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Resources
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A Financial Narrative for June 2018
My reports the last several months have been describing all of the things that we as a church do with our resources. But where does the money that allows us to do all of our work come from?
From each one of us.
Our church is funded by the donations of our members and other supporters. To be more precise, over 80% of our budget comes directly from your donations.
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people are called to give generously to support the temple and all of its works. The people were commanded to give the first ten percent (a tithe) of their crops to the Lord. The first ten percent didn’t just mean the first crop to be brought in, it meant the best ten percent of what was produced. Jesus expanded on this and said that we should not just pay our tithes, but we were also to pay attention to the important matters of justice, peace, and faith.
In other words, we are called on to give, not out of duty, but as part of a larger lifestyle of being faithful Christians. We are called upon to be generous and to give according to what we are able. And more importantly, we are not to do it out of a sense of obligation, but out of generosity. We give back a portion of what we have received as a way of showing our thanks to God for what we have been blessed with.
So consider how you can show your thanks through your own personal generosity. If you are able, consider tithing for the month of July or even giving a bit extra to help our church community spread God’s love in Wausau.
Our Ministries
Here are a couple of ministries and/or groups that you may not be aware of. If one of them resonates with you, contact the person mentioned.
Sunshine Gals visit nursing homes and care facilities most months, leading sing-alongs and spreading cheer.
Our Prayer Shawl Ministry creates shawls for people of the church and the wider community who may be going through a difficult time.
If you like to give to a certain line on spending, you may be interested in learning that at the church we have “In & Out” accounts for many ministries. Right now the following lines could use a boost:
- Name badges, these are made (free) for each person who requests one. Our account is currently running a deficit.
- Aesthetics Ministry Team projects. You may have noticed the pictures the team has put up this spring. They will soon be sprucing up the west entryway. This team also supplies snacks for the spring and fall church clean-ups.
- Wednesday Night Live. Our WNL ministry was self-supporting this winter, but we went into the red in the spring (and we’re still running in the red from last year.)
- Vacation Bible School.
And, of course, if you choose to give toward our parking lot debt that is always appreciated.
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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