Telling Stories

Posted on July 24, 2011 Written by

Here are two secrets – people that give money to churches and other non-profit organizations really, really want to know what their money was used for. AND, if you tell them and it is a compelling and life-changing story, they’ll give you more money.

Most churches do a poor job of telling stories to their constituents. Churches just presume that people will continue to give “because that’s what the Bible teaches.” Sorry, that doesn’t cut it any more. Our society has trained people, especially the under-40 crowd, to ask questions about “what happened to my money.” They want to know – they expect and demand to know. There are two consequences:

  • Tell people where their money went
    • Once people see the good things that happened as a result of their money, they will tell others about it and, very often, give you more money. Telling stories is a game-changer: people will step up to the plate like they’ve not done before and they’ll tell others the stories they are hearing. Telling stories is huge!
  • Don’t tell people where their money went
    • If you do not prioritize telling people about how their money was used and you just presume that money will continue to come in, then you continue to operate as you are now. You may not see a decline in giving but you will probably not have an increase either.

How do you tell people? That’s easy. Every way you possibly can.  Use every medium possible from print to social media to illustrations in sermons to my favorite, completely altering the offering time.

Telling stories during offering time
The offering time has changed in the past couple of decades. It used to be a time for special music to show off some piece the choir or a soloist worked on and wanted to fit in the worship service. Not any more. Offerings need to be interactive and here’s how.

  • Every Sunday of the year, have a story about how the offerings have been used. You’ll need to coordinate the stories – don’t just insert stories – make them relevant to the message and/or to something going on in the life of the church at that time.
  • If you don’t have 52 stories, you’ve got serious problems and they’re not financial – your church is dying because you’re not aware of how at least 52 lives have been affected by your church.
  • Take 3 or 4 minutes each week during the offering to tell a story in different formats
    • Use videos of different things, slide shows, live interviews on stage, narratives, songs by children, conversion and baptism stories, etc.
    • Alter the format each week to keep the story-telling time fresh and interesting
    • Give each ministry of the church (missions, education, worship, fellowship, care, and administration) two or three times during the year for them to tell an interesting story about their ministry and how people’s contributions made all the difference.
    • If you’re doing a live interview, rehearse with the people you’re interviewing so that you’ll know their story and can help them get over their nerves about standing in front of “the whole church.”
    • When planning a story, think about the end first. What do you want people in the pew to hear and take home? Then backtrack till you come to an appropriate place to start the story. But always, always think about the end of the story first and then decide how to start the story.
  • Tell stories about
    • The youth mission trip that you’re raising money for, that is going out next week, and that just came back. That’s three times to tell the same story with different angles each time.
    • The Vacation Bible School that is coming next week and that happened last week. Two times for stories.
    • People!!! Every story is about people – every story must be centered around a person or group of people. Stories should have names (first name is enough) of lives that have been changed because of what people gave. I can’t emphasize this enough – even if the story is about how members gave money for a building, then talk about who will use that building and why!

Critical Elements
There are two things that need to be in every story-telling time. These two things need to be used every week and they need to be said in different ways so that these words are honest and genuine, not a refrain that everyone tunes out.  Here they are:

  • Thank you
    • Say thank you every time you can. People like to be thanked, even if they only gave a couple of bucks. If people are shown appreciation and not taken for granted, they’re more like to give next time. Say thank you as often as you can and be innovative in the ways that you use those words.
  • Generosity
    • Use the words generous and/or generosity as often as possible. Generosity has replaced “stewardship.” There are no negative connotations to generosity while stewardship can have some minor misunderstandings. Use these words – generous is a more accurate depiction of what God has done for each of us in opening his hand to share with us his wealth of love and in spreading his arms out to die for us and in holding us close to him in times of our distress.

We need to encourage our constituents to be generous, like God, and thank them for their generosity. Tell them stories about how generous God has been with us and how their own generosity has changed the lives of so many people.  So please, TELL STORIES!!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: budget, church finances, communications, generosity Tagged: , , ,

Financial Statements – Balance Sheet

Posted on July 20, 2011 Written by

This is a pure accounting post – fair warning.

The balance sheet is a snapshot of your organization’s financial status at one specific moment in time, usually the end of the month for public purposes but it can be produced for any date of the month or year. The balance sheet is divided into three main sections: assets, liabilities, and equity. For non-profits, I have specific guidelines for each of these three areas; these guidelines differ from what you may see in other balance sheets but it has passed muster on decades of audits and reviews by Big Four audit firm audit partners.

