By Ronald Kelly
By Ronald Kelly
PASADENA—Once again we conclude a month right at our projected contribution figures.
September closed with $1.46 million in member donations; we had forecast an income of $1.45 million. So it seems that $1.4 million has become our monthly standard.
Reviewing income figures for the past nine months, member contributions totaled $12,673,000 for an average of about $1,408,000 per month. We appreciate the consistent giving pattern and hope we can maintain it through the next several months as we move toward the completion of our Pasadena property sale.
Income down from last year
However, when compared to the first nine months of last year, regular mail income is down six percent. As I often write, a decline is not pleasant, but we are thankful that mail income has been on a steady pace for many months, and we are striving to keep expenses in line with income—not always an easy task. However, a balanced budget is our goal for 2004. I’ll write more about that next time, as we get further along with our 2004 planning process.
Expenses exceed income
As we have reported before, we have sold selected peripheral properties not included in the formal development plan. These, combined with regular donations, have made it possible for us to maintain prudent financial reserves. I mentioned last month that we continue to have expenses that exceed donation income and that we expect to draw further on the reserve fund during the final quarter of the year.
As we continue to plan our 2004 budget, I would like to bring you more information about our local church financing plans. For more than 60 years the WCG has maintained a centralized financial model where member donations are processed and bills paid by the Accounting Office in Pasadena. In addition to denominational expenses, pastors’ salaries, insurance, expenses and congregational hall rent are paid from Pasadena.
Even though membership began to decline in the early to mid 1990s, we were able to maintain more than 400 congregations as more than 150 bivocational (volunteers who serve without pay) stepped in to serve.
In larger congregations (or church circuits) salaried pastors continued to serve. Our centralized structure has made it possible for us to maintain the majority of our salaried pastors even though in some cases the donation income in the church circuit continued to decline.
Not meeting expenses
Our Church Administration staff has been working with salaried pastors in those congregations that are not meeting expenses in order to help each pastor and congregation understand that in the new financial model, they will have to show increased income or they will have to reduce expenses.
We use the phrase “on the bubble” to describe this situation. That term means that if we were to move to the new model, a congregation on the bubble would be getting close to a financial imbalance. If income continued to decline, their expenses would exceed their income. Such a congregation would have to consider options such as 1) reducing hall rent, 2) reducing the ministerial expense allotment or 3) reducing the salary and benefit package of the pastor. None of these is a pleasant option.
With that in mind, each month we send financial information to every pastor that lets him know exactly what his financial picture looks like now, with the hope of improving the financial picture before we move to the new model. We trust all of our pastors are sharing this information with members through announcements during worship services or posting them in the church bulletin.
We don’t intend for the phrase “on the bubble” to mean anything more than a heads-up that increasing income is essential to the financial stability of that local congregation.
Helping smaller congregations survive
Frankly, we have been able to maintain our current level of congregations because the donations of many of our churches exceed their expenses. These congregations are carrying out a domestic mission to keep smaller and declining congregations financially supported. So a big thank you to all of our congregations who have been so generous in supplying the financial needs of the less fortunate.
Sales tax audit
One other matter that might be of interest to you is a sales tax audit that takes place at our Accounting Office about every three years. State tax officials review our procedures and compliances with California state sales taxes that must be paid on selected products and services. After their audit, they not only found we had done an excellent job of meeting their requirements, but that we were actually due a refund of about $5,000.
Sales tax laws can be complex, and our Accounting staff headed by Clark Miller and served by Paulette Hoban, Gwen Moore and Wilma Murphy are to be complimented on their expertise and dedicated service.
Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2003