Spotlight on our Spool: Larry Hovis of CBF North Carolina
A conversation with Larry Hovis, Executive Coordinator of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC) is a fellowship of individuals and churches partnering in ministry so that all people may know and believe that they and those around them are loved by God.
As CBFNC approaches their 30th anniversary in 2024, they recognized a need and an opportunity to celebrate the anniversary by asking long-time supporters to include the organization in their estate plans. In this Spotlight on our Spool, we are delighted to introduce Larry Hovis, Executive Coordinator, to share his experience and advice in getting started with planned giving.
Thread: Why is starting a planned giving program a priority for CBFNC right now?
Larry: Our organization will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year. We have been fortunate to receive a few bequests through the years, but we had no intentional process for cultivating these gifts. With our founding generation passing on, we decided that the time was right to start a formal planned giving program to meet this generation and those after them.
Thread: You are currently in the process of building out your planned giving program. What resources have been helpful to you and the CBFNC team in this process?
Larry: Our staff and volunteer leadership had started a discussion about a planned giving program but we weren’t at all sure of how to do it. We spoke with some potential resource people in our network but didn’t find anyone who could provide the level of assistance we needed. When Thread announced the launch of their planned giving coaching program, it sounded like a gift from above! The weekly coaching sessions were extremely helpful in getting us “unstuck” in our efforts to develop our program. These sessions, the homework between sessions, and Thread’s feedback provided the resources we needed to develop our program.
Thread: What are some of the challenges you have faced or that you anticipate in building and launching your planned giving program?
Larry: We developed a wonderful plan for our program that I believe will bear fruit. The biggest challenge we are facing is finding the time to execute our plan. As chief executive, I play a primary role in developing our program and there are many other demands on my time.
Thread: How does CBFNC plan to use realized planned gifts to advance your mission?
Larry: We will use funds generated from this program to build our endowment, which will advance our mission for the long-term.
Thread: What are your plans for launching your planned giving program? What goals have you set for your launch?
Larry: Our launch will be tied to our 30th Anniversary celebration, which will take place in March 2024. Our goal is to recruit 30 members for a legacy society during the next 12 months in celebration of the anniversary.