Church Financial Leadership

New Income and Revenue for Churches

2013-03-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

A brief audit of a client's receipts over the past year revealed something interesting: 22% of their income came from sources other than the primary source. The organization has diversified their approach to receiving income so that more than one in five dollars comes from a non-traditional source. This means that if their primary revenue streams remain the same, this organization will have 20% more money to use - woohoo!

This is a good lesson for churches: are you dependent on your mainstay revenue source (tithes and offerings) or have you begun to look at other revenue streams? Churches must be creative in getting money in the door and then very transparent in how it is spent and used. Here are 21 different revenue streams (the first 10 come from a list prepared by George Bullard and the rest are from me):

Tithes and Offerings
Special offerings
Designated gifts
Fee for Services
Capital Campaigns
Foundations of the Organization
In-kind resources and services from individuals and businesses
Sale of Products
Foundation grants
Investment Income
Rental Income
Event Registration
Cost Recovery
Business Partnerships
Offerings After Special Events
Sponsorships and Scholarships
Ownership of Facilities
Memorials and Memorial Gifts
Capital Investment Lists
High Capacity Donors
Gratitude Gifts
Alumni Gifts

For a fuller description of these, visit Free Resources at www.financeforchurches.org

Lead On!

Steve

www.financeforchurches.org

www.facebook.com/financeforchurches

churchfinancialleadership.blogspot.com

Church Staffs Just Wanna Have Fun

2013-02-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

One of the many legends about Google as a work environment is the different places they created for their staffs to have fun. It's not just work at work, there is some fun involved, too - by design. The folks at Google (and tons of other companies) realize that employees need to have their brains stimulated in new and creative ways, the staff need to decompress even during the work day, and they need do things together so that they can bond and bind together as a team. Coming to work, doing just work, going home and then repeating that ad naseum creates a workplace that can lead to employee burnout.

Here's a solution for churches:

Allocate $1,000 from your church budget to be spent $250 each quarter (feel free to allocate more, it just depends on the size of your staff)
Divide your staff into four groups and assign each group a quarter of the year.
Each group is tasked with finding something fun, creative, and new for the staff to do and they've got a budget of $250. It may cost a little more and then each staff person might have to chip in a couple of bucks, but try very, very hard to not make this an expense for the staff.
Find one day each quarter when the church is closed for a "staff development day" (if you can only do a half day, that is okay, too)
Then, close the church, put a volunteer on the switchboard, and go have fun. Once you do this a few times, it will begin to change the way the staff interacts with each other. They will recall fun times, goofs by each other and themselves, etc.
This will create memories that are NOT church or work related. The staff will have something to talk about other than work. This will create a much healthier work environment.

Here are some suggestions:

Bowling
Painted pottery
Movies
Tour of a local historical site
Team Hide & Seek in a mall
Paintball
Ropes course
Kayaking or canoeing
Frisbee golf
Scavenger hunt
Raking leaves for a shut-in
Habitat for Humanity home build

You get the idea. Some of these ideas are free; some are not; all are beyond the walls of the church. Some are outside the comfort zone of a few staff; none are difficult; all are different.

Go have FUN with your staff!

Lead On!
Steve

www.financeforchurches.org
www.facebook.com/financeforchurches.org

Stop Charity & Benevolence

2013-02-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Charity: the voluntary giving of help, typically money, to those in need.
Benevolence: An inclination to perform kind, charitable acts

Too often people are charitable and benevolent because they a need and want to help meet that need. They give money to fight homelessness, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, illness, etc. All these gifts are well-intentioned - no one gives because they are mean-spirited.

However, I do wonder at the motivation of the gift. Some gifts are given in order to receive a tax write off. Some gifts are made in order to look good in the eyes of others. Some gifts are more personal because of a family member's situation.

To me, it seems that charity and benevolence is done from a desire to attack the cause of a condtion. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the causes of hunger, poverty, illiteracy, etc. any more than anyone else. I find them despicable and wish they were eliminated. However, I do wish that the reason people were generously-minded was from a philanthropic viewpoint.

Philanthropy: The effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations (from the Greek: philo = love and anthropos = man)

Before you say this is "just semantics" and that philanthropy is the same as charity or benevolence, think about the motivation for giving. Philanthropy is done because you want to help a person whereas charity is cause-related. If benevolence is to fight homelessness, philanthropy seeks to work with "Mike" or "Susie" to find them a place to live and to address the situation that made Mike or Susie homeless in the first place. Charity is about giving left-over clothes or money so that an organization can do something to meet a need. Philanthropy is about you getting personally involved because you love people as individuals, not as causes or charities.

Jesus didn't come to be charitable or benevolent. Jesus came because He loves humanity and wanted to get personally involved in our situation, to get his hand dirty in our mess, and to face us in the muck and mire in which we had gotten ourselves. This was about human love.

Here is another way to categorize charity versus philanthropy. It comes from the 12th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides who wrote the Eight Levels of Giving:

A man gives, but is glum when he gives. This is the lowest degree of all.
A man gives with a cheerful countenance, but gives less than he should.
A man gives, but only when asked by the poor.
A man gives without having to be asked, but gives directly to the poor who know therefore to whom they are indebted, and he, too, knows whom he has benefited.
A man places his donation in a certain place and then turns his back so that he does not know which of the poor he has benefited, but the poor man knows to whom he is indebted.
A man throws the money into the house of a poor man. The poor man does not know to whom he is indebted, but the donor knows whom he has benefited.
A man contributes anonymously to the charity fund that is then distributed to the poor. Here the poor man does not know to whom he is indebted, neither does the donor know whom he has benefited.
Highest of all is when money is given to prevent another from becoming poor, as by providing him with a job or by lending him money to tide him over a difficult period. There is no charity greater than this becasue it prevents poverty in the first instance.

