1 / 24

STATE OF THE CONGREGATIONS

STATE OF THE CONGREGATIONS. Our Future. State of the Congregations of the Diocese of Rhode Island. Purpose: To review the financial condition of the parishes in order to understand our need to find a way to vitality. Healthy Congregations are the Foundation of a Healthy Diocese.

bryce
Download Presentation

STATE OF THE CONGREGATIONS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. STATE OF THE CONGREGATIONS Our Future

  2. State of the Congregations of the Diocese of Rhode Island Purpose: To review the financial condition of the parishes in order to understand our need to find a way to vitality

  3. Healthy Congregations are the Foundation of a Healthy Diocese • Churches provide 62% of Diocesan income • Therefore, the trends that affect individual churches will affect the Diocese

  4. Trends to Watch • Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) • Pledge & Plate • Draws on Endowment

  5. ASA 2003-2009 • Percentage decline 2003-2009 = 28.2% • Percentage decline 1999-2009 = 29.9%

  6. Total Pledge & Plate for All Churches in the Diocese

  7. Keeping up with inflation? No

  8. Running Faster to Stay in Place • By 2009 the Average Episcopal Parish in Rhode Island needed to cut 20% of its budgeted expenses just to stay even to pay the same set of bills it had in 2003.

  9. Ten largest percentage draws • Ascension, Cranston 39% $ 39,577 2.6 yrs • Cathedral, Providence 28% $250,000 3.6 yrs • Trinity, Cranston 24% $ 85,615 4.1 yrs • St. Mary’s, E. Prov. 17% $ 23,640 5.7 yrs • Transfiguration, Cran. 13% $134,296 7.5 yrs • St. John’s, Barrington 12% $211,766 8.5 yrs • St. David’s, Cranston 12% $ 40,888 8.2 yrs • St. Paul’s, Pawtucket 12% $397,456 8.0 yrs • St. George’s, C.F. 11% $ 14,534 9.1 yrs • All Saints, Providence 10% $ 140,910 9.9 yrs Total Revenue of Endowed Funds $1,338,682 X 17% = $227,575 Apportionment Revenue at Risk when restricted funds are reached

  10. Churches with draws on endowment > 20% of operating revenue • St. Paul’s, Pawtucket 72.8% • St. Stephen’s, Providence 67.8% • St. Michael’s, Bristol 65.9% • All Saints, Providence 64.1% • Cathedral of St. John 64.0% • St. James, Woonsocket 62.8% • Transfiguration, Cranston 57.6% • Grace, Providence 49.2% • Redeemer, Providence 43.5% • St. Mary’s, East Providence 40.1% • Trinity, Cranston 39.1% • St Mary’s, Portsmouth 38.1% • St. Mark’s, Riverside 34.4% • St. John’s, Barrington 32.1% • St. Martin’s, Providence 29.4% • Ascension, Cranston 25.4% • St. Francis, Coventry 24.6% • St. David’s, Cranston 20.3%

  11. Are we covering our costs? Church Expense/Attendee Average Pledge Difference St Paul’s, Pawtucket $5,407 $1,046 -$4,361 All Saints, Providence $4,782 $1,610 -$3,172 Grace, Providence $4,091 $1,443 -$2,648 St. Michael’s, Bristol $3,934 $1,176 -$2,758 Trinity, Newport $3,869 $1,523 -$2,346 St. Stephen’s, Providence $3,631 $1,471 -$2,184 Emmanuel, Newport $3,568 $1,615 -$1,953 St. James, Woonsocket $3,435 $ 826 -$2,609 St. John’s, Barrington $3,233 $1,699 -$1,534 All Saint’s, Providence $3,201 $1,610 -$1,591 Plus many more… No Church in the Diocese that has a full time priest covers it’s budget with pledge and plate.