Assets

  • Assets should only be cash assets. Cash assets means “money in the bank” – what you can actually spent as of the Balance Sheet date. My balance sheet has three lines for assets:
    • Checking account – I have one and only checking account. It is easier to reconcile and saves lots of time of transferring between banks. Having more money in one bank gives me more clout with that one bank – clout is good!
    • Endowment Fund or Foundation – this is a one-line summary of the endowment funds. The line item detail of the various sub-accounts is spelled out in the liabilities section of the balance sheet.
    • Petty Cash – if you have a petty cash bag somewhere in the church, that amount needs to show up in the assets. It’s not going to be much, between $50 and $250, but for good accounting records, you need to show that money.
  • What is not in the assets category?
    • Property, plant & equipment or PP&E (sometimes known as furnishings, fixtures and equipment) is one of the biggies not in there. Why? Because my experience is that someone will see that you have several million dollars of PP&E and say that the church already has millions of dollars in the bank. Trying to explain to Mr. or Mrs. Smith that PP&E is bricks and mortar and not dollars in a bank can be difficult. I just avoid the conversation altogether by omitting PP&E. I don’t ignore PP&E – one of the notes of the audited financial statements shows the insured value of the church’s PP&E. That should be based off of a valuation done within the past five years but it can be taken from the commercial property insurance contract for the church.
    • Depreciation is the other thing that is not in the assets. Depreciation is done purely for tax purposes. Since a non-profit does not file income taxes and thus does not take a deduction for depreciation, there is no need to record all the inventory and track all their depreciation. FYI, I track inventory differently – every few years I get a video inventory of the entire church, inside and out, so that if there is a disaster, the insurance company can value things from a picture and not from a written document. I make several copies of the video inventory and these copies are placed in several locations, onsite and offsite including with the insurance agent.
    • Accounts Receivable – I use the cash basis of accounting which means that I only record cash when it is received and when it is spent. Thus, I do not record receivables such as member pledges. People may pledge to give your non-profit some money, but there is no legal binding to require them to give you the money, only their conscience. Because I do not know if I will get their pledge or not, I do not record money until I receive it in the office. It keeps things neat and clean.
Liabilities
  • Liabilities are monies that are due to other organizations or are designated for a specific cause. I divide the liabilities section of a church’s balance sheet into several sections.
    • Payables are monies that are due to others. Typically the payables I have are for taxes, retirement, and other payroll withholding items.These are monies that were withheld from paychecks and the organization is holding them only until it is time to file with the proper authorities.
    • Donor Restricted Ministry Funds are funds that were given by people for a specific purpose such as the benevolent fund, the youth mission trip, a building campaign, etc. Legally, the non-profit can only spend the money on the cause to which the donor gave the money. If you spend the money on anything else without the permission of the donor, you’re in legal hot water (close to the boiling point!). I have this category because all of the funds in the donor restriction ministry fund section will be spent by church members or committees of the church. Members of the church will determine where and how the money will be spent.
    • Donor Restricted Missions Funds are funds that were given by people for a specific organization that is not located at the church. These funds will not be spent by church members or committees. Instead the monies are forwarded on several times a year to the appropriate organization who in turn will spend the money on their mission. Examples of these funds are national or international mission offerings and organizations with whom the church has an affinity but does not exercise control such as Habitat or a campground.
    • Church Designated Funds are funds the church set aside out of its budget and/or out of any funds leftover at the end of each budget year. Forward-thinking churches will establish reserve funds for major building maintenance items (think A/C units costing $30,000 each), office equipment (new computers), etc. The church is in complete control of these funds and can change when and how it spends these monies because these monies came from undesignated gifts.
      • A special mention to one fund. I am a strong proponent of establishing the “Unspent Ministry Fund” which is the church’s rainy day fund or emergency fund equivalent to 30, 60 or 90 days worth of revenues (whatever the church’s finance committee establishes). The source of these funds is the money that is “left over” at the end of each budget year. Instead of leaving it in the equity section of the church balance sheet, I clear out that figure to Unspent Ministry Funds. This helps in a several ways:
        • I can look at the equity line and see immediately how well (or not) the church is doing this year and
        • It clears out all profits and losses from prior years into this one fund
    • Endowment Fund or Foundation is the detail for all the various sub-accounts of the endowment fund or foundation.
      • My first presumption is that your church has a foundation – that will be a subject for a future post. If you don’t have a foundation or endowment fund, you need to get one this year – do not wait!!
      • Secondly, these sub-accounts show what the church and its members value by establishing a separate fund for a specific cause. These are the only permanently restricted accounts (for purposes of FASB 116 and 117). I work with donors to establish funds and then spend money from the fund according to their wishes. The church has ultimate control over these funds but they should spend them according to the donor’s desires. If you do that, you’ll get more money, guaranteed!

