Alabama Woman's Missionary Union

What Alabama Woman's Missionary Union does

Alabama Woman's Missionary Union (WMU Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation incorporated in Alabama in 1995 and headquartered at 100 Missionary Ridge in Birmingham. It was established by National Woman's Missionary Union under Dr. Dellanna O'Brien to engage mission-minded individuals and entities in sustaining Baptist missions, WMU ministries, and related causes through funds, endowments, scholarships, and grants. The Foundation manages 120+ funds and endowments — including the Vision Fund, Touch Tomorrow Today endowments, the HEART disaster relief fund, the Hayes Endowment to Combat Human Trafficking, and curriculum grants for Acteens, Royal Ambassadors, and Mission Friends programs — and provides scholarships to Southern Baptist missionary kids through NAMB and IMB partnerships.

The Foundation operates three distinct revenue streams: (1) donations and charitable gifts across designated funds and endowments, (2) tiered biblically-responsible investment management services (0.7%–1.0% on AUM, delivered in partnership with Synovus Trust Company) offered to 25+ WMU organizations, churches, and Christian ministries with values-based screening that excludes adult entertainment, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and abortion-related companies, and (3) planned giving via wills, trusts, Charitable Gift Annuities, IRA beneficiary designations, and life insurance policies, channeled through the "1888 Circle" legacy society and a FreeWill integration. GTM is direct-to-donor through website, email newsletter (Missions Mosaic), peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads), and brick-memorial Walk of Faith sales ($250/$500).

Operations are lean, with four core staff (President Peggy Darby, Director of Mission Advancement Angie Teague, Controller Susie Pugh CPA, Constituent Relations Coordinator Robin Willingham) plus a Board of Trustees chaired by Kaye Miller. The Foundation holds a 2025 Candid (GuideStar) Platinum Seal of Transparency and is independently audited/501(c)(3) compliant (Federal Tax ID 63-1138772). Revenue is not publicly disclosed; Giving Tuesday 2025 raised $164,086.77 in a single campaign day. There is no public API, mobile application, or AI/ML capability disclosed.

Name

Alabama Woman's Missionary Union

Legal name

WMU Foundation

Website

https://wmufoundation.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Alabama Woman's Missionary Union (WMU Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation managing 120+ funds and endowments that support Baptist missions, missionary-kid scholarships, disaster relief, and anti-human trafficking ministries, while offering biblically-responsible investment management to 25+ Christian organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Nonprofit Foundation / Philanthropic Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Religious Organizations (8131)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Foundation/NGO & Philanthropic Scholarships (EDAIAOAH), Missionary Training Colleges & Schools (EDAHAKAF)

Keywords

• Charitable foundations
• Planned giving services
• Biblically responsible investing
• Mission grants programs
• Scholarship endowments

Headquarters

HQ city

Birmingham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Gifts: The organization receives charitable donations from individuals who want to support Baptist missions and WMU ministries. Donors can give to various designated funds, endowments, or unrestricted accounts.
2. Investment Management Fees: WMU Foundation offers cost-effective, biblically-responsible investment management services to WMU organizations, churches, missions organizations, and other Christian groups for a tiered management fee starting at 1% of account value.
3. Planned Giving: Legacy gifts through wills, trusts, Charitable Gift Annuities, IRA beneficiary designations, and life insurance policies. Membership in the 1888 Circle legacy society.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

WMU Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Baptist missions foundation that manages 120+ funds and endowments, awards scholarships and grants, and provides biblically-responsible investment management services to support WMU ministries, churches, and Christian causes. Core offerings include the Vision Fund, Touch Tomorrow Today endowments, missionary kid scholarships, ministry and curriculum grants, planned giving (1888 Circle), peer-to-peer fundraising, and tiered-fee investment management delivered via Synovus Trust Company.

Product overview

The WMU Foundation operates as a unified platform offering multiple mission-focused financial products and services. The core offering is the Vision Fund endowment supporting WMU's overall ministry, supplemented by Touch Tomorrow Today endowments for state/regional WMUs. The organization provides scholarships for missionary kids, a grants program supporting Christian ministries and curriculum purchases, biblically-responsible investment management services, planned giving through the 1888 Circle legacy society, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools. Additional offerings include disaster relief through the HEART Fund, clean water initiatives via Pure Water Pure Love, leadership awards like the Dellanna West O'Brien Award, and specialized endowments such as the Hayes Endowment for anti-human trafficking work, Marti Solomon Endowment, and various curriculum grants for Acteens and Royal Ambassadors programs. The Walk of Faith brick memorial program provides an honor/memorial option supporting WMU operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Gift of Missions: A quarterly publication/newsletter providing missions mosaic articles sharing stories of missions impact and ways to support WMU ministries.
• Vision Fund
• Pure Water Pure Love
• HEART Fund

