2025-10-22T12:19:08-07:00 2024-12-31 561688300 Foard and Company PA 1347 Harding Place Charlotte NC 28204 990 2024-01-01 272776215 The Bethel Church Foundation BETH 7048920546 19920 Bethel Church Road Cornelius NC 28031 James Mohr President 2025-10-22 true true Terry W Lancaster P00096087 7043721515 2024 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z James Mohr 19920 Bethel Church Road Cornelius NC 28031 134444 false X www.bethelchurchfoundation.org X NC Charitable Giving 7 7 0 0 27705 25050 0 29988 40044 0 57693 65094 4000 30969 0 0 0 0 369 400 4369 31369 53324 33725 912842 1013840 0 912842 1013840 Charitable Giving false false 30969 30969 Supporting distribution of health services and medications to 500+ in Haiti through clinic operations and construction projects. Also supporting flood relief in Eastern, NC and homelessness in the Charlotte area. 30969 true true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 false 0 false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 7 7 false false false false false false false true true false false true true true true false false false false false X Randy Ford 7048920546 19920 Bethel Church Road Cornelius NC 28031 X James Mohr President 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Nicolette Granata Secretary 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Randy Ford Treasurer 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Marcus Lee Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 David Beard Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Hardee McConnell Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 0 false false false 0 25050 25050 0 50676 50676 0 0 0 58718 69350 -10632 -10632 -10632 0 0 0 0 65094 -10632 50676 30969 30969 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 400 400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31369 30969 400 0 136537 71527 776305 942313 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 912842 1013840 0 0 X 188886 180517 723956 833323 912842 1013840 912842 1013840 33725 67273 X false false false X 7378 3465 57550 27705 25050 121148 0 0 7378 3465 57550 27705 25050 121148 51590 69558 19162 28114 24432 29988 50676 152372 0 0 273520 0.25430 0.28420 X Current Year Facts and Circumstances: The Bethel Church Foundation (Foundation) was formed on May 10, 2010 as a charitable and religious nonprofit corporation under Chapter 55A of the General Statutes of North Carolina. The Foundation was formed to receive gifts, bequests, devises, memorials and endowments and use these funds to carry on religious, charitable, benevolent and education work to benefit Bethel Presbyterian Church (Bethel) and other chartable ministries and organizations. It was hoped that an endowment could be created that would generate funds each year to aid Bethel and its causes, other than funding annual operating expenses.The Foundations endowment fund is 81% of the Foundations 2024 assets. The Foundation uses a 20 quarters rolling average to determine asset value for purposes of calculating the annual distribution. 4% of this average is used to support Bethel and other charitable ministries. There are no guidelines on the maximum that may be granted from the general fund.The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors. The Directors are required to be members of Bethel Church and either an active or inactive member of Bethels Session (Board). A minimum of two members must be active members of the Bethel Session. Session members are elected by the members of Bethel and can only serve two consecutive, three-year terms. Foundation Directors are limited to two, three-year terms. This precludes the control of the Foundation by a major donor as is found in a private foundation.Ten-percent-of-support requirementThe Foundations public support percentage for 2024 from Form 990 Schedule A Part II is 23.52 %. The support percentages for the last five years are:2023 - 28.42 %2022 - 38.75 %2021 - 53.41 %2020 - 73.79 %2019 76.76 %The ten-percent-of-support requirement is met.Attraction of public support requirementThe Foundations support comes from Bethel and its members primarily in the form of bequests and memorials. The Foundation has brochures on giving and planned giving that are distributed to members and available at Bethel. The Pastors mention that the Foundation is a good choice for memorials to Bethel when arranging funerals. Seminars on financial planning and charitable giving have been conducted at Bethel. Reminders that charitable gifts can be made to the Foundation and the function of the Foundation are put in the weekly communication to church members several times a year. The Foundation presents an annual report on its activities at Bethel annual congregational meeting.The large number of donors, detailed in the Sources of support section below, and the historically high support percentage show that the Foundation is supported by the public and not a few donors.Percentage of financial support factorThe historical public support percentage has been very high as shown above. The public support for 2023 and 2024 was less than 33 1/3% for several factors. First, giving decreased dramatically during Covid and has slowly recovered. Historical giving is as follows:2017 - $37,0612018 - $38,6802019 - $51,2362020 - $7,3782021 - $3,4652022 - $57,5502023 - $27,7052024 - $25,050The lower gifts in 2020 and 2021 resulted in a larger gift having a more significant impact on the percent. The Foundation received a gift of $20,000 25,000 in 2022, 2023 and 2024 from different church members. If contributions had been $50,000 in 2020 and 2021, the public support percentage for 2024 would be 45%.The investment income from the endowment fund has grown significantly. It has increased from $19,162 in 2020 to $49,366 in 2024. This coupled with lower giving in 2020 and 2021 has had a dramatic impact on the public support percentage.The contributions to the endowment fund have come almost exclusively from the general public. When the Foundation was established, Bethel transferred funds it had received from bequests and memorials. Thus, public support initially funded the endowment. Since then, it appears that all contributions to the endowment fund have been from general public sources. Contributions are allocated to the endowment fund if designated by the donor. Undesignated contributions are allocated to the general fund.The percentage of financial support factor supports classification as a public charity.Sources of support factorThe Foundations sources of support are members of Bethel Church and memorials honoring the passing of members. The are approximately 630 current members of Bethel. Giving to the Foundation has come from a large number of the individuals. The giving by number of donors has been as follows:2024 142023 42022 302021 - 202020 852019 402024 Bethel membership totaled 630. Because the membership number can include several members of the same family, giving units are a better measure of donors. 2023 and 2024 giving units averaged 330. Further, the number of donors changes significantly year to year. There were 106 new giving units in 2023 and 85 in 2024. The excess contributions of $51,590 shown on the 2024 Sch A have come from two families. It can be seen from the historical number of donors that the Foundations is supported from a large representative number of donors when considered with the number of potential donors measured by Bethel members. The source of support for the Foundation is the public.Representative governing bodyThe Foundations board does not represent the interests of a limited number of donors. The bylaws provide that in addition to being a member of Bethel, a board member must be an active or former Bethel session member. Two board members must be active session members. Session members are elected by vote of the members of Bethel. Active session members form the governing board of Bethel. The fact that Foundation board members must have been elected by the members of Bethel to govern Bethel at some point and Foundation Board terms are limited to two, three-year terms insure that the Board represents the broad interests of the public served by the Foundation.Availability of public facilities and services factorThe Foundation supports Bethel and other charitable ministries. The support of Bethel has primarily been facilities upkeep. The worship services of Bethel and other activities are available to the general public. The Foundation also supports the Boy Scout and Cub Scout troop that meets at Bethel.Additional factors pertinent to membership organizationsThe Foundation is not a membership organization. But the Foundation does support a church, Bethel, that has no charge for membership and attempts to attach all people.Summary:The Foundation is a public charity because:The Foundation has always received more than 10% of its support from the general public.It has an ongoing and active program of soliciting funds from Bethel members.The Foundations support from the general public is low because of the investment income on its endowment funds that have been contributed by the general public.The historic support of the organization has come from a large number of donors, especially considering the likely donors to contribute are the members of Bethel.The Bylaws of the Foundation ensure that the governing body represents the broad interests of the Bethel members and not an individual donor or small group of donors. Donating to the Foundation is not a factor in becoming a board member.The Foundation helps maintain the facilities of Bethel and other activities, all of which are available to the public. RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b Reviewed by Treasurer before filing Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c Annual review Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 No documents available to the public.