  12. Breakeven Analysis for Episcopal Parishes with full-time Pastoral Care Expenses • $80,000-$100,000 Pastoral Care (full time Priest) • $20,000-$30,000 Heat, Light, Water, Minor Repairs, Sexton • $15,000 Part-time office person • $10,000 Music • $5,000 Miscellaneous Expenses • $20,000 Diocesan Apportionment • $160,000 TOTAL Revenues: • Average Pledge: $1,600 X 100 Pledge Units = $160,000

  13. Back of the Envelope • Breakeven budget to support full time pastoral care and a simple church building is $160,000 • Requires 100 Pledge units @ $1,600 average pledge • Note: this bare bones budget does not include funding for Mission & Outreach, Growth or ministry beyond the basics • Does not include insurance or any reserves for Capital Costs (ie vulnerable to the expected but unpredictable needs of 100 year old buildings*) *95% of Diocesan Buildings are 100+ years old, with no parking.

  14. What happens to a Break Even Parish? • If there is no investment in growth then the Parish is vulnerable to attrition and decline • Need to have investment in growth - just to stay in place • So Breakeven = No Growth SURVIVAL MODE

  15. SURVIVAL MODE SIGNALS • A few people do all the work • Same people doing all the work • Burnout of Parishioners • Doing the same ministries and events with less participation while creating less energy • Clergy often feel responsible, burdened, and depressed • Parishioners feel hopeless and angry

  16. Diocese of Rhode Island • 54 Church Communities • 54 Churches to house ASA 5,601 = average of 104 per church • Distribution is not even: • 8 Parishes > 150 ASA • 17 Parishes < 60 ASA • 33 Parishes have less than 90 pledge units • Diocesan average pledge = $1,292 • 29 Parishes do not meet the diocesan average pledge

  17. Diocesan Income 2011 Budget • Church Apportionment = 62% $1,997,801 • Diocesan Endowment and other sources = 38% $1,247,376 • Total Income = $3,245,177

  18. Total Church ApportionmentIncomeAnticipated 2012Broken out to reflect the percentage that comes from congregations pledge & plate versus draws on their endowments • Pledge and Plate = 71% $1,520,448 • Church Endowments = 29% $610,427 • Total = $2,130,875

  19. Challenges • Parishes are struggling to care for aging buildings • Aging congregations • Making up for lost real income in pledge & plate by drawing down on endowments • Hitting ‘restricted funds’ at some key parishes • Churches were built for an era when people walked to church - we have too many buildings too close together • Reducing mission and outreach, evangelism and formation ministries

  20. Implications for the Diocese of Rhode Island • ASA is declining, 30% over the past decade • Pledge & Plate is not keeping up with inflation • Churches are drawing down on their endowments to make up the difference - at an alarming rate Financial health and spiritual presence of the Diocese is in jeopardy

  21. Check YOUR Survival Breakeven • Is your Operating Revenue > $160,000 (Operating Revenue = Total Operating Costs) • Calculate your Average pledge needed to cover Total Operating Costs Average Pledge Needed = Operating Revenue/Number of Pledge Units • Calculate Number of Pledge Units Needed Number of Pledge Units Needed = Operating Revenue/Average Pledge

  22. How Does Your Church Measure Up? Breakeven Actual Gap • Operating Revenue $160,000 ?? ?? • Average Pledges Needed Calculated ?? ?? • Pledge Units Needed Calculated ?? ??

  23. What are YOUR Options • Reduce costs • Increase income • Reduce costs AND increase income So HOW do you do that? List three concrete examples of actions that you could take within the next year that would increase income and/or reduce costs equal to 1/4 of the gap

  24. What are the options for the Diocese of Rhode Island • Stay where we are and try to keep as many parishes open as possible (currently 54 parishes) - data tells us that this is choosing decline • Look for ways to share ministries and costs between parishes - unclear how this could produce significant enough savings • Support mergers & reallocation of resources: • Diocesan wide ASA is 5,601 • Suggests 40 parishes - at breakeven no growth mode • Would suggest no more than 30 parishes if we choose moving forward

More Related