Oct
21
2011

Finance Fridays: Budgeting Season is Upon Us

An article by Jeremy Moore

Those words may not excite you the way they do me but, whether you’re excited or not, this is a key part of the financial process for any ministry. As you begin working through the budgeting process with your team let’s consider a few things that will make the budgeting season less painful. This can be the year that you say good-bye to that boring budget and turn it into a better budget that has more impact and connects the money to the mission.

Begin With the End in Mind. If you are going to require staff to live within the budget you’re creating, I’d suggest you involve them in the process and get their buy in upfront. It’s also helpful to involve them and even key lay leaders to ensure you’re all on the same page as far as what you’re trying to accomplish, Budgeting can be a great tool to re-focus everyone on the core mission and vision and align the finances with that mission.
Monitor, Monitor, Monitor, Change As Needed. A good budget isn’t static, it’s a guide that should be revisited frequently; Changes can and should be made along the way to ensure positive results. Key finance staff should be monitoring weekly and a larger finance team should be reviewing results and deciding on possible changes at least monthly.
Communicate Early and Often. Whether your bylaws require congregational approval of budgets or not, if you aren’t presenting the financial plan to the church along with frequent updates, you are missing a HUGE opportunity to help your people connect the money to the mission. Also, if things aren’t panning out as expected, communicating need to your donors along the way should avoid drastic measures later and will certainly help them better understand the decisions if they do ultimately result in layoffs or other dramatic changes.

These three simple steps will help get you started transforming the boring budgeting process into a useful tool for increased ministry effectiveness. For a more thorough discussion of the better budgeting process, please check out the webinar I recently presented on the topic, or join me in Southern California on November 9th, at the 2011 Risk Management Conference for Ministries.

How does YOUR church handle the budgeting process?

Jeremy Moore was born in Germany to Missionary Parents and grew up in a Pastor’s home. He is married to the love of his life, Erika. He has two boys, Alexander and Benjamin. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History with minors in Business and Theology from Lee University. He has done graduate and post graduate work at Auburn University, Northwestern University, and Colorado State University. His background as a Merrill Lynch Certified Financial Manager (CFM) and years as Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking at one of the largest Banks in the nation, have given him the base of knowledge which he uses to now exclusively serve non-profits. He specializes in short and long term asset management and acquisition planning and execution, as well as creation and implementation of ministry strategy. He uses his relationships with hundreds of ministry leaders to discover and disseminate best practices in the areas of church and non-profit growth and management.