Equity

  • Church’s don’t have equity, right? Actually, they do. All the cash and all the bricks and mortar belong to the church members. If the church were to close its doors, they would have to figure out what to do with all the money and mortar. Before you think you can cash in on this, IRS regulations regarding 51(c)(3)s stipulate that the bylaws of the organization must name a successor non-profit to receive all the equity of a church should it fold.
  • The way that I use the equity section is not unique, just different. I don’t have any PP&E (see assets for that discussion) so several million dollars is missing from the equity. Instead, I have one line which shows the net surplus or deficit for the year. That one figure shows me at a glance how well or poorly we’re doing for this fiscal year – I don’t need to dig any further. The bottom line is truly the bottom line!
  • At the end of the year, I use the equity to fund several things if there is a surplus. Use the leftovers to pay for long-term things that you would otherwise not be able to afford. As I tell people, I can’t find $100,000 this year but I can find it in the next five years. Plan for the future by taking a little money each year so that at the end of several years you’ve got what you need.
    • The first thing I do is to ensure that the Unspent Ministry Fund is fully funded to the level stipulated by the finance committee.
    • The next this is to fund any reserve accounts or upcoming projects that need funding. Sometimes there are projects that need some extra money that wasn’t in the budget. Some times you need to set aside extra money for computers or a mission trip in a few years. Take a little each year and after three or four years, you’ll have the money for new children’s furniture or a youth trip to Scotland.
    • The last thing is to use the leftovers to pay for capital improvement projects in the following fiscal year. Every organization needs to spend money on its facilities but often the problem is they don’t know where to get the money. The annual “leftovers” is a great place to get them. Use that money, given by members for their church, to improve the church facilities. That will help you from needing a capital campaign to fix up the church buildings and you can tell members regularly during the year how you are spending their money to fix up their building.
Lead On!
Steve
Filed Under: church finances, church financial statements Tagged: ,

Thermo-Wars

Posted on July 9, 2011 Written by
I maintain my HVAC (heating, venting, and air conditioning) equipment in as good an operating condition as I possibly can, but that doesn’t stop thermo-wars: people sitting next to each other where one is wrapped in a sweater and the other person is fanning himself because of the heat. I use a laser thermometer in these thermo-wars. Actually, my main weapon is education and the laser thermometer is a tool in the education process.
The laser thermometer looks like a small gun that shoots a laser beam. Within a few seconds after pulling the trigger,  the device displays the temperature of what the beam. The closer the laser thermometer is to the target, the more accurate the reading because longer “throws” allow for more dispersal of the feedback to the sensor. I use this device in several ways:
  • When staff or members tell me something is wrong, I get a laser thermometer reading and show it to the person.
    • If the temp is off, I thank the person and begin working on the problem. That lets the person know I’m not ignoring them. That makes for good public relations with parishioners.
    • If the temp is fine, I show the screen to the person. Sometimes people trust technology more than other people and the laser thermometer can help convince them that the temperature is “normal.”
  • I’ve also bought several laser thermometers for various staff persons. This empowers them to check the temp themselves. Then they can decide whether or not to call me. Giving laser thermometers to others has cut down on the number of “false alarm” calls to me.
  • When I do call my HVAC company to report a problem, I can tell them what the real temp is rather than give a vague response about what the temp is. It helps me to have better communications with the HVAC technician and so my relationship with him is improved.
As I said, it is a neat “toy” but it really does help members see what the real temp is and helps me respond to the members and to the HVAC company. The laser thermometer helps members know the real temp; but the real savings is in controlling the temperature in the building.
Lead On!
Steve
Filed Under: buildings, facilities Tagged: ,

HVAC

Posted on July 8, 2011 Written by

Heating and air conditioning are HUGE consumers of a church’s budget – somewhere in the 5% to 10% range depending on the energy efficiencies of the buildings. There are direct costs to buy and install the equipment, to pay the electric and gas bills, and to pay for ongoing maintenance of the equipment itself including regular PM (preventive maintenance). There are also indirect costs of taking staff time to oversee this equipment and to handle the distraction of members who become obsessed with the temperature.

To save money in this area you need to know and control several things:

