Dear Ones,
Be sure to stick around after church this Sunday for our 3rd annual Mid-Year Budget Review, at 11:30am. It will be in the same Zoom Room as the Sunday service, accessible through the same link.
When we did this review just 12 months ago, we were looking ahead to a year when it appeared, after several years of careful work and planning, we would finally get to a place of sustainable financial stability with our operation budget. It felt especially good to our Finance Folks who are the ones who sweat these details. I remember telling people that the budget team had put together the most beautiful church budget I’d ever seen.
Of course, less than two months later the Covid Shutdown began and all certainty – financial and otherwise – went out the window.
There are several pieces of good news in the midst of continued uncertainty and a projected deficit for our 2021-2022 budget.
- We have significant savings and reserves in the bank – indeed the most of any church I have known. These funds exist for many reasons, including the visionary generosity of devoted members and incredibly careful stewardship of those funds by our boards and finance people over nearly a decade.
- We did not need to dip into any of those funds for our current fiscal year, even though the 2020 pledge drive was essentially canceled.
- Because of lowered expenses and the PPP small business loan in 2020, we will probably end the current fiscal year with a surplus.
Whew!
While we are still in strong long-term financial shape, the immediate- and medium-term will present challenges. Which is why you should come to the Mid-Year Budget Review.
There you will:
- learn how we are doing financially this church year.
- learn how we are positioned for the on-going impacts of the Covid-19 recession for next year.
- give the Finance Committee input for our 2021-2022 budget planning during still-unprecedented uncertainty.
In January 2019, the Board of Trustees and Finance Committee instituted these budget reviews to make the whole budget process to be open and accessible to all our members. Ultimately, our annual budget is a moral document, roadmap for us to realize our mission.
I hope to see many of your there.
In faith,
Rev. Dana