[Magdalen] Budgets Question

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Marion> My fellow warden sees it as patting ourselves on the back.

Well, there is the element of 'tithing' to the community, when possible. My 
previous rector (present at the Building Fund work around, which the more I 
think of it was endorsed by the diocese as a way of 'growing' the church) 
had a serious leaning toward spending at least 10% of our annual stewardship 
collection on outreach in the community and beyond. Our ECW (Episcopal 
Church Women) also had a hefty budget that was 'self funded' (from an annual 
craft show/lunch/other stuff extravaganza) from which they donated 50% into 
outreach on behalf of the ECW (sometimes something the Rector drew our 
attention to) and the balance mostly to in-reach - babysitting costs for 
Sunday morning 7-12 noon, all three or two priest's discretionary fund 
donations (generous) - not the only source and other diocesan women's 
projects.  I was blessed with this model, which no longer exists at that 
church due to several factors like ageing, people moving or leaving and last 
but certainly NOT least the heavy hand of the rector who has now been there 
for 12 years (can it be??), and realize that it is not at all the norm here.


Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck

"Mercy and compassion are more than personal options. They are the antidotes 
to that fear and hatred." Mark Singel


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From: "Marion Thompson" <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 11:34 AM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Budgets Question

> It's not a matter of laundering, especially as the money doesn't actually 
> pass through our operating budget.    FaithWorks, the Diocesan scheme that 
> raises money for all the ministries it supports, is the only one that is 
> more closely tied to us, but those funds are in Other Income, too.  We can 
> keep 15% of what we raise for the Diocese for local charities and we pay 
> that straight out, so Net Zero.
>
> I thought that it would be a good thing optically if there was a line item 
> for something directly supported by the church, an expense not neceaarily 
> covered 100% by donations, something that would make the point the 
> Outreach people want to make.  However, I don't think it fits our 
> accounting  and my invoking Matthew 25: 34-36 for the optics has not 
> carried the day.  My fellow warden sees it as patting ourselves on the 
> back.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>
>
> On 1/23/2018 9:52 AM, ME Michaud wrote:
>> I have a naughty outreach story:
>> I knew of a rector once who requested an gift to a pivate school.
>> Miraculously,
>> the amount of the gift was nearly identical
>> to the amount of his son’s tuition at that same school.
>>
>> That said, I can imagine your discussions are lively.
>> I’ll be interested in the consensus.
>> My own thoughts?
>> Not declaring money you raise to the diocese
>> feels a little like money-laundering,
>> but I could probably be persuaded to think in the opposite direction.
>> -M
>>
>> What is the practice out there for recording support of Outreach 
>> activities?
>>> Our people are generous donors in all sorts of ways beyond Givings.  Our
>>> Outreach Committee would like a line in the Operating Budget that
>>> somehow reflects that our  financial plans extend to meeting needs of
>>> the less fortunate, locally, in the Diocese, nationally and
>>> internationally.  Does everyone routinely simply record outreach-type
>>> revenue as an in-out money-raised = money-paid component of Other 
>>> Income?
>>>
>>> One hitch is that our revenue figure as shown in the Operating Budget is
>>> used for our Diocesan assessment.
>>>
>>> Just curious.  We're having a brisk discussion at this end that reflects
>>> several points of view.
>>>
>>> Marion, a pilgrim
>>>
>