How to Determine Projected Giving for Next Year's Budget?

One of the hardest aspects of creating an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year is determining how much giving the church should project/expect next year. I know that, in our case, this is something we wrestle with each and every year.

Over time, we have developed five questions to help us make this crucial determination:

1. What is the total YTD actual giving for the current fiscal year?
2. Based on current average weekly giving, what is the projected annual giving for the current fiscal year?
3. How does the projected annual giving for the current fiscal year match up to the prior year's projection?
4. Does recent giving (rolling 3 month and 6 month totals) appear to be trending up, down, or steady?
5. How does YTD actual giving for the current fiscal year compare to the same time period in the prior fiscal year?

What is the total YTD actual giving for the current fiscal year? This allows us to see where we're at today.

Based on current average weekly giving, what is the projected annual giving for the current fiscal year? This is where we take whatever we've received YTD and divide it by the current number of weeks in the fiscal year. For example, if we have received $200,000 YTD and there have been 40 weeks of giving, then our average weekly giving is $5,000. With 12 remaining weeks of giving left in the year, our projected annual giving for the current fiscal year would be $260,000 ($200,000 actual + $5,000 times 12 weeks = $260,000).

How does the projected annual giving for the current fiscal year match up to the prior year's projection? If, last year, we projected that we would receive $250,000 in giving this year, and our projection for EOY is $260,000, then we are on track. If, however, we projected $300,000, then where did our projection go wrong? What happened? This step acts as a quality control feature in our overall thinking and planning.

Does recent giving (rolling 3 month and 6 month totals) appear to be trending up, down, or steady? So, at this point, we compare three numbers. First, we determine our YTD average weekly giving. Second, we take the the last 26 weeks of giving and determine the average weekly giving from that time period. Finally, we take the last 13 weeks of giving and determine the average weekly giving from that time period. After comparing those three numbers, do we find an increase in giving, a decrease in giving, or no change in giving? This gives us an idea of what to expect going forward.

How does YTD actual giving for the current fiscal year compare to the same time period in the prior fiscal year? Are we seeing more or less giving than we were 12 months ago at this same time? Again, this gives us a sense on what to expect going forward.

If, after reviewing these factors, the projected giving for the upcoming fiscal year is less than the current year’s projections, then we have to adjust our budget accordingly.

On the other hand, If, after reviewing these factors, the projected giving for the upcoming fiscal year is greater than the current year’s projections . . . then we have to determine how much extra to project. This is the particularly tricky part.

In general, we have tried to tie increases in projected giving to any actual increases in annual giving over the previous 5 year period.

For example, If the projected giving for the current year is $260,000, AND if, after reviewing the factors listed above, we believe that the projected giving for the upcoming fiscal year should be greater than the current year’s projections, AND if the average year-over-year increase in actual giving for the past five years equals 3%, THEN the projection for the upcoming year’s giving should equal 103% of the current year’s projections, i.e. $267,800. 

As you can see, this is about 50% art and 50% science. It's our attempt to be both conservative and factual in making this very important projection.

How does your church make this projection? Leave a comment below, or follow me on Facebook and leave a comment there.

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BENEFITTING FROM OBAMACARE

Over the past three years, our church has saved over $100,000 in health insurance premiums by using the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obamacare) to our advantage - $100,000 that we have used to hire additional staff, send one of our members into foreign missions, and pay down our church's mortgage!

Written for both pastors and church decision makers, Benefitting from Obamacare is the story of how we did that, the challenges we faced, the things we had to consider, and what we have experienced since.

How much cash should a church keep in reserve?

When it comes to personal finances, most experts agree that every person/family should have somewhere between 3 and 6 months worth of living expenses in an emergency fund. But what about a church?

Based on what I've heard and observed (both directly and by talking to CPAs who work with churches), I don't believe that too many churches follow that same advice when it comes to their own cash reserves. In fact, my non-verifiable opinion, based solely on what I have seen and heard, is that many churches operate on less than one month's worth of average giving.

In other words, let's say that Grace Church has an annual budget of $240,000. Assuming that they did not budget above what they believed they would actually receive in the course of the year, that means that they expect to average $20,000/month in giving. If they are like many of the churches I have seen and heard about, this means that they would have less than $20,000 in the bank at any given moment.

You know what that is, right? That's the church equivalent of living "paycheck to paycheck."

May I humbly suggest that this is not a wise approach when it comes to managing a church's finances? Just like an individual or family should have 3-6 months worth of living expenses in an emergency fund (separated from their normal checking account, by the way), so a church should have 3-6 months worth of average giving in an emergency fund - separate from their normal operating funds.

At our church, we have a number of different cash accounts. The two largest are our operating fund and our contingency fund. Our operating fund is our normal, monthly checking account. This is where weekly giving goes in, and this is where all bills are paid from. Separate from that, we have a contingency fund (which is what we call our emergency fund). In this fund, we keep three full months of average giving as nothing more than a cash reserve. This is here to protect us from any number of things (e.g. major, unforeseen expense; extended downturns in giving; loosing 2-3 weeks of giving due to a hurricane; etc.).

