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Resources
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A Financial Narrative for April 2018 – Apportionments
A significant portion of our church’s budget (15%) is used for paying apportionments to the Wisconsin Conference.
But what exactly are apportionments and why are they important? The first thing to realize is that the United Methodist Church is a connectional system; we are not just an isolated local congregation. The apportionments we contribute allow us to be a part of that larger system and to do things that we could not accomplish on our own.
Apportionments are sometimes seen as a “church tax” or a form of “membership dues.” But that’s not what they are. They are a gift and an opportunity. They are a means by which we may magnify and increase our ministry potential. Each dollar we contribute to fund the apportionments of the United Methodist Church undergoes the miracle of the loaves and fishes – they multiply to serve and satisfy those who hunger and are in need around the world. Apportionments are an investment in building the realm of God and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Lives are changed, faith is shared, and hope is raised. By our giving, we participatein the saving of lives as well as souls.
What are some of these programs our apportionments support? Within Wisconsin there are missional programs you may have heard about such as Northcott Neighborhood House in Milwaukee; Harbor House Crisis Shelters in Superior; and various Volunteer in Mission (VIM) programs, such as the one many of our members participate in at Red Cliff. Other statewide programs that benefit our church include the church camps we utilize and various congregational development programs, both to help strengthen our own congregation and help others around the state.
Some of the money is passed on to the greater United Methodist Church where it is used to fund such programs as the General Board of Global Ministries (of which Mission Guatemala, where we are sending a team next fall, is a part) and UMCOR, widely recognized as the most effective emergency relief organization in the world.
The list goes on, but as you can see, our apportionments are an important way in which we follow Christ’s commandment to “go and make disciples of all nations,” both here and abroad.
Staff Parish Relations Committee (SPRC)
The SPRC works closely with the pastor and staff concerning their relationship with the congregation and the entire work of the church. This committee is in essence the personnel committee of the pastoral charge. The committee is sensitive to the opinions and concerns of the congregation concerning the pastor and staff. It confers with the district superintendent concerning the appointment of the pastor. The committee recommends the salary for the pastor to the Charge Conference. (Source: A Dictionary for United Methodists, Alan K. Waltz, 1991, Abingdon Press.)
The SPRC at First Church strives to support and encourage our pastor and staff in their work toward the ministries of this church in our communities. Individual members of this committee meet regularly with the pastor and staff members: Robyn DeVos with Pastor Jayneann; Jason Fandrey with Martie Pahris; Mark Milne with Andy White; Doris Carlson with Anna Schreiber; Bonnie Goertz with Rob Perkins and Jane Dovenbarger with Joan Stroyny.
Joan will begin serving as the church’s administrative assistant beginning later this month. More about her in a later edition of The Messenger.
 Some of you have faithfully been writing checks to pay down the loan on the church’s parking lot. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Yes, we’re still taking funds for this excellent cause. You can write a separate check, or write a single one and identify how the money is to be split. Either way, we appreciate your contribution toward the physical structures of our church. Thank you, again!
The Upper Room devotionals are available at a couple locations at First Church. Beginning in January, we will only be carrying the small magazines (for a cost of $2). While we regret any inconvenience, The Upper Room is only available in lots of 10, and since most people use other devotionals anymore - particularly edevotionals - we will be better stewards of our resources by making these changes.
Church Conference Packets
A few copies of our 2017 Church Conference packet are available if you would like one. You may pick it up in the office through the end of January.
Facebook
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Join the Conference on Facebook
Are you connected with the Wisconsin Conference United Methodist Church on Facebook? ‘Like’ the Conference page to keep up with UMC news during the week, get updates, and be the first to know about new resources available for you and your church. Go to www.facebook.com/wisconsinumc and ‘Like’ the Conference Facebook page!
MESSENGER OnLine
Did you know that you can get the Connections newsletter days earlier simply by receiving it online? Call or email the church office and we’ll put you on the list to receive your newsletter online. The latest Messenger can also be downloaded by clicking the link on our Home page.
Pastor Jayneann has a blog. It’s called “Fierce Joy & Hope” If you’d like to check it out, go to fiercejoyandhope.blogspot.com
Paying Off Parking Lot Principal
Once again, thank you to everyone who pledged a little extra this year to help us retire the debt that we took on in order to replace our sagging parking lot last summer. Many of you gave one-time amounts. Many others pledged a smaller amount each month. Either way, you have been generous.
