Update From Finance & Planning

March income increases

By Ronald Kelly

PASADENA—Donation income for March came in almost exactly the same as March 2003—right at $1.5 million.

When we add in a few other sources of income, the totals for March show a 6 percent increase over last year. We haven’t been able to use the word increase frequently in the past few years, so this is truly good news. Thank you so much for your continued financial support for the work of our fellowship.

Year-to-date income

Donation income for the first quarter of the year was just over $3.6 million. Last year, first quarter contributions came in at $4 million, so we are down about 10 percent. However, selected property sales and estate donations have exceeded our projections, making the total income 6 percent more than last year.

After three months of 2004 accounting, we have spent $114,000 more than we projected in budget planning. That’s pretty close guesstimating. Our reserve funds and line of credit provide for facilities sale costs and maintenance, and as I have mentioned before, we no longer fund those costs out of member donations. Your contributions are used only for ongoing church expenses.

Sale of homes

We have now sold four of the homes on South Orange Grove Boulevard, with the fifth and final home we placed on the market in December scheduled to close by mid-April.

As we progress into the second quarter of 2004, we continue to concentrate on the sale of the west campus of our Pasadena property. We are working with city officials in the entitlement process that contains some delays because of the east campus sale. Interest is increasing from a variety of sources, organizations and individuals to purchase the west campus, even though we are not soliciting offers because we are working to entitle the property.

Church groups, schools, corporate executives contemplating a relocation of staff, and developers are among those who steadily inquire about the property. Of course, no sale has yet taken place, but we continue to be optimistic about the ultimate potential.

Our Church Administration and Financial staffs in Pasadena are hard at work putting all the pieces in place to roll out our anticipated new financial model quickly after the west campus sells. Computer software and programming consume a great deal of our staff time.

Regional conferences

At the regional conferences, I meet with pastors to review procedures that can be done at the local level to be successful at launch time. We all hope that time will arrive soon.

Our conferences this year are off to a great start. We have already completed two conferences (see page 3 for article and photos about the Chicago conference) and by the time you receive this issue of the WN, we will have conducted the Pacific Northwest conference in Portland, Oregon.

For those of you who live within driving distance of Lexington, Kentucky, our conference there is June 4 to 6, and if you live in the Rocky Mountain West, the Denver conference is June 25 to 27. We hope to see many of you there.

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 Legal Office, Worldwide Church of God, Box 5005, Glendora, CA 91740.

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