Woman's Missionary Union

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The Woman's Missionary Union, established in 1888, is an independent women's auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention with over 1 million members around the world. Its non-profit mission is to educate youth and adult women about the missions field. The organization's offices are located on New Hope Mountain at 100 Missionary Ridge Drive, just off Brook Highland Parkway.

The WMU organizes two annual fund-raising campaigns for missionaries, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, which together amounted to more than $208 million in donations in 2006. The group supports itself through the publications of numerous magazines and books and through donations from individuals and other organizations. The executive director is Wanda Lee and the president is Kaye Miller. The organization's headquarters are located off Brook Highland Parkway in Inverness.

History

The Woman's Missionary Union was founded in May 1888 as the Woman's Mission Societies by a number of existing women's groups at the Southern Baptist Convention in Richmond, Virginia . The new organization's executive committee selected Baltimore, Maryland, the home of its corresponding secretary, Annie Armstrong, as its headquarters. The name was changed in 1890 to the Woman's Missionary Union. In 1921, under the direction of Kathleen Mallory the headquarters was relocated to the 11th floor of the Comer Building in Birmingham. In 1951 the group moved to the Family Reserve Insurance building on the northwest corner of 20th Street and 6th Avenue North.

In 1984 the organization moved to its present building in Inverness.

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