  • What the temperature is when it comes into the room
  • How long the conditioned air is on
  • Where conditioned air leaves the room
  1. To control the temperature for the air coming into a room, I set all the thermostats at
    1. Occupied Heat (people using the room during heating season), 68 Fahrenheit
    2. Unoccupied Heat (the room not used during the heating season), 60
    3. Occupied Air Conditioning, 74
    4. Unoccupied Air Conditioning, 80
    5. You don’t want to set the unoccupied temperature too high or low – that will cause the unit to have to work extra hard to get to the occupied temperature when it is called for. The occupied temps are just inside the “uncomfortable” zone – the temps are still comfortable but because they are at the limit, they save large amounts of money than if they were right in the middle of the comfort zone. Frankly, there is no comfort zone that meets everyone’s needs – I hit the edges of the range and then rely on people to dress accordingly, but they still complain. Keeping your building temps within these ranges will save your budget thousands of dollars – I highly encourage you to do this.
  2. To control how long the conditioned air comes into the room, there are several cool pieces of technology
    1. These are great because they can turn a unit on and off when the room is being used according to the program that is keyed into it. This ensures that the units are running only when someone has told the unit to run. Most programmable units have some sort of temporary override button or control. The override is to ensure that when there is an unscheduled meeting, the unit can be turned on in order to get the room to the occupied temp (whether heat or A/C).
    2. The bad news about programmable thermostats is that they rely on humans. Humans have a tendency to want to mess around with thermostats. I’ve found thermostats with the date and time changed (which plays havoc with the schedule that was originally programmed). I’ve also seen thermostats with the programmed temp and run times completely changed. And it doesn’t matter if the thermostat is behind a locked casing or a locked screen, that is just a challenge to some people to figure out how. The human factor is pretty frustrating.
    1. Programable thermostats – this technology has been around for quite a while
  3. The latest piece of technology which I plan to try in a few places pretty soon is a thermostat with a motion sensor. The idea is that when the motion sensor comes on due to movement, it turns on the thermostat which in turn may (or may not) call for the unit to bring the room to an occupied temp.
    1. There are several good things about this:
      1. You only need to program the thermostat (these motion sensor stats are also programmable) for the times of the week when people will definitely be in the room. The rest of the week the unit will turn itself on when it senses motion in the room.
      2. The thermostat will keep the unit on so long as movement is sensed and when it comes on, it will stay on for 15-20 minutes (whatever is programmed when it is setup).
      3. This device completely eliminates the human error element and that is a huge relief.
      4. You will see immediate savings because the unit is running only when it needs to run – not when the room is empty (even though a meeting was scheduled).
    2. There are several bad things (or perhaps I should say, “unknown things”):
      1. The unit will turn on whenever a custodian comes into the room to get one chair or when kids are playing “hide and seek” in the room.
      2. If the unit turns on and off several times a day, it can shorten the life of the unit by several months or even years. That can be mitigated by lengthening the “on” time for the unit to 20-30 minutes but that will also decrease the savings.
      3. These thermostats are not cheap. And, if the thermostat controls temps in several rooms, you’ll need to install a sensor in each major room controlled by the stat so that if someone enters a room, that sensor will “see” the person and turn on the unit (even though the actual motion sensor thermostat is a couple of rooms away). Installing the extra sensors is not cheap either.
  4. There are only just so many places conditioned air can leave a room
    1. That is a huge expense to most churches – let me suggest that you begin phasing in the windows over a 5 or 10 year time period. Divide the church up into 5 or 10 sections and begin replacing windows one section at at time. Doing it in phases will not consume your maintenance budget in one year but spread the cost over several years.
    2. The best time to do all energy efficiencies, is at the beginning of your budget year. If you don’t have a capital budget (and most churches don’t), then spend the money in the first month of your fiscal year. Charge some of the expense to your maintenance budget and the other part to your utility budget (because your utility budget will decrease that year due to energy savings).
    3. One way to fund capital needs, is to take any “leftover” budget money at the end of the fiscal year and put that money into a fund to pay for capital items. I’ll explain this concept in another post – it’s one of my favorite ways to get things paid for without hurting the budget.
    1. Ceiling – most commercial buildings have drop ceilings for the convenience of accessing equipment and running wires without destroying a hard ceiling. However, some amount of conditioned air is lost above the drop ceiling. The good news is that it is not that much and it is usually is a layer of hot air (because hot air rises)
    2. Doors – every time a door is opened, air rushes out (or in). If the room’s thermostat is in occupied mode, then it is a great idea to keep doors closed. Hallways may or may not have conditioned air but hallways, by definition, lead to doors that go to the outside.
    3. Walls – yes, walls leak air. If you can, insulate them in order to keep conditioned air inside the room. Insulating a wall after it is built is not cheap and it is very messy. But it can lead to energy savings.
    4. Windows – this is probably the place in a room where conditioned air is lost the fastest. Windows leak like a sieve. I highly encourage you to get double-paned, energy efficient windows in all your openings.
There are significant and real savings is in controlling the temperature in the building.

 

