GFC - FINANCIAL UPDATE 2010

Dear Grace Family & Friends:

As many of you know, this past Sunday we presented a summary of the church’s financial condition as we enter into our new fiscal year. Particularly for those of you who were unable to be present for that announcement, we wanted to provide you with an overview of that presentation.

First of all, we are grateful for so many of you who see yourselves as partners in the ministry we have together here at Grace. Your faithful and sacrificial commitment to our church family is a great encouragement. God continues to bless us as new families become enfolded into our community and make Grace their home.

Second, we find ourselves up against some financial challenges as we enter this new fiscal year.
Just as the current economic downturn has impacted the economy at large, we have seen a notable impact on our finances at Grace. Though the number of givers has grown (which is encouraging), the amount of total giving has declined over the past two fiscal years. And, while income has decreased, the size of our church and therefore the demand on our ministries, staff and facilities has increased. In order to serve these increasing needs, we’ve chosen to maintain our expenses at a fairly consistent level over the past two years, and absorb the resulting cash-flow deficits by utilizing over 60% of our cash reserves.

Many of you are unaware that we have been operating at a deficit, and that is mainly our fault. In an attempt to simplify the reporting of our finances in the bulletin, we inadvertently reported in such a way that these deficits were not transparent to you. We apologize for this miscommunication to you and have remedied this by providing a more complete picture of our financial status in each week’s bulletin.

The table below summarizes our financial results over the last three fiscal years, as well as our new fiscal year (July – June) budget:

As you can see, we have forecasted an increase in giving this next fiscal year ($724,840 to $850,000) while keeping our operating expenses to a level slightly lower than last year ($819,451 to $811,500). This reflects both what we believe our real need to be and what we think this body is capable of giving. For us to achieve this budget, we will need a greater level of participation. We will need participation from families who are not currently giving as well as greater commitment from those who have been giving. We believe that if each person prayerfully considers their part in supporting our shared ministry here at Grace as God has blessed them, we will have sufficient resources to carry on this work.

As God sees fit to provide to Grace through you, we will live within the means of that provision. Over the next six months we will be monitoring our finances to determine whether we will need to make staffing cuts to accommodate our giving income and will regularly report our operating results to you. In the meantime, we will trust God and the provision he intends for us.

If you would like further clarification or have other questions, we would be happy to speak to you.

In response to many of your requests, you now have the ability to give on-line through our website. This system allows you to give one-time gifts as well as monthly or semi-monthly recurring gifts for those of you who would like to establish a rhythm of giving to Grace. For more information or to set up an account, see the ‘GIVE’ link on our website at www.gracefellowshipchurch.org or contact Gina Carpenter at gcarpenter@gracefellowshipchurch.org for assistance.

We continue to be encouraged by what God is doing in our midst and are incredibly grateful for the local expression of the Body of Christ at Grace as we live, love and grow together as a community. May God be glorified!

In service to our Savior, Jesus Christ,

Your Board of Elders: Scott Carpenter, Allen Cashion, John Drake, Dave Gundlach, Dave Nix, Mark Page and David Toberty