Were you able to sleep in today? Did you arrive at church an hour early?

What does this have to do with church budgets? Good question! The answer is that church budget forecasts are impacted by events like the changing of the clocks for Daylight Saving Time. Most notably in the Fall, have you ever had someone say, “Gosh, I forgot to set my clock back and I woke up an hour later and missed Mass!” As we all know, the time change always occurs on a Sunday.

Have you ever noticed if your collections go down by a certain percentage in the Fall because people are more likely to miss Mass?

The point is that when you are creating revenue projections for the next year, like forecasting collections, note which Sundays have special circumstances surrounding them. For example, does New Years Day fall on a Sunday?  Have you accounted for the cash flow impact when Easter is early (March) or late (April)? Is the Pope visiting? Is it an El Nino or La Nina weather forecast (just kidding)?

Tip 5: When preparing the budget, review the upcoming calendar for events, factors, or circumstances that impact Sundays (i.e. Daylight Saving Time)

The budget is impacted by a wide variety of other circumstances as well. This summer, I wrote a blog post titled, Beachgoers, Snowbirds, and Church Budgets. The post explored the wide variety of factors that may impact a church budget like weather, holidays, holydays, or even accounting for the migration of the northeast snowbirds (like my parents)! These factors call all wreak havoc, or create harmony (with an influx of cash) on church budgets.  Without repeating all of the content on my summer post, click here to read more!

Budget Action Step: Review the past year and understand what has impacted your church budget. You may find that your budget is highly-sensitive to a variety of special circumstances – or maybe not sensitive at all. The bottom line is that if you have never checked, you may never know. This type of analysis can provide you the information and insight you need to prepare the budget in the best way possible!

Read More Church Finance 30/30 Tips 

Truth and light are central tenets of our faith. Even though we know this in our hearts, as it relates to financial transparency, at times, we forget this in our heads.

I don’t believe that a majority of people are trying to deceive by their lack of financial transparency. In fact, I think many leaders believe that a budget completed alone is a budget completed better — fewer people, fewer questions, less anxiety!

But time and time again, church management researchers conclude the same point — financial transparency yields the best results — people are more likely to give, engage, and trust that their money is being well used.

“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31b-32)h –

As I was thinking about the topic of financial transparency and the freedom that comes from allowing light to shine on the truth, I remembered a story from grad school. My classmates and I were asked to come to the first day of class with a short one-page response to this question, “Is lying ever justified?”

Now I admit, I don’t remember the details of my paper, but I do remember my point – I firmly believed, and still believe, that lying is not justified. Trust me; I am not trying to sound like a saint.  And yes, some of my classmates articulated very well that lying for the sake of public safety is positive, but I was not convinced.

My point is that even in public service, where the truth might be hard to hear, and even in the case of public safety people may panic — I believe that the truth gives people the freedom to panic — or the freedom to make a different choice. Instead of panic, what if people rise up and join together in a spirit of community to meet the challenge together? Without the truth, individuals and groups have no choice but to go forward in the dark — without the benefit of information and knowledge to decide the next right action.

Transparency is a commitment to openness in process, methods, and decisions.

The same can be said of financial transparency. Yes, parishioners will ask more questions when finances get discussed in public. But without a transparent, collaborative, and open budget process, it is far more likely that when difficult choices arise, the stakeholders without knowledge of the budget, will be less likely to support difficult trade-offs.

As non-profits, our profit is mission – people deserve to see how their money is being put to use to achieve that mission. Financial freedom does not come from worrying about what was created behind closed doors or justifying to others what was created in their best interest.

Freedom comes from opening financial doors for all to see.

Transparency allows the light to shine through all things — and we know from our faith, and from our lives, that when light shines through – it can be amazing!

Read More Church Finance 30/30 Tips – 30 Tips in 30 Days