Hi, I’m Micah Barber, VFC chair and vestry member. VFC stands for Vestry Finance Committee.
Hi, I’m Lisa, VFC member at large.
We wanted to provide you a report on the first quarter of 2021 for St. James, as well as update you on some neat things happening financially with the church.
It’s our mission to embody Christ’s love wherever we are, by welcoming all to the table for spiritual nourishment to share with the world. Our budget reflects this mission.
We closed last year well, and have entered 2021 with a budget that continues to prioritize growth, serving others, and building our family ministries. Last year, we had an abundance of social services and ministries continue or even grow during the pandemic, and this year is no different.
One example: we noticed a gap in people’s ability to secure their own online vaccination appointments.
So we partnered with a local organization, Kendra’s Covid Coaches, to run a full vaccine clinic right at St. James’. We were able to help 585 people get their vaccine, including members, neighbors, and others.
Please keep an eye on your e-news for more details on everything we are doing.
Financially, we have once again started the year strong with people paying their pledges, as we have received 22% more in pledge money than we have budgeted for the first quarter of the year.
Our other income, like operating contributions (which is named money that is not pledged) and loose plate (which is unnamed cash in the offering plate) are down a bit. We feel okay about these numbers and believe that they will increase as we begin more in-person activities throughout the year. Overall, our total income is 20% ahead of our budget for the first quarter.
On the expense side, we tightened our belts during the pandemic last year as best we could, and created a budget that continues to be careful. All of these numbers are within normal deviations and we are tracking almost exactly on budget overall, at 2% over for the quarter.
Our Treasurer Will Clark plugged our giving numbers for the past two years into a chart so we could take a look at trends. You can see that both our pledges and our operating contributions are trending similar to past years, despite the pandemic. This is excellent news. Thank you St. James’!
Now for some more great news. We have applied for and received a $44,000 Thomas Cain Grant from the diocese. Our application was approved to use this money to purchase technology that will allow us to improve the sound, video, and streaming technologies. We have already collected bids and contracted a company to do the work for us.
Perhaps the best thing about this is that as we begin to hold small services in person, we will also be able to continue and elevate our streaming abilities for folks who need to join us from home. We plan for this to be a long-term ability of St. James’.
So what’s coming next this year, financially? We have already formed strategic committees for longterm planning, including financial planning for our church. We also have some upcoming announcements about Planned Giving and our Endowment. And, lastly, part of our 2021 budget includes hiring a director of music for the 10:15 service.
Please keep reading your newsletter for updates . THANK YOU for giving to St. James’. It has allowed us to not only weather the pandemic, but to support each other and our community during it. If you have not yet automated your giving, you can call Aimee Estep in the church office to ask how. It really helps us stay on track throughout the year.
Finally, please know that the VFC, the vestry, and our rector Rev. Eileen continue to do our absolute best to look out for the health of our congregation— financially, physically, and spiritually.
We are so grateful to Rev. Eileen, Aimee Estep, Diana Espinoza, our staff and clergy, our Treasurer Will Clark, Bookkeeper Allyson Hallmark, our volunteer VFC and vestry members, and all of you who are part of this incredible community. Thank you!