Lead On!
Steve
Filed Under: budget, buildings, facilities Tagged: , ,

10 Ways for a Church to Have More Money, Guaranteed (part 2 – getting money)

Posted on June 24, 2011 Written by
There are two different ways for a church (or any organization) to have more money: spend less and receive more. I want to give five ideas in each category that every church should implement so they can have more money to spend on their God-given mission.
5 Ways to Make Money
  • Tell stories of how money is being used
    • The offering time is the most worst used time in a worship service. I rarely use absolutes – but this one is true. Offerings are usually filled with a prayer and special music. Boring!
    • People in the pew are dying to know how their money is being used – they have no idea what is being done with it. They’re not going to read a financial statement nor should they have to. Instead, it is your obligation to tell people how their offerings are being used.
    • Find 52 compelling stories and insert those in the offertory time. If you don’t have 52 stories, then you have really big problems. Work with the worship leader to coordinate where in the worship the offering time will fall so that the offertory and its accompanying story add synergy to the service. Insert stories that relate to the sermon, to the liturgical calendar, to the school year, to seasons of the life of a church, etc. Make the story/offering time a key element of worship, not just a way to kill three minutes.
    • Give every ministry a chance to be on the platform telling one (and only ONE) story. Tell the story about real people, real events. Give your ministries the face time with the congregation that they’ve been wanting to announce about an upcoming youth event, a mission trip, Vacation Bible School, small groups, Christmas and Easter activities, etc. This time is a “thank you” time (not an announcement time).
      • Thank you for your gifts which will enable us to send three kids to summer camp from our inner city ministry. Your money will let Sam, Sarah, and Julie spend a week in the mountains – they’ve never seen a mountain! Thank you so much for your gifts.
      • I’d like for you to see what our youth did on their summer mission trip to Boston. Because of your gifts, 23 of our kids spent a week that will change the next 60 years of their lives. Thanks! Roll it. (then comes slide show with cool music)
      • In two weeks, we’re going to launch several new small groups. We want you to be in one of these groups. If you can’t afford the book for the group, the church’s offerings will buy you a book – we feel it is that important for you to get in a group that we’re not putting up with any excuses. Heck, we’ll even pay for babysitting so you can be there. And yes, thanks to everyone’s contributions who are making this possible.
    • Is this different and will you get some flak, probably. But if you make each story compelling and have each presentation polished, you’ll begin to see results very, very quickly. Soon, the offering time will be something that people look forward to, not dread.
  • Send out statements of contribution five times a year
    • I send out statements of contribution five times: the first week after each quarter ends plus an extra one the first week of December.
      • Some churches send out statements only in January for tax purposes. Those churches see statements of contribution purely for purposes of helping members report their taxes.
      • Most churches send out statements four times a year after each quarter. Those churches are reminding people four times a year and this is a good approach.
      • A better way, without being accused of hammering the issue, is to add a fifth time the first week of December. People already feel the end of the year coming and they realize they should be more generous with their church. A first of December reminds people of how much they’ve given (or not given) to the church and provides a reminder to make a contribution. Yes, it will cost you a few hundred dollars to snail mail and email out the statements, but I guarantee you’ll get thousands of dollars you weren’t expecting.
    • As I explained in the previous post, email your statements of contribution each time so you don’t spend any money you don’t have to.
    • One other idea: ask your offering envelope service to mail envelopes once a quarter. Here’s the math: 5 statements of contribution plus 4 mailings of offering envelopes = 9 times a year that you’re subtly reminding people to give to their church. It works – try it for a year.
  • Have special offerings for specific issues a few times a year
    • Here’s a way for special offerings not to affect your undesignated gifts. During the offering time, tell the church that “On Sunday, May 16, there will be a special offering for the purpose of funding Vacation Bible School. While there is money in the budget for VBS, we need additional monies to pay for additional supplies and events that are planned. Let people know that the first $32,000 that is given will go to the regular budget but that all monies given over $32,000 will go for VBS. Thank you for your generosity for our little ones.”
    • The $32,000 needs to be whatever the treasurer feels is a regular Sunday offering – the amount that would normally come in that Sunday for basic operations. Anything above that would be gravy as far as the treasurer is concerned.
    • Then, promote that special offering for about four Sundays before the date by using the offering time to show slides of last year’s event, interviewing kids about their experience last year, etc. Take up the offering (while having kids promote this year’s VBS).
    • Any money that you get over your threshold amount will help lower your budget. If you don’t spend all you received, then you can set it aside for next year’s VBS and take up a special offering for something else.
    • Caution: you can only do one or at most two special offerings a year before you hit donor fatigue. Alternate what you do each year so there is variety and so these offerings don’t get old. Some key emotional draws are children and mission trips – these are always powerful.
  • List of capital needs – items that the budget cannot afford
    • Make a list of items that the church needs for its ministries. This should be a list that encompasses all ministry areas and which ranges from small amounts to very, very large amounts. Update that list every year by adding to it, subtracting from it, or changing items. Make the list dynamic and, very importantly, make sure this list supports the vision of the church so that no item on the list detracts from the focus on accomplishing the church’s goals.
    • Publish this list and make it available to everyone. Let people know what you would do with the proverbial “lottery jackpot” should you ever receive it. People will talk about the list in the halls and every so often, someone will approach a minister to ask for more details about an item on the list. Then, there is a good chance that this person will write a check.
    • Sometimes people will surprise you by writing a check for something that you don’t see (because you see it so often, you’re blind to how bad it is) or that is lower in your priority list. That happened to me a few months ago – an anonymous donor gave $20,000 for a specific need that we didn’t see. Fortunately, the donor also gave us the freedom to use it for something else – but we went with the donor’s original intention. I expect that later this year, when this donor gets his/her bonus, we’ll get another sizable gift because we followed the original instructions last year.
    • Another way to find money for this list is to use any left over funds at the end of a fiscal year. Sometimes churches have more money that is given than is spent. I use those funds, with the permission of the Finance Committee, to address some of the needs on the capital needs list. Since we don’t know how much money we’ll have, we select the items on the capital list after we have a figure. We tell the church how we’re going to invest their money back into God’s building and needs.
    • Some items on the list are so expensive and/or extensive, that funding these is done over several years, in phases. The trick here is to continue to do them and not quit halfway.
    • Remember: itemize, monetize, prioritize, publicize, and thank you-ize!
  • Develop a relationship with wealthy individuals
    • I addressed this in a prior post, “Robbing the Rich.” I’m not going to re-hash it here but please read it.
    • I cannot overemphasize that every church has wealthy attenders and members. The wealthy don’t have a problem talking about money – the problem in having a conversation about money lies with us, not them.
    • I encourage every pastor to develop a list of the top 25 (pick a number) of donors to the church and once or twice a year, have coffee or a meal with them. Do NOT ask for money – just be their friend.
    • I can guarantee that if you befriend them, they will see and hear your heart just as you will know theirs. At some point, they will ask you about giving money long before you are ready to ask them for it!
    • Read the post for more details.
Now, go implement 2, 3, 4 or even 5 of these ideas. If you want more details about them, email me: steveplaw@gmail.com and we’ll talk. I guarantee you’ll get results!
Lead On!
Steve
Filed Under: church administration, church finances, church financial statements, planning, strategy Tagged: , , , ,

