A Certified Public Accountant Helps the Baptist Foundation Invest and Disburse Its Endowed Funds to Advance Gospel Witness Throughout New England
Foundation trustee Shaunna Varin left, and her husband, right, with their extended family.
When Shaunna M. Varin was invited to join the Baptist Foundation of New England Board of Trustees, she agreed to serve saying, “I like the unity of purpose among the board members, who are seeking God’s will and discernment on how to be good stewards of the monies that have been entrusted to the foundation.”
She believes that the foundation is a cause that is worthy of New England Baptists’ financial support even though many commendable charities are responding to more urgent social needs in our fractured world. The foundation, by contrast, invests endowed funds over many years for churches such as a Venezuelan immigrant pastor planting a church in a poor Providence neighborhood and chaplains sharing the gospel on university campuses across the region.
The foundation offers individuals and churches an array of funds from which to choose, causes that include Focused Ministry Funds for youth ministry and disaster relief, and Regional Projects Funds for churches in Maine and elsewhere to advance the gospel in their neighborhoods. The foundation also features Scholarship Funds for students who are active in BCNE churches and are preparing for ministry in New England.
Through a unique Sponsor an Hour Fund a donor can give to supplement to the BCNE General Fund. Patrons are encouraged to contribute the cost of operating the BCNE for an hour ($125) or a day ($3,000) which, the website notes, is “excellent way to honor a loved one.”
“The underlying hope we have as Christians enables us to spread the gospel, and the foundation helps member churches accomplish that,” says Varin, a certified public accountant for twenty years with the DiSanto, Priest & Co., Warwick, RI. A principal in the middle-market department, she strives to be a trusted advisor to her clients, consulting on business operations and financings needs, as well as financial statement and tax return compliance.
Varin earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Bryant University, Smithfield, RI. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Consider giving a gift to the Baptist Foundation of New England
An endowed gift of any size to the Baptist Foundation of New England will support vital ministries for years to come. Go online to bcne.net/bfne or contact Dr. Terry Dorsett, at (508) 393-6013, or bcne.net/contact.
She is the treasurer and an active member of the Frenchtown Church, East Greenwich, RI. “I like the numbers world and the accounting world. I find that work enjoyable and I recognize that the Lord has given me gifts of administration. I’m a communicator, so I like to keep the congregation abreast of what’s happening.”
A foundation trustee since November 2022, Varin and the other trustees advise Terry W. Dorsett, who has a dual role as both executive director and treasurer of the Baptist Churches of New England, on how to best invest and disburse the financial resources the foundation receives from churches and individuals in the region and around the nation.
When someone wants to invest funds wisely “for long-term spiritual impact, it can be challenging,” the website notes. The trustees guide prospective contributors as they decide to “join in the exciting things God is doing in New England,” the website added. The foundation, or BFNE, offers “pathways that support effective ministries with the potential for multiplication.”
Varin says she “felt that my financial background would be helpful as a member of the board. More importantly, I align with our mission—our desire to spread the gospel throughout New England. I like that the board helps churches get established” by approving grants and loans for church planters just getting started in a farming village or for growing churches that are needing to fund construction or purchase of a larger facility in an urban neighborhood because they have outgrown their existing footprint.
Take a moment to pray for the BFNE trustees
She especially appreciates that the foundation supports ministries for youth and college students because she and her husband, Francis Varin, are the happy parents of three daughters and the grandparents of seven youngsters under the age of eight; an eighth grandchild is arriving in March. Francis is a Rhode Island native, and Shaunna was born in Southern California in the predominately Hispanic city of Santa Ana. She moved from Anaheim, in the shadow of Disneyland, to Rhode Island in 1978.
Varin found faith in Jesus Christ in 1972 at the age of eight through the ministry of an American Baptist Church and attended Phenix Baptist Church of West Warwick as a teenager and young adult when her family moved to the Ocean State. She and her husband joined Faith Baptist Church of Warwick in 2000 where they served for twenty years before becoming members at Frenchtown Church, which is led by Pastor Randall Curtis, a native Rhode Islander and a third-generation New England minister; he serves the BCNE as a regional coordinator.
“Shaunna is quick to invest her time and energy in various ministries at our church [including in] women’s Bible studies, children’s Sunday school, meals for the sick, etc. In her role as church treasurer, I appreciate how she is able to balance wise and accurate money handling with a perspective of faith in God and vision for the future,” Curtis said.
Varin says she is “thrilled with the college and youth support that that the foundation is able to come alongside churches. The youth programs are important to me, and I like the well-roundness that the foundation provides” to churches.
When not working and serving her church, Varin enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and says, “There’s nothing better than that!” Shaunna and Francis also take road trips in their motor home, and she likes crocheting.
The foundation board meets six times a year and they oversee the endowed funds that currently have a $3,181,000 balance.
A Massachusetts native and a New England Baptist since 1970, Dan Nicholas is the BCNE managing editor