Does your church do "fundraisers?" You know, a table in the lobby raising money for this project or that? Or maybe a car wash to help pay for a student conference or something? Because of a desire not to be "that church" that always appeared to have its hand out, we did not where I served. As a fairly large church (I couldn't imagine how it was in a large church), we received many, many requests to raise funds for … [Read more...]
Creating A Chart Of Accounts
Creating The "Backbone" Of The Church's Financial Infrastructure
A fundamental first step in completing a financial plan is creating a Chart Of Accounts. I've had more than a few conversations with church leaders on this topic. In my experience, reporting is the primary thing to consider when creating a Chart Of Accounts. I've run into more than a few financial types who want to break everything down into its category and subcategory to the point of uselessness. Those in the … [Read more...]
Creating The Annual Budget
The Annual Process Of Developing The Budget, Along With A Few Pointers
As an Executive Pastor, one of the things I could never avoid was doing the budget for the church each year. The budget was due to the eldership in early December, and it took a bunch of work to get it together. I typically started working on it in mid to late September. I wanted to share the process I went through each year and a few pointers. I’ll assume your church uses QuickBooks or some other application that … [Read more...]
Finance Team Charter
The Policy Document Created By The Board Of Elders, Forming A "Finance Committee"
Purpose The purpose of this policy is to establish and communicate the Finance Team charter as set forth by the church's Board of Elders. Scope The Finance Team is formed and empowered by the Board of Elders to function as a team of subject matter experts in the accounting and finance area regularly reviewing the church’s financial status, and advising the Executive Pastor. To this end, this policy includes … [Read more...]