Natural Energy Efficiency Improvements

Posted on July 9, 2019 Written by

Nature itself can be used to help your utility bill. These methods are popular and they are quite effective.

  1. Green Roof. If you have a flat roof, install as much greenery as possible. Plants on a roof will absorb heat and rain water, which would otherwise land directly on the roof. Plants will also provide flowers and homes for bees and other insects. Do NOT put soil directly on your roof; instead, buy plastic kiddie pools and put them on your roof. If possible, the children and youth can help fill them with dirt and plant seeds – get them involved in caring for their church. You can even use some as a vegetable or flower garden.
  2. Renewable energy. Roofs can also be used to generate energy by installing windmills and/or solar panels. If you have good access to steady sunshine and/or wind, these can make a significant reduction in your electric bill and your electric company is required to buy any excess energy you generate.
  3. The initial cost is pretty high and the payback period is 5 years or so. You’ll need .  You might ask some members to specifically contribute toward these due to the high up-front costs.
  4. Be careful with salespeople’s promises. Call their former clients and even pay them a visit to see what was done. You don’t want work that will be aesthetically ugly to your building.

Lead On!

Steve

www.churchbestpractices.org – all kinds of FREE church manuals and sample documents
www.financeforchurches.org – 400 plus blogs on every church administration topic you can think of

Filed Under: budget, buildings, church administration, church finances, facilities, planning Tagged: , , , , ,

Motion Sensor Equipment

Posted on July 2, 2019 Written by

For a multitude of reasons, people in churches don’t turn off lights. Fortunately there is motion sensor technology that can do this work for us. There are a variety of motion sensors that can save money while providing what we need.

  1. Motion sensor light switches turn off lights when no one is in the room. These cost $15 to $20 at a hardware store and are pretty easy to install. You’ll see immediate savings.
  2. Paper towel dispensers with motion sensors provide just enough for a person to use. Many times people will pull off lots more than they actually need but they don’t want to wait for a machine to dispense the towels.
  3. The same is true for soap dispensers and water faucets that are motion activated. Having these provide just enough will save money.
  4. Motion sensor flush valves in toilets ensure they are flushed after each use and are thus clean and ready for the next person.
  5. Motion sensor thermostats, even on commercial HVAC equipment, can save a lot of energy in churches. Ensuring rooms are heated or cooled when people are present is a challenge and all too frequently the AC or heat stays on long after people have left the room. A sensor in each room can turn on and off the HVAC unit serving that area. HVAC use is up to 30% of an electric bill so controlling this expense is vital.

Lead On!

Steve


www.churchbestpractices.org – all kinds of FREE church manuals and sample documents
www.financeforchurches.org – 400 plus blogs on every church administration topic you can think of

Filed Under: budget, buildings, church administration, church finances, facilities, planning Tagged: , , , , ,

Better Lighting Techniques

Posted on June 25, 2019 Written by

Many church buildings are not energy efficient – they were built when electricity and gas were cheap. Today, the utility bills of church buildings are a major budget item. Churches can reduce their energy bills by taking small steps every year which, over time, will have a significant impact. Here are ways to save on your electric bills.

  1. Meet with your electrician and ask him for ideas in their industry. Get them to be part of the solution, not just a repairman. While salespeople visit with all kinds of new gadgets, they leave after the work is done but your electrician has a vested interest in ensuring your building is up to code and working efficiently.
  2. Have a meeting with a representative from your electric company.
  3. Find out if you’re on the right billing rate
  4. Ask about rebate programs for installing energy efficient lighting
  5. Ask about deals for other energy efficient equipment for your church kitchen, hot water tank, exit signs, etc.
  6. Change your lighting to energy efficient lamps and bulbs. Many churches use 4 foot T-12 lamps. T-8 lamps are 30% more efficient and 30% brighter; they cost about $5 each. LEDs are the rage but they are still pretty expensive.
  7. Reduce the different types of lighting to two or three. Many churches have up to a dozen different types of lamps and bulbs. You may have to change some fixtures but in the long run, having only 2 or 3 types of lighting will save money. For instance, remove 2×2 fluorescent fixtures and replace them with T-8 2×4 lay-in fixtures. 2 ft U-shape lights are more expensive than long 4 ft tubes.
  8. Replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs (corkscrew bulbs). CFLs come in different types of light, from yellow to bright white so you can get whatever shade you want.
  9. Replace exit signs with LED exit signs which are more efficient and don’t use expensive bulbs. Many old style exit signs use incandescent bulbs which run hot and use up to 50 watts 24/7. New LEDs exit signs use 3 watts – that is immediate savings.

Lead On!

