Instead of a Church Meeting...
Finance Report - June 2020
Here is a summary of the operating income and expenditure of the Church for January to May 2020 compared with the same five months in 2019.
The overall result - a deficit for the five months of over £17,504 (compared with £9,728 last year) - is not good. It would be tempting to blame the current situation for this result, but the temporary closure has not had all that big an effect on our finances, overall:
These reductions in our income have been offset - to some extent at least - by savings in our expenditure and other gifts:
If you would like to do make a direct bank payment, please visit the giving page of the church website here (or use the link in the ‘Practical Stuff’ section of the e-Messenger) or contact me for the information you need to set up one-off or regular bank transfers. However, if anyone has problems and is forced to reduce or stop their payments temporarily, they should not worry too much about having to do so. We can cope.
Underlying Deficit
The fundamental reason for the big deficit is not the current closure. It is the long term reduction we have seen in the offerings the Church normally receives. They have been declining for more than two years, for all sorts of reasons.
We can expect a deficit of around £40,000 for the full year. That deficit was forecast in the Budget presented to the Church AGM at the beginning of March. It was heading that way before the pandemic and the outcome for the year will probably be little worse than was originally expected.
Cash Flow - Thanks for the tremendous help we have received
Cash Flow is the big issue currently, for us as well as for many other local churches. We cross-charge 25% of our Minister’s expenses to St David’s Eastham, but I have not chased them for the last quarter’s share of her costs as I know they have even bigger cash flow problems than us.
But we do have to be careful with our own cash flow. We have to fund not only the monthly operating deficit but also our commitments to support charities such as Reach, Wirral Youth for Christ and, of course, Ann Fursdon, from the Tithe Fund. There is therefore a steady outflow of cash from our bank account every month.
To offset this, I normally top up the bank account every few months by withdrawing funds from our investments. Our investments have done well in recent years but, currently, the drop in the stock market means that they have reduced in value compared with the beginning of the year. I am trying to delay having to withdraw any funds for as long as possible in the hope that their value will at least partly recover, in the months ahead.
Fortunately, I have had a lot of help from Church members in the form of loans, gifts and a willingness to delay claims for expenses. One donation was particularly valuable as it allowed us to make gifts to people in difficulty from the Evans Fund (our welfare fund). And I have just had the offer of a loan from someone who has some money set aside for a project which has now been delayed until next year. The money is not really earning them any interest currently so they are happy to lend it to the Church for a few months. It will help further to delay the point when we shall have to cash-in some of our investments.
Thank you, Lord for the love and support being shown by our congregation at this time.
Jimmy Lindsay
Church Treasurer - June 2020
- We have seen the curtailment of all hall lettings, so income from this source is down £759 compared with last year.
- While we have not been holding Church services, we have seen the loss of offerings through the plate – cash, cheques and envelopes. Offerings have reduced by £2,000 (net) because of this.
These reductions in our income have been offset - to some extent at least - by savings in our expenditure and other gifts:
- Expense claims have been minimal for the last two months.
- Janet Hatton, our Caretaker, is on ‘Furlough’ and, helped by the Synod office, we have recovered 80% of her salary for April and May from the Government scheme.
- Sadly, many Church activities have been curtailed - including Youth events such as the summer camp - so the financial support given to our organisations has reduced.
- Equally sadly, the Time for God volunteers decided in March that their best option was to go home. We are therefore saving the expenses we would have incurred, if they had continued with us.
- More positively – we have had generous one-off donations and some people who previously used envelopes or gave cash each Sunday have arranged to make direct bank payments to maintain their giving. I am grateful to them for their commitment to the Church.
If you would like to do make a direct bank payment, please visit the giving page of the church website here (or use the link in the ‘Practical Stuff’ section of the e-Messenger) or contact me for the information you need to set up one-off or regular bank transfers. However, if anyone has problems and is forced to reduce or stop their payments temporarily, they should not worry too much about having to do so. We can cope.
Underlying Deficit
The fundamental reason for the big deficit is not the current closure. It is the long term reduction we have seen in the offerings the Church normally receives. They have been declining for more than two years, for all sorts of reasons.
We can expect a deficit of around £40,000 for the full year. That deficit was forecast in the Budget presented to the Church AGM at the beginning of March. It was heading that way before the pandemic and the outcome for the year will probably be little worse than was originally expected.
Cash Flow - Thanks for the tremendous help we have received
Cash Flow is the big issue currently, for us as well as for many other local churches. We cross-charge 25% of our Minister’s expenses to St David’s Eastham, but I have not chased them for the last quarter’s share of her costs as I know they have even bigger cash flow problems than us.
But we do have to be careful with our own cash flow. We have to fund not only the monthly operating deficit but also our commitments to support charities such as Reach, Wirral Youth for Christ and, of course, Ann Fursdon, from the Tithe Fund. There is therefore a steady outflow of cash from our bank account every month.
To offset this, I normally top up the bank account every few months by withdrawing funds from our investments. Our investments have done well in recent years but, currently, the drop in the stock market means that they have reduced in value compared with the beginning of the year. I am trying to delay having to withdraw any funds for as long as possible in the hope that their value will at least partly recover, in the months ahead.
Fortunately, I have had a lot of help from Church members in the form of loans, gifts and a willingness to delay claims for expenses. One donation was particularly valuable as it allowed us to make gifts to people in difficulty from the Evans Fund (our welfare fund). And I have just had the offer of a loan from someone who has some money set aside for a project which has now been delayed until next year. The money is not really earning them any interest currently so they are happy to lend it to the Church for a few months. It will help further to delay the point when we shall have to cash-in some of our investments.
Thank you, Lord for the love and support being shown by our congregation at this time.
Jimmy Lindsay
Church Treasurer - June 2020
