Missouri Baptist Foundation

Missouri Baptist Foundation

Founded in 1946 by the Missouri Baptist Convention, the Missouri Baptist Foundation operates as an affiliated endowment and trust entity for individuals, churches, and mission organizations within its denominational network. President and CEO Neil Franks has led the foundation since 2017, steering an investment program that blends traditional fiduciary management with what the foundation describes as redemptive investing. The foundation counts Missouri Baptist University, Baptist Homes & Healthcare Ministries, and Hannibal-LaGrange University among its ministry partners. MBF's asset base of roughly $210 million is deployed across a deliberately broad mandate. On the private credit side, the foundation maintains a direct church loan portfolio, financing congregations across Missouri. Its real estate exposures include a commercial headquarters building in downtown Jefferson City and the Encounter Cove property — a lakefront retreat center in Camden County, Missouri, acquired from the former Windermere Baptist Conference Center through financing from WatersEdge Ministry Services. Farmland investments span the Midwest, and the portfolio also holds natural resources exposure. The venture capital allocation operates across stages from seed to growth, and MBF participates both directly and through fund-of-funds commitments. MBF's governance ties directly to the Missouri Baptist Convention, which elects the foundation's trustees. In addition to investment activities, the foundation provides estate planning, asset growth guidance, and scholarship administration for its constituents. A partnership with Ramsey Solutions supports stewardship training and financial education programs. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability has accredited MBF since 2018, reflecting the foundation's compliance with the council's standards for financial transparency and governance. Engagement with the Encounter Cove property is managed in partnership with Encounter Ministries. The foundation's structure departs from a standard endowment in one clear respect: it operates a direct church loan book while simultaneously managing a diversified portfolio of venture capital, real assets, and farmland. This hybrid model — combining credit origination with institutional-style capital deployment — serves a denominational network whose capital needs are local and whose long-term corpus requires market-rate returns beyond what fixed-income alone can provide.