Lead On!
Steve

Tips for Working with Grant-Making Foundations

2013-02-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

They don't want to support salaries of employees or operations; they want to give money for programming. Their true goal is to help with the programming - the part of a non-profit that is making a difference in the people it serves. One way to accomplish both is to prove how a person is so connected to a specific program that there is a symbiotic and synergistic relationship.
They give money to organizations that are working and collaborating with other orgs to accomplish the purpose. Grant-makers don't like to have multiple non-profits all trying to do the same thing but who won't work with each other. They feel that is not a wise use of resources.
They like organizations that have broad support from donors, not a narrow group. Mkae sure that you are tapping the widest possible group of potential contributors.
They are made up of people, of very caring people who want to do the most good with the resources they have. They all have restraints but I can tell you from personal experience all grant-makers want to give away far more than they are permitted to give.
Appeal to the generosity and humanity of the grant-makers. Get to know them as people and make sure they know you, not just your mission. Don't be just a report they read, be a person and a face they relate to.
Ask them who else you can talk to. Not only do grant-makers know the local non-profits, they are usually well acquainted with many high-capacity donors. These donors may have additional financial resources they'd like to give away but do not know of a worthy opportunity. The grant-makers know the passions of these high-net-worth individuals and they might be willing to serve as a conduit for you to access these generous people.

Lead On!
Steve

Community Foundations

2013-02-05T11:20:00.000-05:00

Every major city has a community foundation which is where people have given money, to be held in trust, until the donor or the board of directors distributes grants. Some CFs are very, very large (think billions of dollars investments) and some are small. All are legally required to give money away.
For two years I worked as the CFO of a community foundation. Nothing gave the staff and board more pleasure than giving away money. It was so much fun to see the faces, hear the stories, and dream about how much more could be done for the region.
CFs have major classifications for grant-making:

donor advised funds (DAFs) - the donor recommends to the CF which non-profit should receive a grant and how much the grant should be
field of interest funds - the board gives money to organizations which meet the donor's criteria when the fund was established such as literacy, health, etc.
unrestricted - funds which the board gets to distribute according to their wishes and the grant requests which are received by the staff

CFs are in the business of helping local non-profits - most CFs have a geographical restriction - and improving the quality of life in their community. They are tied to their community - the staff and board shop in the same stores as you do, worship in the same churches, attend the same movies and theaters, etc. These people know what is going on in their city and they want to make it a better place.
Many churches have high net worth individuals who already have DAFs with the local CF. Churches would be well-advised to meet with their local CF staff to get to know them, to be known, to educate the CF of what the church wants to do, and seek ways to partner together.
A church can also work with the people who already have DAFs to educate the church leadership about how the church can work with other high-net-worth individuals (whether they are members or not) to accomplish what the church wants to do.
CFs are experts on all local non-profits. If your church wants to do something, meet with the CF staff to learn about other non-profits with which the church can partner to accomplish far more than each can do separately.

Lead On!

Steve

Guidestar.org

2013-01-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

Guidestar is an online non-profit company with one purpose. It publishes the Form 990 that most non-profits are required to submit to the IRS each year.
A 990 is a legal doc which states the total expenses and income for a non-profit. It breaks the expenses down into sub-categories and even lists the salaries of the five highest paid employees and their benefits. The 990 also shows the various sources of revenue for a non-profit from programming receipts to investment income. Finally, a 990 lists all recipients for organizations who grants from the non-profit whether these were small gifts or very, very large ones. All 990s on Guidestar are in PDF format so they can be downloaded and/or printed for further analysis.
Guidestar has a cool tool which enables people to search the hundreds of thousands of non-profits for any category which interests you. This makes finding your specific field of interest that much easier.

For example: your church is working with nearby elementary schools and wants to find money to expand a literacy program. A Guidestar search on "children's literacy foundation" shows over 150 non-profits which have literacy as one of their interests. Not all of them write grants so further research is required. This is time-consuming but eventually you'll find a dozen or so foundations to which you will write a compelling grant proposal/request. You may not get much or as much money you want/need the first time you ask, but be persistent and over time you'll develop relationships with the foundations that will open some doors.

Use Guidestar as a research tool to find local and national foundations which can provide additional resources for your efforts.

Lead On!
Steve

Sloppy Church

2013-01-22T06:23:00.000-05:00

My guess is that when you go to a fast food restaurant, you look for a clean or mostly clean table at which to eat. I avoid tables that are piled with stuff from a previous customer that wasn't considerate enough to put his trash away. I appreciate when the staff comes out to wipe down tables so they are clean for the next customer.

That is true for churches, too. Churches should be clean and free of clutter. We don't need last week's bulletins scattered everywhere, or every flat surface piled with flyers and postcards about upcoming events. We don't need Bibles and study guides in stacks on ledges, tables, and chairs in classrooms. I've seen rooms with tables and chairs tossed around as if no one cared about the room and what it looked like. I've seen members walk right past trash on the floor; actually, they looked at it and probably thought that was someone else's responsibility to clean up. I could go on and on, but you've likely seen the same thing in your own church or in one you've visited.

Bottom line: if a place of business were as sloppy and messy as many churches are, you wouldn't give them your business. Why then are churches so sloppy?

Is it that no one really sees it? Yes, there are some people who see messes and some who just don't. I'm one of the first group. I see messes, and they bother me a lot. Here's a way to know what group you're in: look in your car. If you have empty drink cups, wrappers, and other trash on the seat or floor, you're in the group that can't see messes. If that's the case, you ought to find someone with a really clean car and get them to point out to you the messes in your church. They'll show you what you "can't see."
People think someone else is responsible for that. Some members actually believe that they pay staff to do those menial chores and that they should not have to stoop to pick up trash or straighten bookshelves or ask why there are old books and Sunday School quarterlies which make the church look bad. Keeping the church clean and straight should be everyone's responsibility; not just the custodian's job.
Do some people not even care? Unfortunately, yes. It's not a large number of people, but some just don't really care or appreciate how a church looks. That kind of problem requires a bigger solution than just becoming aware of how sloppy the church looks; those folks need to experience a change of heart so they'll value their church and its property.

Next time you're in church, look around with really open eyes. Check out your surroundings very intentionally. If it were a restaurant, would you eat there, or go to the next restaurant down the road? Guests and members appreciate cleanliness and orderliness, and you do too. Make it a point to help your fellow members understand how little things such as picking up old bulletins, straightening tables and chairs, not having piles of materials everywhere, and other things like that can have a positive effect on people--members and guests alike.

