Speakers: Rev. Nancy Bowen
Rev. Ralph Mero

Despite the often-quoted observation that if your sanctuary is more than 80% full, your congregation will not grow without enlarging your facility, Salt Palace 250D was more than 80% full with about 60 GA attendees crowded into it. All have come with the objective of finding out what "financial healthy congregations" means and how to improve the financial health of their own churches.

Attendees were asked if there were specific areas of church finance that they wish to explore. Some of the burning issues for them are:

• How to break the taboos and open up the culture of silence surrounding money talk?

• Matching church spending to congregational and community needs.

• Establishment of annuities, endowment funds and bequests.

• Other successful fund raising projects besides pledges.

• How to optimize the use of available personnel?

• Financing new building.

• How to get away from the myths of scarcity and into abundance?

• Definition of financial stability. How much should a church save?

• Would it be a bad time to have a capital campaign during Ministerial transition period?

A recommended book on church finances is "Effective Church Accounting" by Richard Argo which is, unfortunately, out of print. However, a limited number of copies are available from Rev. Mero for $3. To obtain a copy, email Mero at rmero@uua.org or write to the UUA Office of Church Staff Finances, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108. Telephone: (617)-742-2100, ext. 404.

Some useful workshop handouts include:

• Characteristics of a Financially Healthy Congregation

• Do-able Changes You Could Make This Year

A church's health and vitality depend on the health and vitality of its leadership, both lay and professional. To change a church's existing culture to one of commitment and dedication, the church's leaders must be willing to be role models. Mero's model of generosity and fair giving is to give 5% adjusted gross income to one's church, 5% to other organizations, 10% savings for the future, and to live on 80% of one's income. This, for him, means he will not be able to have new cars, nor vacations in the Bahamas or Paris. Studies have shown that UUs, on the average, give only 1.2% of their adjusted gross income to all charities.

Taking care of a church's financial health is analogous to caring for one's garden. A gardener does not simply till the soil, plant the seeds in the Spring, and let it go. Similarly, the work of the canvass committee does not stop after a pledge drive, but continues all year round, inspiring the congregation and preparing them for larger giving the following year.

Another recommended resource is "Budget With a Mission". Rather than line item budgeting, Bowen recommends "program budgeting" where people can see at a glance how their money is being spent on different programs as percentages of the total.

Studies have also shown that a church does not grow as a result of renting out its facility to a play school. For a church to depend on rental income to balance its budget is unwise. On the other hand, a church needs to maximize building use for the benefit of its congregation and the larger community without the explicit goal of rental income.

One church that began with its founding members each bequesting $1,000 to the church has continued to this day to encourage this practice for all its members. Its current bequests total $8M.

As Director of Church Staff Compensation, Rev. Mero is inundated with calls from church presidents, treasurers, finance chairs and ministers alike with questions concerning church staff compensation and church finances. He has made available the following documents for people to access much of this information on the web:

• Financial Management for Congregations

• Compensation Management for UU Organization

• Internal Audits for UU Congregations (not yet available online)

• The Essential Resources List

• UUA Fundraising Consultants

Reported by Kok Heong McNaughton, formatted for the web by Margy Levine Young

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