On January 24, the Board of Trustees voted to send the first of, we hope, several extra payments on the loan. This month, in addition to our monthly $800.00 payment, we are sending $4,000.00 to be applied to the principal.
This payment will reduce our note by 5-6 months, and the Trustees hope to be able to make at least one more payment like this by the end of the year.
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Are Pre-Paid Pledges Right for You This Year?
If you intend to itemize deductions on your 2016 taxes, one option for you is to “pre-pay” on your 2017 Pledge. You can increase your charitable giving for this tax year, and your gift will be counted on next year’s pledge at the church. (If you’re using the Standard Deduction in 2016, this won’t help you.)
To do this, your gift must be in the office by December 31. We cannot count gifts as having come in 2016 after we have closed the books for the year.
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Budgets, Bills, and Paying Off Debt
As I write this, our budget for 2017 is not yet finalized, but we have an outline. Here it is, in principle, pending final adjustments and approval.
As our revenue continues to decrease, we have cut the budget by several thousand dollars. We have managed this in spite of increases to Pastor Jerry’s salary and health insurance, fulfilling a pledge for an increase in Martie’s salary after her first year, and setting aside $4,600 toward making our monthly payments on the loan we took out for the Parking Lot.
Here’s how we’re trying to deal with that. Our monthly loan payment is $800, which comes to $9,600 a year. As just noted, we have budgeted $4,600 toward those payments. We hope to pay the remaining $5,000 from funds raised separately. Through your gifts and such projects as the cookie cookbook fundraiser, we already have that $5,000 set aside. What this means is that any further pledges that you make toward the parking lot fund (that bottom line on the pledge card) can be used to pay off principal.
In the meantime, we have ground to make up in our current year. We will be transferring money from our endowed savings, as we budgeted to do, but we still have over $10,000 to make up to end the year in the black. You will be receiving one more update on your 2016 pledges and non-pledged giving in early December. If you have fallen behind on your regular giving, this mailing will help you determine exactly how much.
It is already time to begin planning our ministry focus for 2017 - how we will maintain our current ministries and what new ideas we will try this year. It would be good to have the end-of-year financial concerns taken care of as we set about what we’re actually here to do
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Creative Giving #1
The local congregation survives by means of regular giving by faithful members who set aside a part of their income to support the work and ministry of the church. Nothing will ever change that, and nothing can replace that. But that’s not to say that that’s the only way give.
One of our members who hates carrying change and who supports the work that we’ve had done on the parking lot has begun a new practice. At the end of the day, she and her husband dump all their leftover change in a jar. When the jar gets full - or, rather, when they can’t lift it easily - they take it to the bank, cash it in, and then donate that money to the parking lot fund. It doesn’t sound as if it would be a lot, but they have already given more than $200 to this improvement fund by this means. Is this something that you could do?
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Creative Giving #2
Another of our members is retired, and like some others has invested carefully and diversely over the years that he worked. As a result, he has annuities and retirement accounts in several different places. For the time being, at least, he does not need the income from all of them for his family’s regular expenses.
And so, he has worked with his financial advisors to designate the earnings from one of his accounts for us. Each quarter, we receive a check from that retirement account. And this money does not count as a taxable withdrawal. By IRS rules, charitable gifts from either traditional or Roth IRAs, so long as they are less than $100,000, do not count as income and are non-taxable.
Before doing anything like this, you should consult your own tax and/or financial advisor to make sure that your investments qualify for this IRS exemption.
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New Parking Lot! (Now, Um, How are We Paying for It?)
A few days after you receive this, work will begin on resurfacing and repairing our parking lot. It has done well for over 50 years, but it is sinking to the point that we can no longer patch it. It;s pricey, too: just under $59,000. How are we paying that much?
We actually have that much in our endowed funds, but we have intentionally chosen not to just pay for it all from there. Those funds represent stability; we do not want to treat them as a candy jar. So our Council has approved paying from a mixture of your pledges (about $6,000 - Thank You!), some endowment money ($8,000), some special funds (about $1,400), and the rest by a loan from the United Methodist Foundation ($44,000).
[By the way, the Historical Society has donated $1,000 as well, in thanks for letting them use our lot. It's nice to have good neighbors.]