Lead On!
Steve

Star Trek & Star Wars

2013-01-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

Pick one of those two space sagas - I don't care which one, choose your favorite. Okay, now, name the seven major (good) characters in each one:

Star Trek

Kirk
Spock
Sulu
Chekov
Scotty
Uhura
Bones

Star Wars

Luke
Han Solo
Leia
Obi-wan Kenobi
Chewbacca
C3PO
R2D2

You may not be a fan of one or the other; you may not like either series. There are a few similarities and many, many differences between these two groups of characters but let me focus on one in particular as it applies to churches and their leadership: #6 in each list.

Uhura is more than the sex appeal for Star Trek, she's the communications officer. She is on the bridge, sitting just behind the captain and ready to carry out his orders but also making suggestions based on her experience and knowledge of language and culture.
C3PO is the golden robot and comic appeal in Star Wars. He is also conversant in "more than 6 million forms of communication." He talks non-stop to everyone especially his buddy and fellow robot R2D2.

Both are utterly critical to the success of each mission. Uhura and C3PO ensure that the message from the leader is spoken clearly and without misunderstanding (well, C3PO does mess up a few times) so that the story is moved along and that everyone knows what is going on.

Transition: who is the communications person in your church? Are you like most churches, relying on the pastor who is already doing everything else (preparing sermons, marrying, burying, counseling, helping members, leading staff, going to meetings, etc.)? Or are you intentional about using someone who is gifted in this area to take the message from the leadership and craft it in a multitude of forms so that the message is transmitted to everyone in every way possible? That person may not know six million forms of communication, but he or she is probably more knowledgeable than the pastor about how to disseminate the message.

Churches need to have a clear, consistent, comprehensive, and cohesive communications cohort. The pastor and other leaders must develop the message in a succinct manner. Then, they must work with and trust the communications specialist to send the message out in every way possible to the broadest possible audience.

The audience will see, hear, and read it in multiple ways. Marketing experts say that it takes a person seven views before the person will internalize a message. Communications people love the challenge of finding ways to tell things; most non-communications get weak-kneed at the idea of telling the same thing seven different times.

Even Hollywood recognizes the importance of communications in a leadership group. How much more should the church recognize the importance of communications since the church has the greatest message in the world? How intentional is your church in its communications? And what do you need to do to be more intentional about it?

Lead On!
Steve

How to Calculate a Church Budget

2013-01-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

Every church I've worked with has struggled with determining the amount at which to set the subsequent year's budget. Everyone wants to increase the budget in order to provide more funds for staffing and programming (rarely for building needs, but that is another matter). But Finance Committees know that even if they put a figure out there, it means little if the income/receipts/revenues don't come in to support that budget target. Committees want to step out in faith, but they also don't want to be caught overstepping (and dropping into a financial void). So, what's a church Finance Committee to do?

Here's my idea:

In the month that you set the budget for the next year, look back 12 months and calculate how much money came in during that period. That figure is your budget for the next year.
For instance:

Your fiscal year is the calendar year
In July and August, ministry areas work on their respective budgets with a deadline to get their requests to the Finance Committee by August 31
The Finance Committee gathers all the data to finalize the budget by September 30 so that it can be voted on in October
At their July meeting, the Finance Committee looks at the total undesignated receipts for July 1 through June 30 (the previous 12 months). That figure is the new budget for the fiscal year that starts in January (six months away).
Whatever that increase (or decrease) is over the current fiscal year, that percentage (up or down) is communicated to all the ministry areas as to how much they can increase (or decrease their budget.

This has many benefits:

This is a conservative or fiscally prudent way of budgeting - churches should receive at least that amount in the next 12 months, perhaps a good deal more.
This means that you shouldn't have to go into spending freezes and hurt the morale of the staff and church
This enables the church to continue to plan well for its ministries and not feel it is over-reaching financially
If more money comes in than was budgeted, the extra money can be used for capital needs, rainy-day or reserve fund(s), money for unforeseen opportunities, additional money for budgets that were shorted, etc.

This process makes short work out of deciding how much you'll budget for the next year. That will enable the Finance Committee to focus on more important things such as assisting ministers, ministries, and members with good stewardship practices.

Lead On!
Steve

Saying Thanks!

2013-01-05T09:13:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to a good article about thanking your donors. Thanking, explaining, sharing stories, and helping others know what is going on in your church is vital to your church's finances. People liked to be thanked - please do it often and use as many platforms as you possibly can:

Personal letters
Articles in the church bulletin
Social media
Webpage
Hallway conversations

If you make this part of your daily attitude, that same attitude of gratitude will flow into your staff and your church members. After all, it is well known that every organization takes on the attitude of the top dog. So, be grateful, tell others thanks, and encourage everyone to follow your lead.

http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2012/9-clever-ways-to-thank-donors.aspx

1. Write a Greeting Card, Not a Business Letter
2. Share Recent Progress, However Small
3. Add an Invitation—But Not to Something That Requires Another Donation!
4. Use a More Creative, Personal Opening
5. Include Results-Oriented Photography
6. Record a Video Message
7. Send a Postcard from Behind the Scenes
8. Be Specific about How the Gift Is Being Used
9. Change Who's Saying Thank You Lead On! Steve

Mobile Giving Apps

2013-01-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

Mobile giving apps are good but have limited value.

They really "hit the big time" with the Haiti earthquake when tens of millions of dollars were raised. Since then, mobile giving has been mainstreamed into countless fundraising efforts: Japan tsunami, presidential campaign, Hurricane Sandy relief, etc.

Here's the good thing about mobile giving apps: you get money pretty quickly
Here is biggest negative: most apps have a cap of $10 per gift but some will go as high as $25. To my knowledge, at the present time no giving app has a "fill in the blank" amount to give. All have caps. One way around that is for people to give 10 times $10 - but that is a pain.

See these articles about the ups and downs of giving apps. Things may have changed since the articles were written, but I've not heard of any major changes.

