Throw Us a Line!

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about our budget situation lately. For the past few years, we’ve been including Little Lambs and Ivy’s income and expenses on our Income Statement, because we are all one entity at the end of the day. However, this inadvertently disguised the church’s net loss because LLI’s net income offset most of it. For example, last year we showed a net loss of $10,000, but when you pull LLI’s net profit out of the equation, the church actually sustained a net loss of closer to $69,000. Yikes! Our Treasurer kept reminding us that she was having to transfer funds from our savings account to cover things like payroll, and now it all reconciles and makes sense. Shame on us for not catching on sooner. However, this is where we are.

I have a great finance team, and we’re considering lots of things that can help our bottom line. A few things I mentioned in my second quarter update include asking the Trustees to help cover a few large line items like liability insurance, snow removal, or a portion of our apportionment (see what I did there?). We’re considering a new space usage agreement for any other organizations that need space for meetings or rehearsals which can be another small revenue stream. We’ll be asking small groups to do fundraising for things like VBS, and if there is money in a flow-through account, can we use that instead of hitting the general operating budget? I’ve asked PG to look at the parsonage cable bill to see if we can get that down a bit. 

LLI provides amazing care and has a waiting list. We do not want to move any “extra” money to our operating account as they need savings to cover discretionary items, and they also reinvest that money in opening new classrooms. We work with them to adjust the allocation they pay for the space/utilities yearly and as needed. We also have one room available upstairs in the Annex that we could rent to a non-profit (renting to a non-profit protects our real estate tax exemption with the town). So, if you know of any non-profits who need office space, let me know!

My point is, we are taking a close look at where we can save. Obviously, there’s not much we can do about utility costs since we’re pretty good about adjusting the thermostats and turning off lights. For now, we are treating clergy and staff salaries as non-discretionary because we believe in supporting our high-functioning staff. But only 9% of our budget is discretionary, meaning 91% of our annual spending is for salaries, utilities, insurance, apportionment, and maintaining the beautiful campus.

I took a look at the number of “regular” donors and compared that to the shortfall I’m projecting for 2024. If everyone who gives regularly could throw in an extra $40 each month, we could cut our expected shortfall in half! That’s only an extra $10 each week for the last five months of the year.

I’ve been told that we haven’t done a good job of being clear about our “ask.” So, will you help us weather the storm and donate an extra $10 each week if you can?

Thanks,

Jen Acheson
SUM Finance Chair