In June, we made dramatic changes
in where we spent our money at Hilltop.
In addition, the church leadership saw a need for us to speak more
frequently about how we are doing from an income basis. For those in worship on Sunday, December 22,
I spoke for a few minutes on where we are from an income level and our
financial position.
We have available to us three
piles of money. They are not equal in
terms of our ability to reach them to help us handle our obligations.
We have an endowment (shown in
green on the chart in figure 1) and it has grown over $20,000 in the last two
years. It is by intentional and
appropriate design, the most difficult to access. This is good.
This account has over $120,000 in it as of the end of November.
Figure 1:
Resources Potentially Available to Hilltop
Next we have money that has
either been designated for specific purposes by the donor or the church (shown
in blue on the chart in figure 1). Donor
designated is more restrictive in what we may or may not do with those
resources. Money by a donor for a new
sound system is restricted. Money
designated by the church for a new sound system is not. This is also good. This account has over $60,000 in it as of the
end of November. Various building
accounts, mission resources, and funds generated for both choir robes and youth
make up the vast majority of these resources.
Finally, we have those resources
that provide us the banking fluidity to conduct monthly business (shown in red
on the chart in figure 1). Frankly it
was the $30,000 drop in this account between January, 2012 and May, 2013 that
prompted us to set in motion a change in authorized spending and our more
active discussion of church finances.
This account has rebounded. This
is also good. This account has over
$47,000 in it as of the end of November and that is +$13,000 over where we were
in May.
We have over $220,000 to help us
finance the church. It is not all
liquid. It is not all disposable at a
moment’s notice. But we are in a better
place than we were in May.
Our spending for 2014 will be
based on our approved budget which decreases proposed budgetary spending by
right at $40,000.
Figure 2:
Congregational Giving
Figure 2 represents monthly cash
flow by the congregation to support the operations of the church. Blue was 2012 and red is 2013. This is not choir robe, building designated
or a pass-through heading to Denver, Salt Lake or Nashville. It is what comes
in from the congregation to support the operations of the church. As I write this, we need for a little over
$35,000 to come in for December to allow us to exceed last year for
December. December is a five-Sunday
month and that usually helps a little.
Figure 3: Some
Thoughts
Figure 3 is a collection of
thoughts. It does extend a request to
those who plan on catching up by December 31st for IRS
purposes. This last Sunday past is basically our
probable last collection opportunity for that.
We count and deposit once a week.
The real point newsletter point here is the Capital Campaign for the
Sound System. We want to get this in
time to install and work out the newness by Easter. If you were here for the December 8th
Community Event, you heard the board issues in our welcome and initial
invocations. We cannot fix this too
soon. That said, resources for the Sound
System must be from extra mile giving and not a diversion of operational
resources.
We have in the last few weeks
made decisions to resume the payment of our “apportionment” to the
Conference. On another day I will write
an article on what that is but I do ask that you trust it is a good investment
in the ministries of the United Methodist Church. Additionally, we shared nearly $6,500 with
others beyond our walls. These include
but are not limited to: Crossroads,
United Methodist Committee on Relief, Salt Lake Rescue Mission, the Utah-Western
Colorado Committee on Native American Ministries. Finally, half of our Christmas Eve offering
went to Imagine No Malaria. We are well
on the way to making our $10,000 goal here, standing at $9,000+ on December 30, 2013. In fact, in this area, we are the best UM Church in Utah.
Overall, I am optimistic,
cautiously so, but optimistic nonetheless about our finances. We are managing our spending more consistent
with our real income. I do continue to
believe that we are under resourcing the building and long term, we need to be
more diligent in designating resources away from operations into infrastructure
sustainment. We will get there.
Selah, Pastor Dennis