SOLUTION: create a QR code that links to the giving site on your church's webpage. Print that code in your bulletin each week. Smart phone apps scan the QR code and links to the giving page on your website. Then people can fill in the amount of their choice (more than $10, I hope). Here is a link to a QR code generator (it's free).

http://goqr.me/

Parting comments:

The national fundraisers bring in the big bucks because of the size of their audience.
Find ways for people to give what they want to give - not a token amount
Don't leave money on the table - if all you're asking for is $10, you're leaving money on the table
Don't train people to give $10 or $25 - from then on they'll think that's all it takes to run a church
Ask some of your young techies in the church for ideas they've seen; they're more aware than most of us

Lead On!
Steve

Church Credit Cards

2012-12-24T20:01:00.000-05:00

I think church-issued credit cards are unnecessary except in special situations (more on that later). I really am against the issuing of church credit cards and here's why:

they lead to more work by a staff person, usually an administrative assistant to manage all the cards and track the receipts
they lead to expense since some staff will buy things more quickly than if they were using their own card
they lead to abuse by some staff (dealing with that is a personnel committee matter not a finance committee issue)
they are seen as a right and status symbol when they are neither

Here are my recommendations regarding church credit cards:

Staff should use their own personal credit cards when making purchases for the church. Then, the staff person should turn in a receipt and get reimbursed for that expense just like he or she would for mileage or any other purchase. This incentivizes the staff person to get the receipt and turn in the receipt in a timely manner. This addresses the single biggest issue regarding church credit cards - staff members who do not turn in receipts when asked for them and that causes problems for the church's Finance Office.

A way for staff to deal with this in a positive manner for them is to get a card with rewards points and then use that card only for church purchases. Write on the card "church use only" so you don't get confused. When the bill comes in, turn in the statement and all the receipts requesting that the check be made payable to the credit card company (not to the staff person). At the end of the year, the staff person earns points which he or she can keep.

A church may want to have ONLY ONE church card in the office and that is for use by the administrative assistant when he or she is buying things online (from Amazon.com or an airline ticket or paying a conference fee). This card should not be used by one of the ministers - they can use their own card - and the invoice must immediately be sent to the church's Finance Office as soon as it is received by email.

There is one and only one exception that I can think of and it is not very good. If a staff person needs a credit card for church work but cannot get one because his or her own credit is poor, then the church can intervene and get one. But, there is a big, huge red flag - if that person's credit is that poor, there is a reason for that and do you really want someone with bad credit handling a church credit card? Think twice about that.

I know church credit cards can be positive. In the past two years I've gotten three (3) iPads for church staff using rewards points. But I also know that when you get credit cards, someone on staff will spend hours reconciling all the receipts to the card statements and entering the payment data. That is a lot of extra time that could be used more productively elsewhere in the church.

So, if you ignore my advice and do get church credit cards, you need to have a contract with the cardholders. This contract needs to be authorized and approved by the church's Finance Committee, signed by the staff person, and placed in the employee's personnel file in the Finance Office. This contract should have a "three strikes" provision: if someone with a church-issued card does not turn in his or her paperwork in a timely fashion (when requested by the Finance Office), then after the third event the card will be revoked for a specific time period (usually 3 or 6 months, sometimes indefinitely until the person appears before the Finance Committee or even the Personnel Committee).

The bottom line for me is about being good stewards of the church's resources. A credit card is a privilege, not a right and staff people need to earn it, not expect it.

Lead On!
Steve

RACI

2012-12-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

A friend and colleague of mine gave me an acronym that is used in his church whenever a decision is made. They assign RACI to actions and I like this so much I want to share it as a tool to help church staffs. RACI stands for:

Responsible

This person is in charge of the activity. All subsequent decisions go through this person to ensure that everything is working together to meet the desired outcome. This person can delegate intermediate steps but in the end, the buck stops with this person regarding the entire project. The responsible person must also have the trust and authorization to carry out the duties assigned to him or her. Anything less will set that person up for failure and perhaps even his or her departure from the church.

Accountable

This person is accountable for his or her actions (or inactions) and that accountability will affect his or her annual evaluation. An accountable person may or may be in charge of one aspect of the project or may be the responsible person, also. The accountable person must have the resources to carry out the task assigned to him or her whether those resources are financial, time, knowledge, or people. Accountable people need to know to whom they are accountable - that must be deicded initially; it is frequently the person who is responsible for everything.

Consulted

This is a person or group of people who have information which can help move the project further along the road. This may be specialized persons (lawyer, architect, teacher, pastor) but they are not part of the decision-making process. Their value is in providing additional knowledge which will help others who are decision-makers. Information is always a two-way street in the section: those who are consulted, by definition, should provide feedback to ensure the proper information is getting to the responsible or accountable person(s).

Informed

These are people who should be told what is happening along the way. This may be a person (such as the pastor or other leader) or a group of people (such as the congregation or key committee). They are not necessarily part of the decision-making process but keeping them informed can help the decisions go faster and easier. Information is usually one-way but sometimes it can flow back if it will help.

Sometimes these four are mixed and matched. For instance, someone who is consulted may also be a accountable. Sometimes you don't have all four - one of the above may be omitted if it is not appropriate or unnecessary.

Use this terminology to ensure that everyone understands and knows their role in the decision-making process. Keeping this clear will help people know what they are supposed to do and what they should not do. It can minimize conflicts ("eliminate" is probably too much wishful thinking). Use this tool to help you become a more efficient and effective staff - and one that communicates better with each other.

Lead On!
Steve

Church Violence and Death

2012-12-11T20:32:00.000-05:00

Although this blog is posted after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it was written before then. All the info is relevant to schools and churches. Please guard well what God loves.

Every week there is a news report of violence in churches or church-related facilities (camps, retreat centers, etc.). A lot of them end in violence and death.

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/pastor-slain-suspect-dies-after-attack-at-forest-hill-church.html/

About 20 years ago shootings in schools raised awareness that schools were no longer the safe places that everyone felt them to be. Those acts of violence burst the bubble that schools and churches were places of peace and serenity. Both bubbles are now shattered. There is no truly safe public place (except maybe a fire or police station).

For churches and staffs struggling to educate people as to why safety cameras, check-in points, child safety measures, and other preventive actions are needed, the news has way too many stories. Use these stories to inform and show people why a well thought-out, coordinated plan is needed and helpful (and even attractive to young parents). Never use news of church violence to alarm or scare people - that is not helpful at all.

