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
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
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
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’
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
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
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
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 [...]
Giving to a Short-Term Missions Team
Monday, March 25, 2019 Fletch is back from his research break, writing Predators in the Church Hey Fletch … I’ve been tracking with Dan Busby’s comments in the Hey Fletch column. I know gifts [...]
Gifts for a Needy Person
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Hey Fletch… We have a widow in our church that is going through serious medical challenges. She has exhausted her financial resources. Several wealthy members of the congregation want to financially [...]
Can a Church Pay FICA for a Pastor?
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 Hey Fletch … It’s been one month after I got your answer to my question. I still don’t have my head wrapped around this issue of FICA vs. SECA and how [...]