Why did we pick three months instead of six, you ask? Well, to me, it all comes down to size. We began maintaining a three month contingency fund back when our annual budget was around $120,000. Today, our current annual budget is approaching $400,000. Personally, I think we have about another $100,000 of budget growth before we would need to consider increasing our contingency fund to 4 months. It seems to me that, the larger a church is, the more it should consider adding to its cash reserves. For us, this is the schedule I would follow:

• $0-$499,000 - 3 months
• $500,000-$999,999 - 4 months
• $1,000,000-$1,999,999 - 5 months
• $2,000,000 and up - 6 months

Obviously, your specific circumstances might dictate a different schedule, but at least this will get you thinking. The reality is that the vast majority of churches will fall within that first tier, and will likely never have more than 3 months' worth of average giving in reserve . . . and that is okay.

Regardless, if your church does not have a sufficiently funded cash reserve, let me challenge you to talk with the leaders of your church about this need and to begin working towards that as soon as possible.

What do you think? Leave a comment below to share how your church handles this. Or, follow me on Facebook and leave a comment there.

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STRUCTURING PASTORAL COMPENSATION

Is your church structuring its pastoral compensation package in a way that truly blesses your pastor? Is your church doing all it can and should to financially provide for the pastors who keep watch over your souls?

The fact of the matter is that most churches have never given any thought to what a pastoral compensation package should look like, and much less to how they should structure it so that their pastor receives the maximum benefit.

Structuring Pastoral Compensation is written for church decision makers (Elders, Deacons, Trustees, Committee Members, etc.) to help them understand what should be included in their pastor's compensation and how to best implement the various pieces so that their pastor will be truly blessed.

Church Budgets: When to Begin Preparing

It's September. Do you know what that means? It means that I'm on the verge of beginning another loosing season of Fantasy Football.

But apart from that, it also means that our church's annual budget season is upon us. At our church, our fiscal year matches the calendar year . . . which means that we are only four months away from needing to have a new, approved annual budget. In order to have our budget ready to go on January 1, we begin the process on September 1.

Now, we didn't pick that date arbitrarily. We arrived at it by "reverse engineering" our budget process. Let me explain.

Since we know we need to have an approved budget ready to go on January 1, and since our annual church budget must be approved by our members, we know that we have to have them vote on it during our Q4 Members' Meeting - normally held on either the first or second Sunday of December (depending on how the calendar looks in a given year).

In order to have them vote on it at that meeting, we must make it publicly available for review at least two weeks prior. This means that we normally have to have it completely finished and ready to go by mid-November.

Since our Elder board has to approve it before it is made public to our members, the Elder board wants to have a month to review, discuss, and tweak it . . . which means they need to have the first draft from our finance committee by mid-October.

In order for our finance committee to have it's recommended draft budget to the Elder board by mid-October, they need two things. First, they need to receive YTD budget reports along with a few specific, year-end financial projections from our financial secretary and Executive Pastor by the last week of September. Second, they need next-year's budget requests from all of the various ministry leaders within our church by the last week of September as well.

And, over time, we've learned that both of those things take a few weeks to get. So, to make sure everything works as it is supposed to, we begin preparing our new budget on September 1.

Obviously, that process is specific to our church and our setup, but regardless of how your church operates, I think there's wisdom in "reverse engineering" your budget process so that you can begin in a timely manner and complete your budget without too much stress.

Leave a comment below to share how your church handles this. Or, follow me on Facebook and leave a comment there.

Payroll: What Schedule Should Churches Follow?

How often should churches pay their employees? Weekly? Every two weeks? Bi-monthly? Monthly?

I don't think that there is, necessarily, a right or wrong answer to this question. It's more a matter of what is convenient and/or helpful for the employees and the church.

At our church, all employees are paid monthly on the 28th day of the month. This practice of issuing payroll at the end of the month began before I became the pastor, and so, I cannot explain why we did it this way originally. Having come from the private sector where I was paid every two weeks, it was a bit difficult to make that initial transition into a monthly pay schedule, but now that I've done it that way for ten years, I don't even think about it.

Since our church uses direct deposit to issue paychecks, I like the monthly schedule because it keeps our processing costs as low as possible. The cost to the church to use direct deposit is $1.75/paycheck. Since we have five employees, we pay $8.75/month or $105/year for this service. If we issued paychecks every two weeks, those costs would be approximately $17.50/month or $227.50/year. So, as you can see, the savings we get from paying monthly are not insignificant.

Whatever schedule your church uses, the most important thing is that you are consistent in following that pattern. As I said above, we issues paychecks on the 28th of each month. If the 28th falls on a Saturday, checks are issued on the 27th. If the 28th falls on a Sunday, we issue them on the 29th. All of our staff knows this and can plan accordingly.

This wasn't always the case at our church, and in a future post, I'll share some of that story so that you can understand why consistency in payroll scheduling is so important AND why I am such a big fan of direct deposit for church employees.

I'd love to hear what schedule your church follows for payroll. Leave a comment below or on the Brokepastor.com Facebook page.