Budgets

Your congregation has been generous and now you need to set a budget. But just saying the words budget time in staff meeting makes many of the pastors’ eyes glaze over. How can you set a budget, align the staff within those perimeters, and insure that they don’t go over their budgeted amount?

Borrowing Designated (Restricted) Gift Balances

David Fletcher2019-08-15T14:06:06-05:00May 14th, 2019|Comments Off on Borrowing Designated (Restricted) Gift Balances

Tuesday, May 14, 2019 Hey Fletch … Our finances have trended downward and we borrowed $20,000 from the unused balances of restricted funds. This caused some controversy on the church board. What is your counsel? [...]

Numbers Based on Operating Budget or Total Revenue

David Fletcher2019-08-15T14:06:07-05:00May 7th, 2019|Comments Off on Numbers Based on Operating Budget or Total Revenue

Tuesday, May 7, 2019 Hey Fletch … Do you have benchmark data that documents total compensation as a percent of total revenue (restricted and unrestricted), not just of the operating budget? I know over the [...]

Seven Common Mistakes Churches Make When Performing a Ratio Analysis

Sarah Thompson2019-05-06T08:38:09-05:00May 6th, 2019|Comments Off on Seven Common Mistakes Churches Make When Performing a Ratio Analysis

Church board members are eager to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility and watch over the long-term economic health of the church. However, most are not used to reading nonprofit financial statements. This can make it [...]

How Can We Do a ‘Love Offering’

David Fletcher2019-08-15T14:06:07-05:00May 6th, 2019|Comments Off on How Can We Do a ‘Love Offering’

Monday, May 6, 2019 Hey Fletch … We occasionally receive love offerings for our senior pastor and other staff members. How should we handle these gifts? DRF—There are so many questions floating out there about [...]

Building Campaign that Falls Short

David Fletcher2019-08-15T14:06:07-05:00April 29th, 2019|Comments Off on Building Campaign that Falls Short

Monday, April 29, 2019 Hey Fletch … Two years ago we launched a building campaign for our church, but we fell short of our goals. Now the board has decided not to expand the [...]

Supporting Missions Work

David Fletcher2019-08-15T14:06:07-05:00April 3rd, 2019|Comments Off on Supporting Missions Work

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 Hey Fletch … Our church provides direct support to several international missionaries. What are the issues we should look at to provide this support with the utmost integrity? DRF—There are so [...]

2019 Mileage Reimbursements

David Fletcher2019-08-15T14:06:07-05:00March 27th, 2019|Comments Off on 2019 Mileage Reimbursements

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 Hey Fletch … Some of my fellow XPs have a variety of polices regarding mileage reimbursement for staff. I am wondering about best practices regarding this issue. Any help? DRF—In [...]