Now comes the hard part. Starting next month, we have an $800/month loan payment to make. If we don't do anything special to raise that money,then it will end up being drawn from our endowed funds anyway. So we will be looking for fund-raising projects and ideas. To avoid "fund-raising fatigue," the Council would like to focus these efforts in one weekend in the fall, but we would like to make the most of that weekend. And we need volunteers to make anything work. So, a few questions. Is there anyone who would like to:
- Organize or help plan a church-wide rummage sale?
- Organize and/or cook food for a fund-raising dinner?
- Something else that you can think of and want to plan?
There are also some long-term fund-raising possibilities, like running a "scrip" program, that would require less intensive effort but more time in the long run. What can you do?
Coffee Hour Costs
It’s probably fair to call “coffee” a resource. It is on workday mornings, anyway. And on Sunday mornings, it is an integral part of our gathering time. Volunteers of our Welcome and Communications Team provide snacks, but the coffee is always just there, right?
Except it isn’t. We pay for our Fair Trade coffee from the coffee hour fund, which comes entirely from the dollars that you drop in at the coffee hour table. And more than half the time, we break even. The rest of the time, we don’t.
We aren’t out to make a profit (well, not much) but only to provide for our own community fellowship time. But if we’ll all remember to drop something in the basket - say, half what you would pay at Starbucks – this goal will be easier.
Are Pre-Paid Pledges Right for You This Year?
If you intend to itemize deductions on your 2016 taxes, one option for you is to “pre-pay” on your 2017 Pledge. You can increase your charitable giving for this tax year, and your gift will be counted on next year’s pledge at the church. (If you’re using the Standard Deduction in 2016, this won’t help you.)
To do this, your gift must be in the office by December 31. We cannot count gifts as having come in 2016 after we have closed the books for the year.
Circuit Rider
News from our sister churches in Circuit #9 of the Wisconsin UM Conference.
Complete newsletter available in Office or download a PDF by clicking this link.
A Note from the United Methodist Foundation on IRA Charitable Rollovers
Congress has reauthorized the IRA Charitable Roll-over for 2013! This means that members of your congregation aged 70 1/2 or older, who have a Traditional or Roth IRA, can make a charitable gift from their IRA directly to your church or any other United Methodist Ministry before December 31, 2013. Their gift may qualify for their required minimum distribution and they will not have to pay federal income tax on the amount given from their IRA to charity.
Please contact us to learn how members of your congregation can use this IRA rollover to fund your church's operating budget, contribute to a special church fund or establish a permanent endowment fund to benefit your church in perpetuity.
Call 1-888-903-9863 today!
Creative Giving Ideas: Prepaid Pledges
Now that you have pledged to support our church next year, remember that you can give all or part of that pledge early, so as to claim the donation in tax year 2013 rather than 2014.
If this would benefit you in the current year's taxes, simply mark your check with the memo "2014 Prepaid Pledge." It will appear on your 2013 giving statement but will be counted against your financial pledge for 2014.
Creative Giving for Years to Come
Jesus always taught that we should keep money in its proper perspective, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be smart about it. In fact, we need smart money managers in the church. And we have some. At the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation. And they’re coming to us. On Monday, May 14, 2012 Rev. Jean Ehnert Nicholas presented ideas for ways we can maximize our gifts to the church:
- Charitable Gift Annuities, by which you designate money to the church, but still receive excellent interest on that money until you die. (See inset article.)
- Ways to give that actually are more effective than cash and checks, such as gifts of appreciated stock.
- Processing stock gifts without paying commission, working through the WUMF.
- Charitable Remainder Trusts.
- And much, much more.
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One Witness to How It Can Work in Practice
A few years ago when the United Methodist Foundation gave a presentation to our Savvy Seniors, I decided to make an investment in my church. Though I don't have much money, I attempted to get together enough for a $10,000 annuity. I set it up so that when I die, my church will get $8,000, my next favorite charity, The Neighbors' Place would get $1,000 and the Foundation would get $1,000. When you love the church like I do, you want to leave something behind for it. It helped, when you consider that I am getting a return of 7.5% on my investment until I die. Where else can you get that much interest at this point in time? If I live long enough, I might even get my investment back. A check is sent to me twice a year for the interest. If it should happen that my savings would go for nursing care, that money would be set aside.
I would encourage my friends to give that some consideration. My children are well aware of it and completely accept how important the church has been in my life.
Elsie Waterman
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FUMC Wired
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Website: fumcwausau.org
Weekly sermon (text or podcast) is on the new “Sermon Links” page
WiFi Network: FUMC Public
(password: fumcpublic)
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