needs, after most
careful consideration by the committee, were recognized, and $3,000,000 of the
$5,000,000 asked for was recommended for the use of the Board.
The Relief and Annuity Board will use this fund to stabilize all of its work;
to make sure full interest credits to its several reserve funds; to help in meeting
its cost of administration; and to enable it to meet economic conditions and
situations which cannot now be accurately forecast.
We cannot properly compare the work of the Relief and Annuity Board
with banks and trust companies or insurance companies, but just as these institutions
know that surplus funds are necessary to insure their financial soundness
and to safeguard them in time of depression, so the Relief and Annuity
Board sorely needs the added strength which a worthy surplus fund would give
it.
of agencies $100,000 Now, of of the for a proposed Convention, the use $3,000,000 of the Relief Executive to and be raised Annuity Committee in Board. 1946 provided for The distribution only reason a token assigned
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