If you've been around our parish for any length of time, you've probably noticed that we don't talk much about money. We do, however, talk a lot about the things that are important to us...things that involve our community, our service to others, and our worship...and of course, those things require some money.
As we developed the parish budget for 2012, we wrestled with two realities:
- Those who are paid a salary or stipend for the work they do for SCF have never received a raise, and
- Our host church, Peace United Church of Christ, has asked us (and others who use their facilities) to begin to carry more of our weight.
If you look at the attached budget, you'll see that these are the two areas of the budget that have been increased this year.
As the Finance Committee has met over the past few months, our discussions about our parish expenses have naturally led us to talk about income.
If you break our expenses down, in 2011, we spent an average of $7,305 per month. Going forward, in 2012 we have budgeted to spend an average of $9,555 per month.
"How does that compare to our current monthly income?" Glad you asked. In 2011, our income through collections averaged $6,754 per month. Because of the money raised at Trivia Night and other fundraising, and some significant gifts outside of our normal collections, we ended 2011 with a real surplus of about $8,000. (If you look at the attached financial report, it will show a surplus of about $18,000 for the year. However, about $5,000 is designated for parish tithing, and another $5,000 is designated for the Matthew 25 fund, to help members of the SCF community who need financial assistance.)
Meeting this budget will be a challenge for us. And that's OK. It's a reasonable assessment of what it will take to move our community forward. With that in mind, we believe our reach should exceed our grasp.
In order to meet the budget, we need to increase our revenue by $1,000 each month. If as a community, we increase our collections by 15%, we would expect to balance the budget this year.
Please prayerfully consider how much you are able to give. Then click the following link: Pledge Form, and download the form. Fill in the pledge form, save it, and e-mail it to Kevin Born at kpborn@gmail.com by April 15. [In testing to ensure these links worked, some computers were unable to successfully download the form. If that is the case for you, there will be paper forms at church to complete and return in the collection basket.]
Gratefully,
Steve Campbell
for the Finance Committee
