Quarterly Treasurer's Report

Quarterly Treasurers Report to the Congregation

As of mid-February 2020, cash flow for the church continues to be challenging. A combination of lower than budgeted pledge payments (almost $45K below budget for this church year) coupled with continued high facilities costs and staff expenses have left us with a large deficit and a low checking account balance. Because of this cash flow issue we are looking at getting a line of credit from the bank, which could also provide us with cash to do the parking lot modifications needed ($40K+) to have the city permit us to occupy the all-access restrooms that were completed in December.

There are approximately 50 members who have not yet paid anything towards the 2019-20 church year, accounting for nearly $60K of pending income and another 100+ members who have paid less than half their pledge nearly nine months into the church year, accounting for another $80K in pending income. As Treasurer, I want to thank all those who are current with pledge payments and encourage those of you who are behind to help us finish Rev. Lissa’s last year on a positive financial note. We will be reaching out directly to those who appear to be behind on pledge payments for follow-up; sometimes church records are not consistent with your own (sometimes the church receives checks that are clearly pledges but come from external accounts with no information as to the owner).

Our maintenance reserves are still depleted, but we are still hopeful that excluding net-zero related expenses we will be close to the by-laws minimum for the year.

The Quickbooks accounts have been updated and we almost completed all data entry for the last two years in the new system to allow us to evaluate trends and get a more detailed assessment of the causes for the deficits. We know that many are wondering why we are not in better shape with the mortgage completely paid off, and this will help us pinpoint the causes beyond the generic issues of facilities and staff costs. This is also critical as we enter the new pledge season for 2020-21 with the need to prepare the Financial Statement of Our Mission, aka our budget, for next year.

The endowments continue to be a bright spot for us, with generally better returns than we had in the past (although of course subject to the whims of the stock market to a greater extent). If you have any questions about church finances don’t hesitate to contact me on the patio or via email.

Andy Eaton, Treasurer