Products and services

• Vision Fund Primary endowment supporting WMU ministry, including missions discipleship, leadership development, missionary kid re-entry retreats, and compassion ministries. Donations are designated to this unrestricted fund that underpins the foundation's overall mission.
• Touch Tomorrow Today Endowments State or regional WMU endowments that financially invest in the WMU family, with distributions split 50% to state/regional WMU, 40% to Vision Fund, and 10% to WMU Foundation.
• Scholarships Program Scholarships for Southern Baptist missionary kids (NAMB and IMB) and individuals preparing for mission service, including Missionary Kid Spiritual Development and Educational Endowments covering college, seminary, and chaplaincy education.
• Grants Program Grantmaking support through managed endowments for organizations aligned with WMU's mission, including Christian Ministry Grants, Curriculum Grants, and awards for women's leadership development.
• Investment Services Cost-effective, biblically-responsible investment management services for WMU organizations, churches, missions organizations, and other Christian groups, offered through partnership with Synovus Trust Company with tiered annual fees.
• Planned Giving (1888 Circle) Legacy giving opportunities including wills, trusts, Charitable Gift Annuities, 401K/retirement plan designations, and life insurance policies, with membership in the 1888 Circle legacy society.
• Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Community-driven fundraising platform enabling individuals to create campaigns supporting specific funds or endowments, with donations received within 24 hours.
• Walk of Faith Honor/memorial brick pathway at the National WMU Building in Birmingham, Alabama, with regular bricks at $250 and large bricks at $500, benefiting the Wanda Lee Joy Fund.
• HEART Fund for Disaster Relief Humanitarian Emergency Aid for Rebuilding Tomorrow fund providing grants for direct relief and rebuilding assistance to disaster victims in the United States and globally, established after September 11, 2001.
• Pure Water Pure Love Program supplying missionaries with water filters, providing clean water wells, and equipping missions teams with water filters for short-term trips.
• Judith and David Hayes Endowment to Combat Human Trafficking Endowment established in 2006 supporting Christian ministries focused on providing education, awareness, housing, counseling, and job skills training for human trafficking victims.
• Dellanna West O'Brien Award Leadership award recognizing Baptist women who foster leadership in others and demonstrate potential for community and world leadership, accompanied by a grant for recipient ministry.
• Jessica Powell Loftis Acteens Curriculum Grant Grant helping churches purchase Acteens curriculum materials for discipleship of teen girls, established by Jessica Powell Loftis's family.
• Royal Ambassador Curriculum Grant Grant established by Rick Hollis to provide curriculum to churches for Royal Ambassadors and Challengers program missions discipleship.
• Gift of Missions Curriculum Grant Grant created for the WMU Foundation's 30th anniversary to help churches purchase missions discipleship materials from WMU.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 160 HEART Fund grants provided since 2001
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NAMB (North American Mission Board)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for providing scholarships to children of North American Baptist missionaries. NAMB verification forms required for scholarship applications from MKs.
• IMB (International Mission Board)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for providing scholarships to children of international Baptist missionaries. IMB verification forms required for scholarship applications.
• Synovus Trust CompanycoreTechnology or IntegrationProfessional trust management partner that manages all investments as specified in the Investment Policy Statement. Provides quarterly conference calls for clients.
• FreeWillcoreTechnology or IntegrationOnline estate planning tool partnership allowing donors to include WMU Foundation in their wills, trusts, or as IRA/retirement plan beneficiaries.
• WorldCraftsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWMU's fair-trade ministry supported through Jackson/Reese Endowment. Hayes Endowment grants support WorldCrafts artisan groups.
• National Woman's Missionary Union (WMU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWMU Foundation was established in 1995 by National WMU under Dr. Dellanna O'Brien's leadership. Financially supports national WMU and their ministry partners.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• GuideStone Financial Resources: The Southern Baptist-aligned financial services organization providing retirement plans, insurance, and investment services to pastors, church staff, and SBC entities. A broader incumbent with overlapping faith-aligned investment management, but serving a wider financial-services footprint beyond grantmaking.
• National Woman's Missionary Union: The parent organization that established the WMU Foundation in 1995. Operates the broader missions discipleship, missions education, and women-in-missions programs across Southern Baptist life; the foundation is the financial support arm of this larger ministry.

Direct peers

• The Signatry: A Christian donor-advised fund sponsor that helps families and individuals give strategically to faith-based and other charitable causes. Directly comparable to WMU Foundation's planned giving, endowment, and grantmaking services, with similar biblically-aligned values but a broader evangelical/Christian market.
• Barnabas Foundation: A Christian foundation focused on planned giving, charitable gift annuities, and donor-advised funds for faith-based gifting. Comparable to WMU Foundation's legacy society (1888 Circle) and planned giving program; serves a similar niche of Christian donors seeking stewarded giving vehicles.
• National Christian Foundation: One of the largest Christian grantmaking foundations in the US, operating donor-advised funds and managing gifts from Christian donors to faith-based causes. Directly comparable to WMU Foundation's grantmaking and planned giving model, though at substantially greater scale and with broader evangelical (rather than exclusively Southern Baptist) reach.
• Timothy Plan: A biblically-responsible mutual fund family that screens investments against Christian moral criteria (avoiding companies involved in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.). Directly comparable to WMU Foundation's biblically-responsible investment screening methodology, though operates as a fund sponsor rather than a foundation.

Emerging players

• Eventide Funds: A values-based mutual fund company applying both faith-based and ESG-style screens to investment management. Comparable biblically-aligned investment philosophy to WMU Foundation's offering, but functions as a for-profit fund sponsor rather than a faith-aligned grantmaking foundation.

Regional players

• Tennessee Baptist Foundation: A Southern Baptist state convention affiliated foundation providing planned giving, endowments, and investment services to Tennessee Baptist churches and ministries. Directly comparable operating model to WMU Foundation, but limited to the Tennessee geography rather than operating nationally.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/WMUFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wmufoundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/WMUFoundation

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Alabama Woman's Missionary Union