10 Ways for a Church to Have More Money, Guaranteed (part 1 – saving money)

Posted on June 22, 2011 Written by

There are two different ways for a church (or any organization) to have more money: spend less and receive more. I want to give five ideas in each category that every church should implement so they can have more money to spend on their God-given mission.

5 Ways to Save Money

  • Install Motion Detectors Everywhere!
    • Humans are quite imperfect especially when it comes to turning things off (or on). That’s where motion sensors come in. I use motion sensors for everything: dispensers for paper towels and soap in bathrooms; for urinal flush valves on toilets and urinals; for lights in halls, bathrooms, classrooms, and offices; and soon for thermostats in classrooms and offices.
    • Motion sensors save money by ensuring that lights and thermostats are on only when a human is present; that toilets get flushed; that only a certain amount of paper towel and soap is dispensed; and that lights are on only when people are moving around. Yes, it costs money to install these, but they pay for themselves in both dollars and in public relations.
    • Motion sensors for lights have cut the electric bills in the church I work by 20% per year. Members think it is cool that their church is so progressive – they like to “show off” their church and talk about how “green” we are. It’s a way cool thing!
    • Full disclosure – you’ll need to buy batteries for the sensors but in the long run, you will save money with the sensors.
  • Invest in Energy efficient lighting and less inventory
    • Most of the building I administer has 4 foot fluorescent lamps. In the past two years I’ve been a multi-year process of changing all my T-12 lamps to T-8s (and in a few years, once the price has come down, to T-5s). I’ve removed my 2×2 fluorescent fixtures and replaced them with 2×4 fixtures and put in T-8s.
    • T-8s are 30% brighter and are 30% more energy efficient than T-12s. I’m saving money, I’m helping the environment, I’m reducing the different types of lamps I have around here so I can buy just 4 foot T-8 lamps. I love the KISS principle – keep it simple, stupid. That’s what I’m doing!
    • Here’s how I found the money to make this happen: at the end of one fiscal year, I explained to my electrician what I wanted to do and asked him to come the first couple of weeks of my fiscal year. I gave him a budget of what I could spend on the project. When he had spend the total amount allocated for that year, he stopped installing T-8s. When I got his bill, I paid half of it out of the maintenance budget and the other half out of the utilities budget. My rationale is that the efficient fixtures are going to save money that would have otherwise been spent on electricity. I’m repeating this as many years as I have to and my electrician loves getting the money that would have gone to to the utility company!
  • Pay bills by ACH and online
    • Use technology to pay your bills without paper. I calculate that every paper check costs about $1 between the check stock, ink, envelope, and postage. Every ACH costs less than 30 cents. After writing several hundred checks a year, you’ll save hundreds of dollars.
    • Paying bills online also means you keep the money in your bank account longer. Keeping money in your account means more interest income during the year, too (well, that would be IF the banks were paying more interest than they are now at half a percent per year).
    • Paying bills online also means that you can track your payments and be assured that the money actually reached the vendor and didn’t “get lost in the mail.”
    • Work with your bank to make this happen. They’ll be glad to help.
  • Use Email and Voicemail Heavily
    • Communication with members must evolve from beyond the Ben Franklin post office system. That’s been around for 200 years, move on to something more efficient, effective and a whole lot cheaper!
    • I email statements of contribution to every person who gives money. Emailing statements of contribution saves me about $750 every time. I still snail mail 450 statements of contribution every time at a cost of $450 ($1 each for postage, envelope, paper, and ink). Believe it or not, I’ve not had any resistance to this method of getting statements of contribution – the business world has helped people become accustomed to email in all its forms.
    • Various ministries email or voicemail different groups (small groups, teachers, choir members, etc.) about upcoming meetings or opportunities. The ministers have learned which method is better to use with which group. Some age categories prefer a voicemail and we have PhoneTree to send out messages that way – it is slower than email but effective. Other ages like emails. Oh, I’m not (yet?) to tweeting or mass texting but I’m sure that will come along.
    • My administrative assistant also emails the weekly bulletin every Thursday or Friday to everyone in our database with an email (and give them the opportunity to “opt out”) and she also emails the monthly news-magazine. We use Constant Contact for some of our communications, too.
    • Find ways of using mass communication methods that don’t involve postage or paper. You can save some serious money by getting away from paper. It will save lots of paper and younger mindsets will appreciate the church helping the planet!
  • Bid out contracts regularly
    • Every 3 to 5 years put all of your regular contracts out to bid. This includes EVERYTHING from your food supplier, elevator contract, dumpster, commercial property insurance, copiers, postage meter, financial audit, custodian supplies, etc. I can’t stress this enough.
    • In times like this, some companies are so hungry they’ll really cut their prices just so they can get business to keep their employees (so they don’t have to lay off anyone). They know they won’t make a profit but they will also retain good talent.
    • Some companies gave you price when times were good and with a weak economy, they are willing to do anything just to keep you as a customer, even in the middle of a contract. They want you to stay with them and they’re willing to void a current contract, reduce their fees, and renew you for several years at a cheaper rate.
    • Recently I cut our commercial property insurance by 42% saving the church $18,000 per year. I got a smaller postage meter because we don’t have the same volume of letters as we did five years before. I upgraded to a color copier for less than what I was paying for a black & white copier. We talked with our bank and got a good rate on our fees. AND, I made sure that none of these savings affected the service we are getting.

