Governance news posted Thursday, May 21, 2009
Financial Status Follow-Up
To: Diocesan Clergy and Lay leadership
From: Executive Committee, Diocesan Council
Subject: Financial Status Follow-Up
Download the Diocesan Pledge Status
Download the Diocesan Pledge Status [xls]
Friends in Christ,
On March 28th an important letter was sent to all leaders in the Diocese and posted on the Diocesan website detailing the state of the 2009 program budget. The essence of this letter was both a warning and an appeal to the entire Diocese. With actual pledges in hand dramatically lower than what was budgeted at Convention, our ability to carry out the mission and ministry of the Diocese is in serious jeopardy. In an effort to bring Diocesan expenses in closer alignment with projected revenue, Diocesan Council made the difficult decision to eliminate $100,000 of programmatic initiatives at its March meeting. Moreover, a specific request was made of every church within the Diocese. First, if your church had yet to make a pledge of support to the important ministry of the Diocese, a request was made to prayerfully consider doing so. Secondly, for those churches that were already supporting the program budget, a request was made to prayerfully consider increasing their support. With the average Diocesan pledge to the program budget currently less than 2% of congregational income, it did not seem unreasonable to think the churches of the Diocese would respond in a positive way.
On behalf of Diocesan Council and the leadership of the Diocese, we the Executive Committee, think it important to report that as of this letter, there have been no new pledges received, nor has any church responded by offering to increase its support of the mission and ministry of the Diocese. As previously stated, unless revenue increases, the probability is high that additional programmatic reductions will have to be considered in order to reduce expenses. As a result, Council will be faced with difficult decisions both with regard to the present fiscal year but perhaps more importantly, how the 2010 budget should be presented in light of reduced pledge income.
In an effort to highlight this critical situation, the attached spreadsheet is provided for your review, consideration and, we sincerely hope, action. Please know that we make no judgment, nor do we feel it appropriate to make any commentary regarding this spreadsheet. Rather, we believe there is a pressing need for a deeper understanding along with frank and substantive conversation as to how we can begin to reverse a continuing trend of diminished support of the important mission and ministry of the Diocese. Plans are currently being made to facilitate greater involvement of members of the diocese in conversations about our ministry and mission priorities so as to better understand the current dilemma and plan for how best to proceed.
To you as a recognized leader within your parish we speak, respectfully request and enlist your support. First and foremost, your prayers for the Diocese are not only requested, but required… Secondly, it is our prayer that you and the vestry will prayerfully consider how you can make a real difference in the future of the Diocese.
Executive Committee, Diocesan Council
Bp Rodney Michel
Bp Allen Bartlett
Rev Kathy Andonian
Joe Merlino
Jeff Moretzsohn
Patricia Smith
Jeannette Woehr
