Finance News
Greetings Friends:
Please allow me to be direct and to the point regarding our planning for the 2020 financial calendar year. The Finance Committee has recently evaluated the results of our annual giving campaign against our proposed budget for 2020. We are pleased with the number of families that increased their giving over last year and we continue to grow our giving in a positive direction.
However, against our current budget forecast for 2020, we foresee a budget deficit of nearly $23,000. There are very few areas that we can reduce in our budget. After we pay the bills for lighting, heating, maintenance and insurance, the only areas that significantly move our budget are in the areas of Staff (Pastor, Music, Education, Administrative Assistant, Sextons, and Nursery Worker), Missions and the Christian Education Program. All these areas are vital to the life of our church. Last year, in-order to control our deficit, we had to eliminate pay raises for our staff. We simply cannot do that two years in a row. But the staff/parish line in our budget represents greater than 60% of our spending, so changes there make a big difference.
I am asking that we all pray and contemplate giving more this year to help us manage this tough budget situation. It would be great if we can raise pledges enough to cut that deficit in half or by roughly $12,000. I offer these stats for contemplation:
$12,000 to raise
12 months of giving
80 pledging families.
$12.50 per month per family
What these numbers tell us is that out of the 80 pledging families we only need to increase our monthly giving by $12.50 per family each month to cut our deficit in half. I know that for some of us that is asking a lot. For others, perhaps not.
Please help us keep the vitality and spirit of West Chelmsford United Methodist Church strong. The Finance Committee pledges to continue to evaluate and offer recommendations for how we can manage our gifts appropriately. We will continue to seek new avenues of fiscal relief where possible.
Thanks for your consideration.
Faithfully,
Mike Warren
Finance Chair