Lead On!
Steve

Next post: 5 Ways to Make Money

Filed Under: budget, church administration, church finances, planning, strategy Tagged: , , , ,

Safety and Security

Posted on June 20, 2011 Written by

Last weekend I handled a credible death threat to one of our ministers – this was a first for me. The good news is that everything that I had put in place several years ago worked. The minister and family were well protected and all are safe. The minister and I will see if we need to continue the the protection and the alert or if the threat has dissipated enough. Some threats may never go away – they just diminish in intensity.

There are two factors to church safety and security: passive and active.

Passive measures are related to technology

  • Cameras:
    • I installed over 30 cameras throughout our facilities. All exit doors and hallways have a camera. The camera is facing toward the inside the building so as to capture the image of everyone leaving the building. The important thing is not who comes into our buildings but who leaves and what or with whom they are leaving, especially if it is a struggling child.
    • Recently our state police gave us a security check-up (free, by the way – ask for one from your police department). They made several good recommendations but when they saw the quality of image from our cameras, they were impressed. They commented that our images are better than Wal-Mart or Bass Pro Shops – that pleased me.
    • The cameras work. About every two years I catch early teens on camera doing something they shouldn’t. Just last November, I caught two 13 year old who pulled a fire alarm. The kids left the church immediately but through the camera images, we identified the kids. Within 40 minutes the youth pastor called their homes asking them to “man up.” Word got around the youth that the church has cameras everywhere.
  • Kid ID
    • Every church should use some check-in system for children so that to retrieve a child, you have to have a matching card. This is a very simple system and inexpensive to implement. It is not foolproof but it is an effort to ensure that a child leaves only with someone who has the correct documentation.
    • More advanced systems use technology. When a family arrives at church, the parents check-in and a document is printed for both the parents and another document is printed in the classroom where the children are going. Some check-in systems use biometrics (such as a fingerprint – because you can’t forget and leave your fingers at home) to generate the documents for each child. These are very good systems – so long as the staff and volunteers are trained in using them and actually follow them. Training is the key!
    • Another technology is that of buzzer like in a restaurant. This is done in addition to the above systems. When a non-verbal child is checked in, the parents are given the option of receiving a buzzer. If the childcare workers need to get in touch with the parents for whatever reason, they can buzz the parents. The parents can be summoned quietly (without bothering anyone else) and they can be reached anywhere in the building (within a quarter mile). Buzzers are better than displays because it can reach a parent who is in a bathroom, a hallway, or anywhere.

Active systems involve personnel and there are several layers to the personnel.

  • Hall monitors
    • In children’s areas, there should always be a hall monitor who knows the teachers and staff. This person’s job description is to ensure that unauthorized people are not wandering the children’s hall(s). This person can also be greeter or an additional set of hands to fetch things from the resource room but his or her primary job is to keep out unnecessary people.
  • Paid Uniformed Officer
    • Many churches have a Sunday morning cop to direct traffic. But this officer has another, unseen, and far more important role – being a deterrent. If someone bent on evil sees a police officer directing traffic, this person may decide to go to the next church instead of wreaking havoc on your church (sorry for the next church!).
    • The officer is directing traffic only about 30-45 minutes on a Sunday morning even though we pay for three hours (the minimum allowed by the police department). So, the rest of the time, I ask the officer to come inside the building to get coffee, get to know the greeters, let the greeters get to know him, and be seen by members of the church so they’ll feel comfortable knowing they are in a safe place.
  • Safety Officer Team
    • This team consists of only current or former police. Military are excluded because their training is to shoot and then ask questions; police are trained to use words first and bullets only as a last resort.
    • My sole request for the team members is that when they come to church, they continue to be police officers and not let down their guard. None of them come armed except when I ask them to. Team members are in all of our services, both traditional and contemporary.
    • The team meets once a year when I invite them to lunch as a way of saying thanks – it is also a time for me to remind them of the seriousness of their volunteer jobs. An important function at the lunch is for the members to get to know each other so they all know who are the other good guys. At the first lunch, a state trooper of 40+ years met a city policeman of 36+ years for the first time even though they sit only five rows from each other.
So, what did I do this past weekend
  • I asked two members of my safety officer team to come armed to church.
  • I hired a plainclothes police officer whose job was to watch over the minister in all services
  • I alerted the local police department
  • I keep the minister and other key staff informed of what I was doing
  • I met with the paid officer and volunteer on Sunday morning to ensure everyone knew what to do
  • One of my safety officers tracked down the person who made the threat and got a photo of the guy so that he could identified (he was a marginal attender)
  • I authorized the police to forcibly remove him as a trespasser if he came to our church
All is well, for now, and that is a very, very good thing!

