We recently closed out another fiscal year (it runs from July to June), and with that comes the excitement of planning for a new year, while giving pause to look back on the past year.
It’s a time of year that we as staff have conversations surrounding new budgets. It’s a time where we “crunch” numbers and spend time analyzing where we’re at. And it’s the time of year where we reflect on God’s faithfulness over the past year and seek where He’s leading us to invest our resources in the coming year.
Where We’ve Been: As we reflect on this unique year, a couple of things stand out…
God’s faithfulness. He has not only been faithful to care for His people, but He has been faithful to protect our financial resources. In a year where many organizations had to implement contingency plans, make drastic cuts, and even close doors, we were able to sustain our ministry programs and most importantly, provide relief to those in need.
God’s provision in unexpected ways. We were blessed in unique ways throughout the pandemic to provide for our financial stability and security.
Your giving in the midst of uncertainty. Your commitment to follow God’s leading in continuing to give to this place was another example of His faithfulness. Because of your giving, we were able to focus on leveraging our dollars for Kingdom impact, where we otherwise might have felt the weight of worry on how to meet weekly needs.
The other part of reflection includes the Board of Elder’s direction to invite an independent accounting firm to conduct an audit of our financial information, as well as practices, internal controls and review processes. Not just limited to the numbers and reviewing the “books,” it encompasses policy and procedure, HR practices, oversight and organizational structure, IT security, etc. It’s a comprehensive review of our operations. We alternate years between a full audit and what is called a review (a scaled down version of the full audit). This year was a full audit, and they are just wrapping up their report.
Where We’re Going: You may wonder as we plan each year, what are the different streams of revenue that we look at to fund our ministry? There are two primary forms of revenue that drive what we do…
Your Giving. Giving to our General Ministry Fund accounts for about 64% of the total budgeted revenue, and Designated Giving (giving directed to special initiatives or projects) accounts for approximately 12%. As you can see, your giving is vital and makes all that we feel called to do, possible.
We highly value and encourage everyone to simply engage with God about what giving might look like for you. If it’s stepping into a financial partnership with us for the first time or increasing your giving, would you consider taking that step? You can connect with our ways to give here.
If it’s giving of your time, serving as a volunteer, or serving outside these walls, would you consider taking that step as well? We have an abundance of resources that God has given us the ability to tap into, and we want to steward those well.
Our Lease with a School. The remainder of our budgeted revenue comes from the charter school that leases our building during the week. This accounts for about 23% of our total revenue.
When we talk about stewarding resources, our building is one of them. And what a gift it is that our building is able to help generate revenue, but also be used during the week, when it would otherwise sit mostly empty. And to be used to invest in the lives of children in our community is the best kind of use! The school is pouring into the next generation and together we are seeking the flourishing of our neighborhoods.
Our Mortgage. You may be wondering how this is a form of revenue, but hang with me for just a minute! Our mortgage is the only debt we carry. We don’t lease equipment. We don’t carry credit card debt. We pay our expenses as they are incurred.
And we are so close to being completely DEBT FREE! We are so excited for the year that our budget preparation includes $0 towards mortgage principal or interest. That will feel like “revenue” – money that we will get to invest in more ministry that right now has to go towards our loan. We have aggressively been working to pay down our loan as quickly as possible, and your giving helps us do that. When our loan was refinanced in June 2014, it carried a balance of $1.2 million. As of today, that balance is just over $230,000! It is our hope to have it paid off in the next 24-36 months.
If you’re interested in learning more about finances at Pulpit Rock, don’t hesitate to reach out to Adria. Thank you for engaging with God and asking how you can be part of His bigger story. Thank you for listening to Him, and thank you for trusting us with what God has called you to give!
If you would like to step into partnering with us financially, here are four easy ways to give at Pulpit Rock.