Carl Chinn (www.carlchinn.com) has collected every news article of church related violence since 1999. It is a wealth of information - Carl is doing all of us a great service. I've never met Carl and I've only emailed him once - but his heart is in helping churches be informed about what is happening. Then, what churches do with that information is up to them but hopefully they'll take positive action to ensure their houses of worship are also sanctuaries.

If you want more information, contact Carl - I'm sure he'll help you.

Lead On!
Steve

The Church Lobby

2012-12-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

Your church lobby tells new people in about 3 seconds the kind of people that your church wants to have. Okay, maybe just 2 seconds. It is really, really, really fast and most churches do not even know what they're doing.

I walked into one church and this is what I saw:

Faded, worn out mauve carpet that "died" several years ago
Furniture that I last saw in my 80 year old aunt's house - and she died 25 years ago
Bare walls on one side and pictures of old stuff on the wall
A chandelier

I looked around to see if it was a church or funeral home - everything told me I was in a funeral parlor or at least a place that my great Aunt Clara (born circa 1900) would enjoy. It was like a museum - okay, you get the picture. It was not a drawing card for 20- and 30-somethings. It was not even attractive to anyone under 60 - but most people had seen it for so long that they felt it was just part of the church. But anyone who was new to the church and walked in there was immediately turned off by what they saw.

Tomorrow morning - walk into your church lobby and look at it as you never have before. Look at the lighting, the walls and what is hanging on the walls. Talk with people about the furniture and ask them if that is something they would see in a home of a young family (presuming that family had some money to buy furniture they like).

Then, ask yourself if the kind of lobby that you have is representative of the age bracket of the people you want to attend. Or was the furniture put in there by an older generation because that is what they're comfortable with? Be intentional about your lobby - it is one of the first impressions people will have about you. Make it a good one, a positive one that will make you look good. Spend some money; recruit some young women or men to be the interior decorators for that area (and then tell them to take on your bride's room if you have one and update it!); AND then, in about 10 years, do it all again with yet new furniture.

Every time you update your look, you directly affect the age of people that come (and come back) to your church.

Lead On!
Steve

Personnel Comp Letters

2012-11-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

2013 Personnel Comp Letters
Every year, every employee of your organization or church should receive a personnel compensation letter. This letter is a summary of all that the church pays in order to have this person as an employee. There are several reasons for creating this letter each year:

It provides documentation for the employee for his/her own knowledge. Otherwise, some employees would never learn if they got a pay raise or not.
It provides documentation for the employee's personnel file in the finance office in case the auditor or Department of Labor investigator wants to see it.
It helps the employee to see what the "total cost" of him/her working at the church is. Many employees grumble because they're not paid enough. This document will show that while their wages may be lower than they want, the employer provides a significant number of additional benefits. The letter explains how much those benefits would cost the employee if he/she had to buy them personally.

The letters that I send out have the following format:

Previous Year Gross Salary Figure
Next Year Salary Increase
Next Year Gross Salary Figure
List of benefits with a brief description of each and how much they cost for that specific employee

Employer FICA/Medicare (many employers forget this but it is a cost of having an employee)
Retirement
Health insurance
HSA contribution by the employer
Dental insurance
Other insurances: life, long-term disability, short-term disability, workers' comp

Total Estimated Compensation (BTW, you should insert the word "estimated" or "anticipated" lest any employee leaving in the middle of the year demand to be paid the "Total Compensation" this letter might imply).

This is a time-consuming process. Each letter should be tailored to every individual. For instance, ordained ministers' letters will not contain the FICA paragraph, but non-ordained staff will have it; some classifications of ministers will have different benefits than other classes. Tailoring the letters helps the employee know exactly what his/her benefits are. Take the time to do this or have it done. It will help employees see themselves in a new light, and it will help the personnel committee of the church see the true cost of their staff.

Lead On!
Steve

5th Gift Letter

2012-11-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

Every year a church should sent out gift letters (statements of contribution) five times a year. After each quarter AND the first week of December. That letter in early December may be a new thing to some church administrators, so let me explain why you should do it.

December is one of two times a year that people's giving is heightened by society (tax filing season in April is the other time). A professional fundraiser once told me that he needs to work only two times a year, April and December, because those are the times when people are most inclined to give. The rest of the year he cultivates donors, and there are some good lessons in that for church administrators. Since people are already aware of the Christmas season of giving, leverage that awareness for the good of the church by sending out a statement of contribution.

Most people do not record during the year how much they've given to their church. They need reminders and a letter in early December is an easy way to let them know. Most people are not offended by such a letter, and a lot of people actually appreciate the reminder.

A gift letter in December pays for itself several times over. Yes, it costs money to send out the letter, but my experience is that the amount of money received is a lot more than it cost to send out the letter. Sending it out is very cost effective and beneficial to the church (and to the donor for tax purposes).

Send a gift letter out (with a cover letter) in early December and you won't regret it; it will help you get in some year-end gifts that you might otherwise have not received.

Lead On!
Steve

Gift Letters or Statements of Contribution

2012-11-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

Gift letters (also knowing a statements of contribution) have several purposes:

To acknowledge and thank donors for their gifts
To ensure the church received the gifts and credited them to the correct fund
To give members a chance to see how much or how little they've given to their church
To provide an opportunity to the church to include a letter explaining to donors how their gifts were used and the people whose lives are being changed because of the generosity of the givers
To instill confidence by donors in the integrity of the church's Finance Office so they can see that the staff is handling gifts accurately

Gift letters should have all of the following elements:

Name and address of the church or 501(c)(3).
Logo of the organization would be great, too.
Tax Identification Number of the organization. This is known as a TIN; sometimes it is called an EIN or FEIN (Employer Identification Number or Federal Employer Id Number)
Name and address of giver
List of checks which includes

Date of gift
Form of gift - check number, cash, online, or other description of manner of gift
Amount of gift
Purpose of gift - was it for the ministry budget, building, missions, etc.

(Pledge - if you use pledges, they should be on the letter, too)
Total of all the gifts by category and grand total
Thank you sentence from the Finance Office and who to contact if there are any errors
Sentence required by the IRS for tax-deductible gifts. Here is the one I use:

For IRS purposes, I must inform you that the gifts contained in this letter are based on intangible religious benefits. You did not receive any goods or services from _____ Church for this contribution. Please keep this letter as documentation of your gift.