If you think I’m overreacting by implementing all that I’ve done, let me give you one statistic: from 1999 to 2007, 41 people died in churches (not including church-related facilities like camps) from gunshots alone (not including blades, poisoning, or other means). Gun violence in church is real. A church is no longer a safe sanctuary from the real world. Do a safety and security check on your church; consider implementing the systems listed above; and do not rely only on “God’s protection” to take care of you.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church safety, church security Tagged: ,

Audacious Leadership

Posted on May 25, 2011 Written by

I read this post Christmas 2010. It is an outstanding example of leading a church – the church didn’t know where it was going but the pastor/leader pointed the way and the members got behind it. What David Platt did with his church is not just leadership, it’s audacious leadership. And history shows from Alexander the Great to Judas Maccabees to Jesus to Charlemagne to Napoleon to Hitler that people will follow audacious leaders (both good and bad). We just need more audacious leaders.

Why My Church Rebelled Against the American Dream by David Platt
David Platt, Ph.D., is the author of the New York Times bestseller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream and is senior pastor of the 4,000-member Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama.

We American Christians have a way of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus that we are more comfortable with. A nice middle-class American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who for that matter wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings comfort and prosperity to us as we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream. But lately I’ve begun to have hope that the situation is changing.

The 20th-century historian who coined the term “American Dream,” James Truslow Adams, defined it as “a dream… in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.” But many of us are realizing that Jesus has different priorities. Instead of congratulating us on our self-fulfillment, he confronts us with our inability to accomplish anything of value apart from God. Instead of wanting us to be recognized by others, he beckons us to die to ourselves and seek above all the glory of God.

In my own faith family, the Church at Brook Hills, we have tried to get out from under the American Dream mindset and start living and serving differently. Like many other large American churches, we had a multimillion-dollar campus and plans to make it even larger to house programs that would cater to our own desires. But then we started looking at the world we live in. It’s a world where 26,000 children die every day of starvation or a preventable disease. A world where billions live in situations of such grinding poverty that an American middle-class neighborhood looks like Beverly Hills by comparison. A world where more than a billion people have never even heard the name Jesus.

So we asked ourselves, “What are we spending our time and money on that is less important than meeting these needs?” And that’s when things started to change. First we gave away our entire surplus fund — $500,000 — through partnerships with churches in India, where 41 percent of the world’s poor live. Then we trimmed another $1.5 million from our budget and used the savings to build wells, improve education, provide medical care and share the gospel in impoverished places around the world. Literally hundreds of church members have gone overseas temporarily or permanently to serve in such places. And it’s not just distant needs we’re trying to meet. It’s also needs near at hand.

One day I called up the Department of Human Resources in Shelby County, Alabama, where our church is located, and asked, “How many families would you need in order to take care of all the foster and adoption needs that we have in our county?” The woman I was talking to laughed. I said, “No, really, if a miracle were to take place, how many families would be sufficient to cover all the different needs you have?” She replied, “It would be a miracle if we had 150 more families.” When I shared this conversation with our church, over 160 families signed up to help with foster care and adoption.

We don’t want even one child in our county to be without a loving home. It’s not the way of the American Dream. It doesn’t add to our comfort, prosperity, or ease. But we are discovering the indescribable joy of sacrificial love for others, and along the way we are learning more about the inexpressible wonder of God’s sacrificial love for us. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my country and I couldn’t be more grateful for its hard-won freedoms. The challenge before we American Christians, as I see it, is to use the freedoms, resources, and opportunities at our disposal while making sure not to embrace values and assumptions that contradict what God has said in the Bible.

I believe God has a dream for people today. It’s just not the same as the American Dream. I believe God is saying to us that real success is found in radical sacrifice. That ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of him. That the purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. That meaning is found in community, not individualism. That joy is found in generosity, not materialism. And that Jesus is a reward worth risking everything for. Indeed, the gospel compels us to live for the glory of God in a world of urgent spiritual and physical need, and this is a dream worth giving our lives to pursue.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: leadership, wisdom Tagged: ,
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