Spending Conversation
The following section breaks down the factors of the conference’s spending patterns. These factors include debt, capital spending, benevolences, compensation, operations, etc. Each metric is compared to the three conceptual lenses. An analysis of the conference spending patterns may provide key insights to help the conference.
Table 3 – Expenses as a Percent of total Spending (2013)
Table 3 breaks down debt and benevolent spending as they relate to total spending. For example, the average church in the conference’s total secured debt obligations represents 38% of their total budgetary spending. Kentucky has a low debt burden (29th ranked) as a percentage of its total spending in comparison to other US conferences.
…show more content…
This index provides a truer version of trend line comparison as it takes into account growth through inflation. The trend line shows that, over time, the amount of staff compensation has grown to replace the total pastor compensation. The progression of staff compensation grew at the largest rate until 2002. While staff compensation is below 2005 figures, staff compensation increased since 2011.
Figure 20 – Non-Capital Spending per Attendee
Figure 20 displays church payments for all things (excluding capital projects like renovations) at the individual attendee level. As a church increases in attendance size its per person non-capital spending increases. Figure 21 – Capital Spending per Attendee
In general, the greater the average number of attendees per church, the more the church spends on capital. However, the Kentucky Annual Conference fits a different trend. Large blocks of churches are spending on capital. Particularly churches between 250 and 449 weekly attendees contain an abnormally large amount of spending per their groupings.
Table 5 – Expenses per Attendee (Data Year
…show more content…
At 73% average conference payout rate, churches with fewer than 350 weekly attendees have the lowest payout rates. However, the total amount apportioned to the church has remained consistently around $8.9 Million, since 2006. All while the amount of total spending decreases. Kentucky ranks 26th in persons served in the community, 8th for program cost, and 23rd for operational cost as attendees are giving more per attendee while overall attendance declined.
Financial Conversation
The financial section provides a different take on the spending section. As the previous section gave an overview of spending, the financial section provides greater insight into the income side. As such, this section provides an alternative per attendee viewpoint of key budgetary positions. It also provides two additional viewpoints: a vantage point of both yearly incomes and a total number of donor households. A key observation may be the ability of the conference to grow their donor base and their per-attendee donations.
Table 6 – Financial Statistics per Attendee
As boldly displayed above in orange, the largest slice of pie, 51% of all bookings are for the full 7 days, and therefore CCResort has met the KPI that was set out for them. They could further improve this figure through offering bonus nights to those staying just short of the full week to increase the overall spend. Further on in this report will be depicted the correlation between stay and spend, that will support this inference and recommendation.
This year's revenue assumption is for $800,000 is base grants and other non-donation revenue. Over the past five years, donations have run about 8-12% of grants and non-donation sources, and some additional revenue is typically recorded from the sale of t-shirts, coffee mugs, pins and other such items. The total revenues are expected to be $890,000, as illustrated below:
Table 4 shows the average Rocky Mountain church spends above the UMC average on clergy compensation. Rocky Mountain has almost 4% more dedicated to staffing expenses, pushing its rank to 8th. The average Rocky Mountain church spends 2% more than the conference average on program cost but, the UMC average on operating cost. Rocky Mountain is paying its staff more, and its clergy just above the UMC average all while maintaining the conference average on debt payments. Moreover, the conference is spending 2% more in program spending, which if reduced would help bring the conference in line with the UMC non-capital spending average.
This is the static budget number for variable costs (feedstocks, chemicals, energy). Since it is the static budget, it is based on the original, projected level of sales. From Exhibit 1, the projected level of sales was 33,000 tons.
55% of Northwest Texas’s churches have fewer than 50 weekly attendees (and 9% of the conference’s total weekly attendance) while 9 churches contain 27% of the conferences total weekly attendance. In comparison to other conferences, a large portion of the conference’s
The festival had been getting aids and donations from some sources but they are not suitable to be relied on. With a permanent and strong sponsor, the festival would receive higher revenues and would be able to offer more shows and entertainment for the adults and youngsters. More entertainment would increase the number of attendees and also spread the word of mouth across the country. However, this alternative has a limited impact as it would increase the revenue but not affect the other things severely. The sponsors can also help resolve the issue of residence or staying for the attendees of the festival.
Expenses associated with fund raising events, such as cost of invitations, mailing, promotions and consulting fees should be included in the fund raising expense category of the financial statements and Form 990.
A corporation involves having a board of directors to protect the investments. The employees help the business run smoothly and the shareholders own the corporation. The business structure is profit organization. The financial goals for this event are to break even, or make a little profit. “That was always hard to do, because sales often times “gave away” the conference registration to help retain clients”. This is the statement my event coordinator stated to me.The type of budget they used is the zero-based. Zero-based budgeting is the budget when all expenses must be justified for the each new financial period. This means the company’s budget must start off fresh and new. The major expenses associated with producing the event pre-event and post event are marketing and website development. Food & beverage, AV production, Internet connectivity, sleeping rooms and travel for employees were the largest expenses for the pre-event. Post-event would be the clean up fees. The revenue sources for event are the registrations. The top event sponsors are large accounting firms and government agencies(IRS) that provided
Table 1 shows that the average Florida church has 206 weekly attendees and spends approximately $417,000 per year. The average church in the Florida Annual Conference is the largest compared to the national average. The conference is ranked 1st in average attendance with 119 more weekly attendees. While larger churches spend more money and incur more debt, they are typically one of the best performers in outreach ministries. Likewise, the conference contains a larger attendance churches, as such, Florida ranks 3rd in persons served in the community with an average of 3,251 people served.
Currently, conference’s net expenditures calculate apportionment amounts. In theory, all 501(c)3 entities like The United Methodist Church should give an estimate of local church expenses equal to their income. To define the apportionable amount, Net Expenses (E) expresses the total church expenses less deductions: benevolent giving, capital expenditures, payments to debt, and a portion of apportionments paid to the conference. Next, the Base Rate percentage (p), approved by General Conference, is summed with the “i factor” (i) and finally multiplied by Net Expenses (E) to define conference apportionments. The Formula is expressed below:
We contribute a four fundraising events throughout the year which give us $12000. We sell
The executives of the church met together in Nashville and suggested reducing the February budget for 2017-2020 from $611 million to $599 million, which is lower than the $603.1 million budget approved for 2013-2016.
It is evident that I have always been very interested in the financials of our church and recently they have bothered me. It seems we have been frivolously spending money lately, and while it may appear like small amounts at the time, it all adds up. When financials are as tight as they currently are we must first worry about keeping the lights on. This was especially evident to me when we decided to spend money for Pride in the Park combined with the add we purchased.
This means a little less than half of the money sacrificed is put to use in ways that affect people around you. Youth conventions, youth camps, PK retreats and young marriage seminars, some of the most life-changing events are made possible because of the sacrifice made by you and local churches. Since 1953, over $120 million has been raised to fund the ministries that SFC supports. The record of the largest offering in SFC’s sixty-three year-old history was broken in 2015, with an $501,129.89 increase. The offering alone in 2015, was $4,394,006.04. That’s a 12.87 percent increase! Over the past four years, that’s a combined total dollar increase of $1,352,600.37! Eleven districts set an all-time giving record. You and many other’s like you made this
Actual conference expenses were $108,917.71, which was $22,296.74 lower than originally estimated. There were eight fewer employees attending, plus overall we had lower hotel costs due to additional Seidman Center rooms opening up after the conference request memorandum. Please refer to the table below for specific details regarding conference