Every time you send out gift letters, you should be accomplishing all of the purposes listed above and your giving statements should have all of those elements. Anything less means you're not getting as much value as you could.

Maximize the impact of your gift letters by including a cover letter which has several additional elements:

Paragraph 1 - several sentences thanking people for their generosity (please use that term - it doesn't have any negative connotations and is viewed very positively by people; people like to be told they were generous)
Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 - three brief stories that have happened at your church within the past 3 months where people were changed for the good because of what your church did, events that had an impact on children or youth such as a mission trip or Vacation Bible School, and/or activities that reached the community or world with the Good News of Christ. Tell stories - people remember stories; if parables were good enough for Jesus, they're good enough for you, too!
Paragraph 5 - conclude the letter with another acknowledgement of their gifts and generosity. Also, mention who and how they should contact if there is an error in the giving statement.

Finally, how should you send them: I like sending them out by email because it is free. Society has trained people that email is normal, so use what society has taught people. For people without an email you'll have to use snail mail. In a few instances, you'll have to use snail mail for some situations where people's giving needs to be kept confidential from another person in their home who has access to the family email - those are rare and sensitive, but you need to be aware of those. Snail mail costs about $1 for each letter (postage, envelope, paper, ink, and labor) whereas email costs just the labor (which you have to do anyway).

Lead On!
Steve

US Marines and Church

2012-11-13T20:01:00.000-05:00

Recently I've visited several churches. I've noticed something in common about all of them, and it's something that is disconcerting for an organization whose primary purpose is to help people have a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Here's my discovery:

Most churches are designed for themselves.

That's a pretty broad statement, so let me explain. I've been in church life and work my entire life. When I walk into a church building, I know how to slip in and find a seat without being noticed too much. I know what the program in the Sanctuary or worship center will be like and how long it will last. I know who the people "on stage" are even if I've never seen them before. I know all this because I've been in church for a very, very long time.

What about people who have never been to church or haven't been to church in a very, very long time. Are those people are going to overwhelmed by the physical layout of your buildings? Are they going to know when to sit, stand, and turn around during worship? Are they going to be offended or embarrassed by being asked to fill out a card or be recognized as a visitor? Are they going to feel under-dressed and uncomfortable?

Churches have one chance to get it right. When someone comes to visit, they're giving you one shot at making it so compelling and interesting that they'll want to come back the next week. You have one chance to do church so well that these guests will look forward to the next Sunday. One shot - just one.

Is that fair or right? No. Is it reality? Yes.

Think about the way you do church: is your Sunday morning programming crafted to appeal to newcomers or to make the long-timers feel comfortable? Unfortunately, in most churches, it's not what it should be. Even Jesus didn't go to the synagogue very often because, well, the synagogue of Jesus' time was very much like many churches are today: designed to make the religious feel good about themselves and not reach those who desperately need a faith relationship with God.

The U.S. Marines Rifle Drill Team is flat-out impressive. Watch a YouTube video of them. What they do is amazing. They are probably about as close to perfection as you can get; each and every time, they do it right. I haven't seen them in person yet, but I want to, and I know I'll be even more impressed.

I know churches run with volunteers led by church staff, so there is plenty of room for human error. But what I challenge churches to do is to be a LOT more intentional about what they do, how they do it, and what it looks like on Sunday morning. And by "it" I mean shaping almost everything about Sunday morning so that people you are trying to reach actually want to be there and aren't counting the minutes till they can leave without insulting you.

I don't expect churches to be perfectionists like the U.S. Marines, but I do expect churches to raise the bar. We've let our standards get pretty low, so it's time to raise them several notches. We should expect our staff and volunteers to be at the top of their game every Sunday, with every person. Challenge your leaders to make the Sunday morning experience one that makes everyone, guests and regulars, vital to their lives.

Now, go watch the U.S. Marines Rifle Drill Team (even the one where the rifle breaks in the middle of the drill!) and see what you can learn from a really good team that works seamlessly together.

Lead On!

Steve

Spears, Tridents, Pitchforks, and Rakes

2012-10-30T18:59:00.000-04:00

I am concerned about the focus of the church, or its lack of focus. There was a time when the church in the United States was relatively financially flush and spent its money on a variety of ministries. Churches had food pantries, libraries, gyms, etc. I've even heard of a church that had a minister of softball!

My concern with this is that lots of organizations do those same things. Some of those organizations are Christian, while others are completely secular; some do it well and some don't. But there are others out there doing this work. So, why does a church feel the need to replicate what is already being done by others especially in today's very tight financial economy? I fully believe that churches should be involved in social ministries, I just don't think those ministries have to be located inside and paid for by the church. Take advantage of the economies of scale of several groups working together.

Here's my challenge to churches: stay on your mission-critical path. Focus on those things that no one else is doing. Concentrate on what you were tasked to do by Jesus Christ. Do what is in the marrow of your bones. Stay away from things that lead to mission creep.

Instead, if a church member wants to start a ministry, ask that person to find out what other groups are doing the same type of work in your area. The other groups may or may not be Christian, but that doesn't matter; we don't always work with Christians, we work for Christ. Next, find out which of those groups is the most effective, most efficient, and financially transparent in what they are doing. Finally, ask them if they could use additional volunteers and perhaps an occasional financial gift--and then partner with them.

Churches don't need to use their resources to accomplish everything. They need to use their resources strategically. There are three main resources a church has: buildings, money, and people. When a church uses one, two, or all of these for a ministry within their own walls, they may take away resources that could be used for the church's critical path needs. And, when a church uses some of its resources in a ministry outside its buildings, it gets its people and money to be involved and invested in the community--exactly what Jesus asked us to do.

Every manager knows that he or she can focus on 3-7 goals at any given time, at a maximum. Do anything more and projects began to suffer; resources get scarce. Businesses know to concentrate on no more than five major items at one time (for confirmation, read any book by business guru Jim Collins). ITT is a great example of business that decided it could do everything at the same time. You've never heard of ITT? That is probably because it went bankrupt decades ago.

Churches need to learn from businesses and remain focused on a primary goal: sharing the Good News of Christ. Extraneous ministries are good, but they can be done by church members volunteering at other well-run organizations. They will still be able to explain their motivation in helping others: because of their desire to share and exemplify God's love.

