Churches are the beneficiaries of designated gifts – people who give to specific causes that touch their heart. This can be scholarships for students to go on mission trips or to college, to pay for children’s supplies and events, and scores of other ministries. Used wisely, designated funds can enhance a church’s mission by adding extra dollars to a church’s budget.
Every designated fund must have a specific purpose (why it was established and what it is to be used for) and a sunset clause (a determination of when the fund will cease to exist). However, many churches have funds that don’t have either a purpose or a timeline.
I challenge each church to go through all of it designated funds and write down its purpose and when it will cease to exist. The good news is that most church accounting software has a section in the chart of accounts where a memo can be written about each fund. Use that memo tab to write in this info so that this knowledge can be passed from one person to another and not lost.
Then, use you designated funds to supplement your budget needs. Use them as much as you can and encourage people to give to them – over and above what they give to the church’s operating budget.
However, even doing all that, churches are going to have funds whose purpose ceased to exist long ago. There is legal help for that and I’ll describe it in the next post.
Lead On!