I’m a huge advocate of starting the budget early. As a point of reference, our church’s fiscal year begins in October and ends in September – we start the budgeting process in May. Why start so early? Experience. Starting the budget process months before the next fiscal year begins ensures everyone has the time needed to build an effective budget to accomplish the goals for the upcoming year and fulfill the mission. That’s why I prefer to begin the process of creating the budget five months before the end of the fiscal year. It allows enough time for the leadership team to establish and share the S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals for the upcoming fiscal year. It provides ample time for the ministry and operations teams to review the goals and determine a pathway, including the financial resources required to accomplish the goals. Allocating extra time in the budget process gives the financial team time to accurately create the income projection for the upcoming year based on data and trends, not dreams and wishes.
A Budget Oversight
With that in mind, you can imagine my surprise when someone asked if “we” had money in the budget for Christmas decorations. Seriously? We just completed the budget. After thoroughly searching all possible budget categories, we concluded that the budget did not contain money for new Christmas decorations. This budget is a five-month masterpiece approved by the board and communicated to the congregation, and it lacks essential money for one of the most significant outreach services of the year – Christmas. While your church budget may have included Christmas decorations, it’s safe to say it’s missing something. If this scenario sounds all too familiar, here are a few options that may prove helpful.
Be Gracious
Building a church budget is complicated. Several line items are consumed by multiple areas, making budgeting tricky. Using the Christmas decorations as an example, planning the expense might fall under the facility operations expenses. However, if the operations team is unaware that the worship or decorating team has plans for a new “look” this year, it’s easy to overlook allocating funds. Pointing fingers and blaming never solves the problem. Learn from the oversight and work toward a solution to avoid future omissions. “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” – Colossians 4:6
Be Strategic
There’s a term in economics known as “opportunity cost.” It’s what happens when you choose one option over another. For example, if you save money and decide to go on a trip over investing it, you lose out on the compound interest the money would make through the investment. However, if you invest the money, you miss out on a wonderful trip. It’s not as if one option is better; it’s understanding the gain and loss of the decision. Consider the opportunity cost when a church discovers an oversight in the budget.
Be Creative
A church budget is much more a living document than a stone tablet. If the church deems purchasing the overlooked budget item necessary, get creative. Are there people in the church passionate enough about the overlooked item to give above and beyond their regular offering to fund it? Is it something that a business may want to donate the item to the church? Can the church defer other budgeted items or projects?
Be Committed
Regardless of the church’s path to resolving the issue, it must avoid spending beyond its means. The point of a budget is to demonstrate good stewardship by allocating every dollar entrusted to the church to accomplish the mission. Sometimes, that means saying no and operating within the means of the church.
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