A part of a special Sabbath school offering given on the last Sabbath (the thirteenth) of each quarter of the year for specific, designated projects in various parts of the world.
The idea of a special offering on this Sabbath originated in the first quarter of 1912, when the General Conference selected the work in the “cities of India,” a field that needed an appropriation of $10,000, and asked the Sabbath schools to reach that amount in an especially generous offering on the thirteenth Sabbath of that quarter, with the understanding that the field could have the entire offering. Only $7,674.33 was raised. The plan was continued, and the offering for the second quarter (for a mission in Africa) was $12,680.64.
In 1914 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering envelopes were introduced. These were discontinued in 1964 following Autumn Council action. In 1921 many Sabbath schools in North America began to promote the thirteenth Sabbath as “a double dollar day.”
At first the entire Thirteenth Sabbath Offering was given to the specific mission field, and usually a goal equal to the entire need of that field for a year was established. In the fourth quarter of 1918 a new plan was tried. The Sabbath schools were asked to raise a part of an appropriation to a specific field, with the understanding that everything given above their goal would be added to the appropriation for that project. For several years afterward both the new and the old methods of disbursing the offering were used. In 1928 the Autumn Council of the General Conference Committee voted that the overflow be divided between the specific project and the funds for new work elsewhere. By 1929 the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering overflow averaged $20,000 a quarter.
During the 1920s and early 1930s there were several years when there were no overflows over the goal for the offering. Subsequently, in the 1933 Autumn Council a plan was voted that would guarantee an overflow to the selected field each quarter. That field was to receive an “overflow” of $1,000 for the first $60,000 raised in offerings on the thirteenth Sabbath and, in addition, 10 percent of all above that amount.
In 1936 the plan was further revised to make the overflow equivalent to $2,000 of $60,000 and 10 percent of all given above $60,000. In 1961 the plan was revised to make the overflow the equivalent of 20 percent of all above $50,000.
The Autumn Council in 1971 revised the plan so that 25 percent of the total Thirteenth Sabbath Offering received is set aside for the special projects, and the remaining 75 percent is included with the regular mission funds.
Under these plans the donations for the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering has steadily increased. As of 1992 the annual Thirteenth Sabbath Special Projects Offering amounted to $1,892,589.83.
The offering is appropriated to the divisions on a rotating basis. Each division committee is responsible for selecting its own projects, usually at a time when all the unions within its territory are represented.