Here's an analogy: if you take one piece of steel, you can shape it into a spear, trident, or even a pitchfork and those one, three, or five points can make a very strong impact. Those points are always going in the same direction and are virtually unbreakable. That same piece of steel can be made into a rake which has 20 or 30 prongs which bend every which way and sometimes don't even work together, bend at awkward angles, or even break off.

I challenge every church to be a spear, a trident, or a pitchfork--singularly focused, very strong, and unified in its mission. Too many churches are like rakes going in lots of different directions with a wide variety of ministries. Use your resources strategically; use them for the Kingdom of God and the path on which God has set the church.

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Records Retention for Churches

2012-10-26T10:28:00.001-04:00

Records retention of financial data can get very complicated very quickly but I think it should be simple. I've studied different charts but it all can be divided into two categories: 7 years and permanent.

7 Years

Bank statements & reconciliations
Contribution records
Accounts payable records
Payroll detail
And other financial detail records

Permanently

Commercial insurance records and payments (property and workers' comp)
W-2s, W-3s, 1099s, and 1096s
General Ledger detail
Monthly financial statements
And other big picture records

The short-term docs are kept mostly in case of a church or staff member being audited by the IRS; IRS audits can go back only 7 years maximum. Also, after 7 years, most financial info is considered "historical" and not relevant to the church's current status.

The reason for keeping insurance docs forever is for legal purposes: if something comes up years later (child molestation or a building issue), you want to get the insurance company at the time of the incident to pay for and handle all the legal issues You need to keep a copy of the policy and payment of the bill to prove it was in effect. Other long-term docs are kept for legal and financial history; they are rarely consulted but it is a good way to keep financial history. There is no legal or financial reason to keep records of individual gifts beyond 7 years.

BTW, there is no permanent or long-term accepted standard for record-keeping. Right now the best way is on paper with an electronic backup in PDF format. Everyone is waiting on the Library of Congress to determine the definitive long-term storage but LoC is waiting on technology (which changes constantly). Until then, print things out (old-school) and have an electronic version (new school).

These docs need to be stored

In a climate controlled environment such as a closet
Above floor level so that rising water won't damage them
Behind a secure door which is keyed differently than all other building keys
In boxes on shelves to make access in subsequent years easier
Together by fiscal year and all permanent records need to be stored together
And, the financial records storage closet can also be used to store items that just don't fit in the finance office.

Each year, the oldest docs need to be shredded. I took the annual shredding chore and made it into an opportunity to help church members. I announced, especially to the senior adults, the day that shredding would happen and encouraged them to bring in old docs such as tax records and bank statements. The seniors were very grateful that the shredding could be done at no cost to them and it didn't cost the church any extra either.

Shredding will cost less than $100 or you can see if your bank will shred your docs for you. Some businesses have "shredding parties" to draw new customers - take advantage of that even if you don't become one of their customers.

Lead On!

Steve

Proverbs 22:9

2012-10-12T13:52:00.000-04:00

Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.

Motives are at the heart of generosity. Why are you generous? What action, event, cause, purpose, or reason makes you generous? Every person has a different motivation for being generous.

The writer of Proverbs in the Bible says that one motivation is to get nothing in return. Feeding the poor means you don't expect anything in return. In fact, you'll probably be met with suspicion as to why you're feeding the poor - suspicion from both the poor you're helping and from your peers who wonder at your motives. So, to see who is truly generous, see how they act around the truly poor. Observe them, their interactions with the less fortunate. Watch what they say and how they say it to those with few financial means.

A few times (too few, really) I've taken action to be generous according to this verse. Each time I've come away changed. I tell these stories to remind myself to be more generous more often - because it is good for me. Ironically, each time I share, I'm blessed; each time I give, I get.

While I was in grad school, I went to the grocery store. At the checkout line, the lady in front of me forgot her wallet at home. She left the items in the checkout line and went to call her family to bring some money. I knew she was poor from what she was buying and having to put back because it cost too much. When she stepped aside, I got $20 from my wallet and paid for her groceries and asked the cashier not to tell her. I paid for my own and left the store. That was over 25 years ago - it is still a fresh memory.
While on a trip overseas, I came across a family of four who are economic refugees. They travel (with two young children) from country to country looking for jobs. My heart aches for the kids who think this is normal and who don't have the opportunity to have a solid education so they can become professionals to break the economic cycle. My wife and I gave them about $50 (all the money we had on hand). That was last year - I pray they have found a home and a well-paying job, but I doubt it.

There have been many other occasions in the years in between. It is never about the amount of money, it is always, always, always about the attitude of the heart. Each time I have been generous is etched in my memory. Each time I have asked enough to know that the recipient is poor. Every single time I have been overwhelmed with the sense of what I ought to do. And every time I did the right thing, I have welled up with a feeling a gratitude that I was able to be generous. Yes, there have been times I have not been generous - and those are also etched in my memory and are embarassing to me. They are lessons to my heart, to always have the attitude of generosity.

I challenge you to be generous in your daily life. Every so often some opportunity will present itself and you'll have a choice - to be generous or to withhold a blessing. Believe me, it won't affect your wallet (it really won't), but it will affect your heart (not to mention the recipient). Be generous.

Lead On!
Steve

read: greedy, selfish, self-centered, miserly, stingy

Generosity Index

2012-10-05T17:25:00.000-04:00

You need to know about the annual Generosity Index which is an interesting measure (at least to us numbers geeks) of how generous people are. This link is to the 2011 publication of the 2009 tax data. The compilers gather data from the US Internal Revenue Service (Canada is in the survey but in this blog I'm referring only to the US). They gather data by state:

Total amount of income on all the tax docs filed
Total number of tax filers
Total number of tax filers that made a charitable contribution
Total amount given to charities

The data is sliced and diced in two primary ways: 1) percentage of total aggregate income given to charity and 2) amount of average charitable donation. Those two are merged to get the Generosity Index and then states are ranked by each of these.

It is interesting to see the number of tax filers in a specific state but we don't know if these donors gave $10 or $10,000 so I prefer to look at the percentage of income that is given to charities. That percentage is very telling about those who are inclined to be generous with their money. BTW, by far the largest recipient of charitable dollars are churches - no one else comes close.

