Vestry Papers / Finance

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  • Administering charitable endowments ✓
    Healthy endowments play a significant role in the long-term stability of a church. Part of the stewardship responsibility of a vestry, therefore, is to understand the rules associated with the proper administration of endowment funds.
  • What about endowment spending policies? ✓
    There are two basic ways of distributing money from your endowment fund: an “income-only” policy, or a “total return” policy.
  • Swimming naked ✓
    Swimming naked, you say? How is that like using endowment income for operating needs? Answer: No one notices ‘til the tide goes out.
  • No endowment fund means just that ✓
    Two stories, one problem. Both were small churches. Perhaps they thought they were too small to have an endowment fund. Or perhaps they thought the vestry would deal with a major bequest when the time came. In both cases, the churches quickly establi…
  • Dealing with risk and falling markets... ✓
    In bad times and good, the principles that vestries should follow in their fiduciary oversight of long-term investments are the same. Especially when the markets are down, it is essential not to lose your head.
  • Audits: A necessity, not an option ✓
    Especially in these difficult economic times, when every penny counts, an effective church audit is a necessity and no longer an option.
  • A Good Crisis is a Good Opportunity ✓
    The latest saying making the rounds is, “Never waste a good crisis.” And with good reason, for whether congregations find their budgets funded through pledges or endow- ment income or both, vestries are facing hard financial decisions.
  • L.E.A.D.E.R. — The Mission-Driven Budget ✓
    What follows are insights into the “narrative budget,” growing in popularity because of its ability to draw members of the congregation into the budget process...and keep them there.
  • The Ten Commandments for Vestries ✓
    Thou shalt accept the fact that you can't fix everything.
  • Create a sound parish budget ✓
    Effective budgeting is not the result of the stressful days and nights of budget preparation, or the reams of financial spreadsheets produced, or even the many hard choices required to finalize a budget.
  • The spiritual side of church finances ✓
    As vestry members, we often spend so much time worrying over the “deficits” and “losses” and “funding gaps” reported each month that we are unable to see the true abundance that is right before us.
  • Facing Financial Adversity
    “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life; what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on....”
  • When the Next Egg Shrinks
    How do you manage your parish’s operations when the value of the endowment shrinks?
  • Authentic Tough Talk
    We pushed and pried in private with some vestry members. What were their real attitudes toward “the numbers?”
  • Finances: Leading by Example
    Like pruning a vineyard in a drought, how a parish spends its money during tough times is critical — and like it or not, sends a strong message to parishioners about their own spending