South Carolina WMU

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
570362065
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2018
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2018
Location
Columbia, SC, USA
Phone
8032276205
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,898,735
Expenses
$2,698,344
Assets
$8,001,543
Liabilities
$2,089,121

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

47 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Pam Plunett (President & Board Chair)
  • Angela Meade (Vice President)
  • Anita Moore (Vice President (part year))
  • Brenda Pettus (Vice President)
  • Carol Scherer (Vice President (part year))
  • Cheryl Bannister (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Laurie Register (Executive Director-Treasurer): $112,240 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to South Carolina Baptist Convention exists to empower churches and believers to participate in the Great Commission; to equip church members to discover and live out their missions call. Missionary Parents Fellowship exists to offer mutual support for parents and prayer support for missionary children around the world. _South Carolina Missionary Parents Fellowship is open to all persons living in South Carolina who have a child or children who are serving as either mid-term or long-term missionaries with the International Mission Board._ CONNECT WITH US. Missions discipleship for children in grades 1st-6th is offered by Woman’s Missionary Union® through Girls in Action®, Children in Action®, and Royal Ambassadors®. South Carolina Baptist Convention supports Royal Ambassadors, a missions discipleship group for boys in grades 1-6. South Carolina WMU...

What it reported doing in 2018

State Missions Offering: Janie Chapman Offering For State Missions, Missions Education, And Great Commission Living.In 1884 members of Baptist Woman's Missionary Societies of South Carolina gave $70.34 to the State Mission Board and marked their beginning of state missions support. Four years later, at the request of the Executive Board of the state convention, they agreed for $300 a year to fund the Cannon Street Mission in Charleston. In 1891 the salary for a missionary was added. (continued on Schedule O)Thirty-five years before the Cooperative Program (the unified system for funding Baptist missions causes) was begun, the societies' Central Committee voted to give one tenth of all undesignated money received to state missions but that was not enough. On Wednesday, November 30, 1899 at the annual meeting of Woman's Missions Societies of the Baptist Denomination in South Carolina, the members voted to establish the first state missions offering. The first offering, in the amount of $235, was received in September 1900. State missions referred to the total scope of the work of the Convention at the turn of the century. Eight years later, in 1908, a Season of Prayer was begun. The eight day observance for the Season of Prayer began in 1987.In 1902, the women's organization changed her name to Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to South Carolina Baptist Convention. The first president was Janie Weston Chapman, wife of a prominent upstate pastor, J.D. Chapman. In 1937, WMU's state missions offering was named "The Mrs. J.D. Chapman Offering for State Interests" to honor Mrs. Chapman's strong missions leadership. In 1985, the name was changed to the "Janie Chapman Offering." In 1995 the subtitle "for State Missions, Missions Education, and Empowering Kingdom Growth" was added. Now the offering subtitle changes to reflect the current SCBC emphasis. The state missions portion of the offering ($5,000 of $20,000) was first dispensed through the office of the General Board in 1946. Twelve years later, Missions Department allocations were administered by the General Board of the Baptist Convention. In 1969, the South Carolina Baptist Convention began serving as the receiving agent of WMU for all money given to the Mrs. J. D. Chapman Offering for State Interests. Monies received for the offering are transferred to WMU monthly. In 2009 the offering totaled $1,814.913.39. An additional $3,368.96 was received from interest. The monies collected in 2009 were distributed in 2010 in accordance with the budget allocations recommended by the WMU Finance Committee and approved by the WMU Executive Board. Allocation and distribution information is available each year in the state missions materials and at other times upon request.The permanent logo of South Carolina Woman's Missionary Union's Janie Chapman Offering for State Missions, Missions Education and Great Commission Living appropriately combines symbols of WMU and South Carolina.The torch, which gives the logo its defining focus, was taken from the permanent insignia of Woman's Missionary Union. It symbolizes the taking of Christ, the light of the world, to the world. Placed within the outline of South Carolina, it symbolizes the task of all South Carolina Baptists to take that same light to South Carolina. The double fish head, which provides a shield upon which the torch and the state are placed, also comes from the WMU insignia. Early Christians used this sign to assure fellow believers that they were followers of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior (the first letters of which in Greek form the word fish). Here it reminds us that, like those early Christians, we are to be imitators of Christ and take to our state God's message of salvation and hope.From January 1 - December 31, 2018, $1,761,912.93 was given to the Janie Chapman Offering. This represents a increase of 7.04% or $115,810.68 more than the 2017 receipts. A check for $1,110,000.00 was sent to the South Carolina Baptist Conventi

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The required major-donor schedule is missing or incomplete and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.9%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $141.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.9%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.97; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 75.9% of revenue deployed · 79.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 34 of 34 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $112K · 47 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2018
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.