Steve


www.churchbestpractices.org – all kinds of FREE church manuals and sample documents
www.financeforchurches.org – 400 plus blogs on every church administration topic you can think of

Filed Under: budget, buildings, church administration, church finances, facilities, planning Tagged: , , , , ,

Marketing – Door Hangers

Posted on June 4, 2019 Written by

A couple of years ago I spoke with a guy doing political print ads. He said that the best way for a politician to get his point across was to speak directly to the voters. The second best way was for volunteers to put door hangers on people’s homes – the inference by the recipient is that someone walked up to their house and left the info. Voters see that as far more personal than a radio, TV, or web ad and respond favorably to door hangers.

Most churches don’t count neighbors within walking distance as potential attendees; we’ve become that much of a car society.  Decades ago, revivals and crusades used to be the church’s main form of growth and the church spent loads of money on those annual events. That was the marketing budget. The church doesn’t do crusades or revivals anymore and most churches don’t do any form of marketing much less neighborhood outreach. Churches must do something to tell the neighbors “we’re here; we’re not scary; come try us out at a special occasion.”

The best times in the year to do marketing are Easter, Christmas, and August-back-to-schooI. These are the times of the year that people are most open to changes in their routine, especially if it involves going to church for the first time in years or decades. A simple door hanger will be a great form of introduction to the neighbors of who the church is.

The door hanger must include a graphic (to catch the eye), an invitation to attend (what you want the person to do), times, dates, & place (when and where the events are), and words of appreciation for them being the church’s neighbor and your desire for them to come and get to know even more of their neighbors.

Doing this once or twice a year will have an impact on your attendance. The door hangers can be placed out on a couple of Saturdays by volunteers walking the streets around the church. Draw a radius of about one mile out from the church and assign blocks to teams who will spend an hour putting out door hangers. After the volunteers are done, ask them to come back to the church for a snack and to tell stories of what they encountered as they put out the hangers.

And, most importantly, have fun doing this!

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: communications, future, planning, strategy Tagged: , , ,

Guerrilla Marketing

Posted on December 19, 2017 Written by

Churches must do more marketing to become visible to their neighbors. While people see church buildings, they may not have a personal contact with that church. Here are some cheap ways for church members to interact with their neighbors and hopefully draw them in.

  1. Post Cards:create attractive post cards which members can hand out at work and to neighbors
  2. Elections: set up a table at the polling places at or around the church. Have a volunteer staff the table giving out post cards and drinks of water or hot chocolate, depending on the weather. On the water bottle or cup, put labels with info about the church. If there is a line to vote, the volunteers can interact with the voters. By definition, polling places are where your neighbors are – leverage that!
  3. Free coffee: hand out $5 Starbucks cards to people at various local events or at Starbucks itself. $250 will get you 50 cards which is 50 families. Include a card inviting people to your church.
  4. Free cookies: give away boxes of Girl Scout cookies with a label on them about the church
  5. Kids’ Events: give post cards and water and snacks at sporting events for kids. Set up a tent and distribute sports drinks and/or water to kids and post cards to their parents.
  6. Magnets: put church info on magnets and distribute those at some of the above functions. People tend to not throw away fridge magnets. You can create your own fridge magnets pretty cheaply or have them made professionally.
  7. Pens: get pens with your church info and distribute them to nearby restaurants. Waitstaff always need pens.
  8. Windows: give volunteers rolls of paper towels and window cleaner. Then, descend on a shopping center in your neighborhood (not a mall) and ask if you can clean the windows of the local businesses. Tell them you just want to be a good neighbor and you appreciate them being in the neighborhood.

​A negative experience is re-told a dozen times; positive experiences are re-told five times. By giving things away ​you’ll be creating positive stories about your church which will have a ripple effect.

These are cheap ways to get your church’s name in front of people in the community in a positive, wholesome way. There are no downsides to these strategies (well, except #4 if you eat too many). And the super-duper secret is to do them in waves, not continuously. Use the church and social seasons as to when to be active: November & December for Christmas; February and March for Easter; July and August for back to school.

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: leadership, planning, strategy Tagged: , ,

Personal Investing

Posted on November 21, 2017 Written by

My family asked me about my personal investing. I’ve done well in the market – I’ve averages over 8% returns per year for the past 11 years (2007-2017) which includes several down or flat years.

