Transition
Several weeks after I joined the Board of Trustees this past July, I agreed to assume on an interim basis, the role of Treasurer, with an eye on creating a volunteer leadership position that can be managed and steered by fellow leaders who are not looking to take on a part-time job, while balancing family and life responsibilities – but to serve with grace without stress.
Along with Finance Chair, Mary Baltyki and Susan Irgang, our most wonderful Congregational Administrator, we formed a “Treasurer Transition Team” to look at current systems, identity tasks and roles and to “re-constitute” something new to present to the Board of Trustees in April. We also worked with the Nominating Committee, as future Treasurer recruitment will use our evolving job descriptions moving forward.
After months of work, we are ahead of schedule and have presented job descriptions to the Board at their March meeting.
One part of the transition is to report the “numbers” each month through our financial software, QuickBooks, rather than using a separate spreadsheet, consolidating the various accounts, including operations, capital campaign, endowment and restricted funds.
Stay tuned for future reporting of the search process for our next Treasurer.
March 2020 Treasurer Report
My monthly reports to the board begin with a comparison of actual numbers to to the budget each month and year to date, along with bank balances.
Rather than share with you via this newsletter a chart of activity, let me summarize where we stand in similar narrative that I share with the Board and Finance Committee each month (of course, our books are open and anyone who wishes to review them can contact me at treasurer@uucwc.org).
And now for some numbers:
We are currently budgeted to generate and expense roughly $44,000 each and every month of the church’s fiscal year, which runs from July – June.
We budgeted July 2019 – February 2020 for a deficit of $84 (close to balanced), and we completed the first eight months of the year with an operating surplus of $13,952. Of course, month to month has its own cycles, for example, more cash comes in November and December, while it is slower in January and February.
Operating pledges are coming in 1% ahead of budget. Keep making your pledge payments and thank you!
The plate collection, half of which is given to outside organizations via the Council for Faith in Action, is running at 86% of budget, not a significant drop from last year, but a general trend year over year (we are looking at causes – maybe the move to a cashless society? – new ideas always accepted).
We have saved about $10,000 due to the lack of snow! But hey, the winter is not over yet.
We are in a healthy financial place – with an estimated eight months of cash held in our accounts, a sign of liquidity that gives us a cushion for any potential emergency or hardship. All nonprofit organizations hold these reserve funds and having three to six months is a good sign, so eight months is even more impressive.
Today we are in a good financial position. This will be important to maintain as we go out to banks for financing when we begin capital construction later in the year.
So, with 2/3 of the year completed – with Reverend Kim returning in May – with construction starting soon, change is happening – and let’s continue the conversation.
Until I report out at year’s end at the June Annual Meeting, I remain,
Jim Sanders, UUCWC Trustee and Interim Treasurer