The most generous state is Utah whose residents give an average of 3.09% of all their income to charities. The second is Georgia whose tax filers give away 1.85% of their collective income. There is a big drop from #1 to #2 and that is due to the Mormon emphasis on tithing.
The top ten most generous states are

1. Utah
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. Maryland
5. South Carolina
6. Idaho
7. North Carolina
8. Oklahoma
9. Mississipp and New York (tie)

The top ten stingiest states are

41. Ohio
42. New Mexico
43. Arkansas
44. Hawaii
45. Rhode Island
46. West Virginia
47. New Hampshire and Vermont (tie)
49. Maine
50. North Dakota

Generalizations are rarely correct but there are interesting patterns

Many of the most generous states are seen to be very religious (Utah & Idaho with Latter-Day Saints; Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi with Baptists and Methodists).
Many of the most generous states are seen as some of the poorest states
Many of the stingiest states are in the Northeast: Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine which is an area of the US that is considered less religious
Is there a correlation between faith and generosity - it would seem so (if we are looking broadly).

Years ago I read that research by Empty Tomb, Inc. showed some interesting statistics:

In 1932 the average Christian gave 3.2% of his or her income to the church. This is at the depth of the Depression, when people had less to give than ever before as a nation. It was a very, very tough time for the US.
Just before the economic collapse of 2008, the average Christian was giving 2.3% of his income to charity. During one of the most prosperous economic times in the US, Christians were more stingy than during the Great Depression. The figure of 2.3% has steadily dropped since, which means Christians are giving even less.

You can draw your own conclusions from this information. Here are mine:

More money does not make you more generous.
Generosity comes from the heart, not the wallet.
Being poor (a relative term in our country when we compare ourselves to other countries) means you understand better than others the importance of helping others.
A person's faith and religion plays a large role in his or her generosity.

Lead On!
Steve

EveryTHING Ends Up in the Trash

2012-09-24T16:36:00.000-04:00

I have two kids: a teenager and a preteen. One of the lessons that I, as a parent, am trying to teach them is the lack of value of possessions. My wife are not wealthy, but we are blessed financially and can use our money to give our kids lots of things. However, we know that everyTHING we give our kids will end up in a landfill as trash. No exceptions - even our house will end up there at some point.

There is one thing that we can give our kids that will never end up in the trash: memories. Memories will last a lifetime. Memories are stories and when coupled with pictures, they are powerful reminders of days gone by. Those bygone days (like today) are not perfect, but they hold their value better than most possessions.

So a couple of years ago, we began carrying out what we feel is a much better investment of our money: going on trips in the US and internationally. We drove from our home in Virginia to Oklahoma for a family wedding and on the way back, we visited Ft. Worth, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Louisville, Mammoth Cave, and other sights on the way. Last year we took a trip to Spain and visited Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla. We're already dreaming and planning more trips across the US and to Europe (our preferred international destination).

These trips are fun (my kids are great travelers), instructional and educational (they've visited the Gateway Arch and the Alhambra, learning about culture and architecture), and priceless bonding time (my kids get to see their parents in a different light in a different venue). My wife and I want to continue traveling as often as we can; we are blessed financially to be able to do this, and (more importantly) we consider it one of the best things we can do for our kids. Travel and memories are certainly better and longer lasting than a video game or clothes.

To etch these memories in our collective memory, my wife does something wonderful at the end of each year and special trip. She uses an online publisher to create a picture book. These picture or memory books are easy to do, relatively inexpensive, and they will be wonderful to look at years later.

I don't want to tell anyone how to spend their money. I will suggest you consider how you're investing your money in your kids and in the future. Are you putting it into assets that will wither up, break, and end up in the trash? Or are you putting your money in priceless, precious memories which involve spending time with your kids? You don't have to travel (that is our choice and we're grateful we can do that), but you do have to set aside time to be with your family.

Invest yourself in the future—in memories made with your kids and your family. You'll never regret it.

Lead On!
Steve

Using Church Money Wisely

2012-09-17T19:56:00.000-04:00

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Malachi 3:10
Your congregation knows that the money they tithe to the church has several positive effects. First, it allows you, the church leader, to bless others, pay bills, maintain the church building or purchase items for the church. Additionally, your church members know that when they obey God and give to the church, the Lord will continue to bless them in return, according to His will.
Church members know that tithing is not only used as a blessing to the church leaders, but a blessing to the congregation and community as well. Just as we are to manage our personal finances wisely, church leaders must abstain from careless or unnecessary spending and make intelligent purchases for the church when necessary.
As a leader in the church, your members often look to you for leadership and guidance; if they see that the leaders of the church are spending their hard-earned money on extravagant items that are impractical for the church, one of two things will happen. They will either think that it’s in their own best interest to spend their own money frivolously, thinking that it’s more important to have finer things, or they will become frustrated or angry that their tithes were spent on superfluous or showy items.
Most churches must present any major purchases to a committee for approval beforehand. Although this process may seem tedious and trivial at times, these groups are in place to help you make wise purchasing decisions and avoid rash spending that could upset – or even anger—other members of your church. And when you are faced with gargantuan financial decisions, such as building an addition to your church because of growth in attendance, consulting with members of your building committee can be a tremendous blessing.
Another major purchase that churches must face from time to time is that of church furnishings. Chairs and carpet become worn, pulpit furniture becomes outdated and baptisteries need to be replaced. Or perhaps your church has expanded and grown out of its current furnishings. When your church is in need of new church furniture, don’t be afraid to shop around. Ask other leaders and members in the church if they have any suggestions or if they have a church furniture store in mind that they can recommend. Compare prices and quality before committing to purchase a specific chair, pulpit or baptistery. Remember that the cheapest piece of furniture on the market might not be the wisest decision, especially when you could have paid a little bit more for something that would last twice as long.
As leaders in the church, we must remember that it’s okay – and even encouraged – to lean on others for guidance, strength and wisdom in our roles. And when we can’t find these things in our fellow man, we always have our Lord and Savior to point us in the right direction.
Tina Pashley is a writer and church consultant for Gabriel Services and Church Furniture Store in Rocky Mount, Virginia.

Thanks to Tina for writing this guest blog.

Lead On!
Steve