Thank you for your ongoing support of the Church Management Academy! We look forward to continuing to bring new content to our readers in 2024. If there is something you would like to read more about on these pages in 2024, let us know at ChurchManagementAcademy@gmail.com. May this year be blessed!
Budgets Are Not Good-Looking Shelf Documents
The one financial related shelf document I’d like you to have is our book, Parish Finance — otherwise, your church budget should be in your desk, not on your shelf! I am joking about the book, but not about the budget!
Tip 8: Keep the church budget at your desk, and not on a shelf!
Often, the budget is prepared, discussed, approved by a Finance Council or Vestry, and entered into the accounting system. After the fiscal year starts, budget reports are generated either monthly or worse, quarterly.
However, there is a problem. Budget reporting and review processes often miss the most important value-add that the budget brings to an organization. Along with being the plan for revenues and expenses, a budget should be used as an active management tool to review whether church finances are aligning to the pastoral priorities outlined in the budget development process.
The question I’d like you to consider is, “How is the budget used as a tool and not just a monthly revenue and expense report?”
Most budget reports show a series of columns that usually include at least the budget plan and actuals for a given time period. When budget management is merely mechanical, it loses the most important power of budgeting – helping you manage priorities!
As the pastoral leader, I am not (necessarily) recommending that you need to check the budget every day, but, at least at regular intervals, answer the question, “Is the budget meeting the priorities we outlined when we created it?”
Stay Tuned – More to come on this topic when we discuss budget execution and control in the coming weeks!
Questions/Comments? Email Mike Castrilli at mjcastrilli@gmail.com!
Click here for more tips brought to you by the Church Finance 30/30 Series!
You Can’t Say Thank You Enough
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for being a follower of this blog, for your support, and for all that you do to make the Academy what it is today. Thanksgiving reminds me yet again reflect on how grateful I am for all of you.
In celebration of Thanksgiving, I have been thinking about the art of the thank you note!
I truly believe you can’t say thank you enough. Some people tell me they don’t agree. But I go back to what my mom taught me as a little boy. She would say, “When you offer thanks, it is letting people know that YOU care.”
No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. – St. Ambrose
For church donors, a thank you note is an acknowledgment of generosity of someone’s time, treasure, and talent – and in some cases, their love! People have taken time to give, to offer, and to provide. We should let them know we appreciate what they’ve done. “Oh, no need to thank me.” But it is not about need or reciprocation, it is about an acknowledgement. You care enough to say thank you.
Do everything for the love of God and His glory without looking at the outcome of the undertaking. Work is judged, not by its result, but by its intention.
– Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Don’t delay
I don’t know about you, but I have procrastinated at times writing thank you notes. Not because I don’t want to write a thank you note, but sometimes, in an effort for the note to be “perfect,” I wait until the perfect time to write. Instead, write the note promptly, get it done, it will be appreciated.
Be heartfelt
Tell a story, let people know how you feel about their gift or donation.
Be authentic
Write what is true for you. I don’t think you can mess up a thank you.
Practice
Like all things, practice makes perfect.
As many of you know, I have a deep love for St. Francis DeSales and his practical wisdom. I love this quote:
You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art. – St. Francis De Sales
I’d like to add to the quote, and I think St. Francis would agree wholeheartedly, to give thanks by thanking!
May your Thanksgiving be wonderful!
In gratitude,
Michael Castrilli
Here are some good blog posts about saying thank you to donors:
- 5 Thank You Letters Donors will Love, Joanne Fritz
- Delight Donors and Volunteers With Hand-Written Thank You Notes
- Donor Thank-You Letters: 6 Actionable Tips
I would love to hear from you as to how you thank those who support your church, your work, your ministry! Contact me!
Budgets guide people, but people control budgets
Budgets are not developed to restrict you. Never forget, human beings are the ones that are managing the budget! You can’t take human insight, experience, and instinct out of financial management.
Remember a budget is not created to make you feel like you are trying to drag an anchor through the church pew.
Tip – Budgets guide people, but people control budgets
People often feel as if they are a servant to the budget, instead of the reverse. The budget is a plan, or a guide, to manage the money coming into the church (revenues) and the money going out (expenses). As with any plan, at times, adjustments need to be made. Budgets are not meant to be perfect. By the very nature of a budget, we forecast revenue and expenses. A forecast is a prediction, and without humans to help navigate the budget, it merely becomes a nice looking, Excel spreadsheet!
What do you do about mistakes? Remember, you can always deploy the 3-R Approach to address financial challenges.
The key point – People are the critical link between a budget that works and a budget that fails.
Church Budgets and Daylight Saving Time
Were you able to sleep in today? Did you arrive at church an hour early?
What does this have to do with church budgets? Good question! The answer is that church budget forecasts are impacted by events like the changing of the clocks for Daylight Saving Time. Most notably in the Fall, have you ever had someone say, “Gosh, I forgot to set my clock back and I woke up an hour later and missed Mass!” As we all know, the time change always occurs on a Sunday.
Have you ever noticed if your collections go down by a certain percentage in the Fall because people are more likely to miss Mass?
The point is that when you are creating revenue projections for the next year, like forecasting collections, note which Sundays have special circumstances surrounding them. For example, does New Years Day fall on a Sunday? Have you accounted for the cash flow impact when Easter is early (March) or late (April)? Is the Pope visiting? Is it an El Nino or La Nina weather forecast (just kidding)?
Tip 5: When preparing the budget, review the upcoming calendar for events, factors, or circumstances that impact Sundays (i.e. Daylight Saving Time)
The budget is impacted by a wide variety of other circumstances as well. This summer, I wrote a blog post titled, Beachgoers, Snowbirds, and Church Budgets. The post explored the wide variety of factors that may impact a church budget like weather, holidays, holydays, or even accounting for the migration of the northeast snowbirds (like my parents)! These factors call all wreak havoc, or create harmony (with an influx of cash) on church budgets. Without repeating all of the content on my summer post, click here to read more!
Budget Action Step: Review the past year and understand what has impacted your church budget. You may find that your budget is highly-sensitive to a variety of special circumstances – or maybe not sensitive at all. The bottom line is that if you have never checked, you may never know. This type of analysis can provide you the information and insight you need to prepare the budget in the best way possible!
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