  1. It’s all in mutual funds in Vanguard
  2. I re-balance my funds about once a year unless there is a major world event in which case I’ll immediately re-configure my investments (think war, economic collapse of a country/region, etc.)
  3. I’m invested 80% in equities and 20% in bonds. The bonds are a hedge against the stocks. You can be more aggressive by having more equities or by having more aggressive equities (emerging/international markets and/or small cap).
  4. My specific investments and percentages
    1. VFIAX    Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares – 40%
    2. VEMAX  Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares – 15%
    3. VWETX  Vanguard Long-Term Investment Grade Fund Admiral Shares – 20%
    4. VSGAX   Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund Admiral Shares – 25%
  5. This means that my portfolio is a good mix of aggressive and conservative, US and international. This is a secret to investing – diversification! That can’t be stressed enough – don’t put all your eggs in one stock or even one mutual fund. Here’s my mix:
    1. 40% invested in large US companies (stable growth)
    2. 15% invested in international companies (stable with some speculation)
    3. 20% invested in bond (conservative part of my portfolio)
    4. 25% invested in small cap or aggressive companies

A few rules for investing

  1. “A rising tide lifts all boats.” When the market is going up, you don’t have to be particularly smart or good to do well.
  2. “Be a pig, not a hog. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.” Go for gains of all kinds but don’t get greedy and chase after the high flyers each week or even each month.
  3. “Never fall in love with your investments.” They don’t love you back. Investments are tools, nothing more. Be willing to bail on them whenever necessary.

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: church finances, future, generosity, planning Tagged: , , ,

Good churches need good manuals – Finance Manual

Posted on December 14, 2016 Written by

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A finance manual is critical. Church finances require the utmost level of trust from the donors and members toward the pastors and finance staff. A finance manual establishes the policies by which the church’s money will be governed and used. Parts of this document are a legal requirement but most of it is designed to ensure confidence in the handling of funds.

 

If a church does not have a finance manual, it can create the appearance of lack of integrity and a haphazard attitude towards donated money. That is not the biblical standard. Paul tells the Corinthians to do all things in their church “decently and in order.”

 

A good finance manual will address accounting, banking, record-keeping, software and hardware, document retention, communication with donors, accounts payable, financial reporting, audits, gift acknowledgement, and too many other things to list here. These policies ensure that even though staff may come and go, the practices within the Finance Office remain constant and completely above-board.

 

A personnel manual is a living document – it must be reviewed every year and updated at least every other year. Not doing that minimal step is a failure by management. Most policies will remain the same such as contribution processing, payroll, or accounts payable. But as times change, new policies must be written and old policies changed to address changes in the law or accounting standards regarding overtime, designated funds, and PP&E (property, plant, & equipment).

 

The finance manual template at www.churchbestpractices.org has

  • A Gift Acceptance Policy to help the church know what gifts can be accepted without question versus those which require research
  • A policy for using church-issued credit cards and reporting the expenses charged on the card
  • Fundraising ethics standards to ensure the church abides by IRS rules

 

This manual is only $30. It is updated annually to ensure its compliance with the latest legal and tax changes.  This manual is a great starting point for churches needing to develop a manual scratch or to update their current one. It will save hours of research and writing. By using this manual, a church will need only to add sections that are specific to their situation and/or remove non-legal policies which don’t apply to them.

Filed Under: accounting, church administration, church finances, leadership, planning, strategy Tagged: , , , , ,

Good churches need good manuals – Personnel Manual

Posted on December 7, 2016 Written by

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Many churches don’t have a personnel manual or their manual is seriously outdated. And that is fine so long as it passes this test: will whatever you have stand up in court?

 

Personnel manuals are founded in personnel law which is written by Congress and the Department of Labor. If a church’s manual does not keep up with the current laws, then the church is open to a lawsuit. AND, if a church does not abide by its own manual, then every judge will rule harshly against the church.

 

A personnel manual is a living document – it must be reviewed every year and updated at least every other year. Not doing that minimal step is a failure by management. Most policies will remain the same such as employee benefits, grievance guidelines, etc. But as times change, new policies must be written and old policies changed.

 

For instance, most churches do not have a “social media policy” which instructs their staff on how to write about their church and/or boss on social media sites and blogs. Does your church have an updated weapons policy? What about political statements and statuses advocated publicly by lay leaders and staff?

 

The personnel manual template at www.churchbestpractices.org has

  • Typical employee classifications which meet legal standards
  • Common benefits for employees (while salaries get an employee inside the door, benefits KEEP employees inside)
  • Dozens of other policies which help churches, their staffs, and their members

 

This manual is only $30. It is updated annually to ensure its compliance with the latest legal and tax changes.  This manual is a great starting point for churches needing to develop a manual scratch or to update their current one. It will save hours of research and writing. By using this manual, a church will need only to add sections that are specific to their situation and/or remove non-legal policies which don’t apply to them.

Filed Under: church administration, church staff, leadership, planning, strategy Tagged: , , , ,
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