Update from Finance & Planning

May donations hold steady

By Ronald Kelly

We continue to be grateful that our church donations are holding at a fairly steady pace. If you look back to the report last month, you will find that our April contribution income was $1,908,000. Well, that number is holding up, for donation income once again approached $1.9 million—falling short only $2,000.

You may also remember that last month we sold the Orr, Minnesota, summer camp and placed the gain of the sale in the bank. Of course that was a one-time cash transaction, so we won’t use that figure as we compare income from month-to-month or compare this year vs. last year. But because of the Orr sale, our cash position is still showing a slight gain for the year.

Because we have chosen to maintain our current level of expenses for a while longer, we anticipate we will begin to post negative numbers to our reserve fund in the next month or two.

Factoring in the cash gain from Orr, our total income from all sources for the year so far is right at $11.7 million.

Even if we don’t factor in funds from the summer camp sale, we are showing a three percent gain in total income when compared to last year. You might remember that total income includes estate donations and rental income in addition to a number of other generally smaller revenue sources.

One of the other factors we use to monitor our budget is what we call daily average mail income. Our projection for mail income this year is just over $81,000 per banking day. I thought you might be encouraged, as I am, to observe the donation trend for the past several months. Take a look at the accompanying bar graph on page 29. From February through May of this year, you will see a comparatively steady daily average mail income of just over that $81,000 benchmark we estimated for our financial projections.

For this consistent donation pattern we are indeed most thankful. Please keep up the good work.

Another item you may notice in the accompanying chart is that the church has recorded just over $1.4 million that had been on non-refundable deposit by and from Legacy Partners toward the ultimate sale of the property. Because the sale’s contract was not extended, these funds have now been transferred into the church income account. Since we are already in possession of these funds, the transaction is simply a bookkeeping one.

As I write this month’s column we don’t have any specific new information to report regarding the sale of the campus here in California. However, a considerable amount of interest is shown in our project on an almost daily basis. Builders and consultants are in regular contact with our development team. Our next task is to bring a master development firm into the mix and then to work with city officials to continue the development plan. The No. 1 question we face is: "When will the property sell?" This is an elusive date beyond our ability to predict.

We will continue to work diligently toward as swift a sale process as we can. And we will keep you informed. If there are any important breaking news items, Pastor General Joseph Tkach will mention them in his weekly update to pastors, who in turn will discuss them at worship services.

In closing I will comment that donation income tends to drop off during the summer months. I want to encourage all of us to maintain that steady contribution pattern that we have enjoyed these past nine or 10 months.

Statement of Income and Expenses for WCG and PTM 

combined for May 2002

                                                        For the Month             For the Year-to-Date

Income

    Mail Income                                      $1,980,000                     $8,420,000

    Other Income                                         534,000                      1,807,000

        Subtotal                                           2,514,000                    10,227,000

    Gain on sale of SEP Orr                                    0                     1,336,000

    Income from Legacy deposit forfeiture              1,439,000                    1,439,000

        Subtotal                                            1,439,000                    2,775,000

        Total income                                     3,953,000                  13,002,000

Expenses                                                   3,608,000                  13,119,000

Net gain (loss) to bank reserves                     345,000                     (117,000)

Wills and Trusts

Many members have requested information on how best to make a gift to the Worldwide Church of God, either during their lifetime or upon death through wills, trusts or other means.

If you want to receive information regarding such gifts, the Legal Department of the church is available to aid you in this regard without cost or obligation. Please write to Legal Office, Worldwide Church of God, Box 111, Pasadena, California, 91123.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2002