ECCU Blog

At church on Sunday, I heard about a missionary in Africa who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel with people who had never even heard the name of Jesus. Ultimately, his mission cost him his life. I was reminded—once again—of the calling we all have to make disciples, and of the awesome privilege we have at ECCU to participate in missions. 

Looking back over the past year, we’ve had several opportunities to partner with our mission agency members and their missionaries in creative ways. A couple examples:

• In October, a number of ECCU members from various mission sending agencies, churches, and other organizations traveled to Cape Town, South Africa to participate in the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.  Like other financial institutions, we monitor the use of member debit and credit cards for unusual spending patterns. While a bank might have immediately blocked cards with multiple purchases from South Africa, our familiarity with the evangelical community allowed us to quickly ascertain that this was legitimate spending for our members.
• Over the summer, we were asked by a missionary member serving in Mexico if it was possible to set up a special fundraising account for his friend in need. He wanted to raise funds for this man’s son, who was born with a heart defect and needed surgery. God laid it on the heart of this missionary to find a way to raise the $70,000 in funds required, but he needed counsel on how to set up the account. After talking it over with him, we set up a relief fund account to hold donations for the child’s surgery. We eagerly await the day the goal is reached!

What unique needs do your missionaries have? How can we help you, as a sending agency, better equip your missionaries?

Year-end giving, healthcare legislation…these are just a couple of the things affecting your ministry this time of year. The way I see it, the more I understand how you’re affected by these changes, the better I—and the team here at ECCU—can help you manage the financial impact.

Which is why I love our Ministry Advisory Panel (MAP). Through the use of brief periodic surveys, we are able to hear directly from ministry staff and leaders to better determine how we can help you manage your financial resources.

Our next survey (in early January) will explore how ministries of all types and sizes are reacting to 2010 year-end giving. We’re also gathering feedback on 2011 healthcare costs and how the new healthcare law is impacting ministries. Some of the information we’re uncovering includes:

• How did 2010 year-end giving (December) compare to your budgeted expectations?
• Have your plans changed because of 2010 year-end giving results?
• How did calendar-year 2010 donations compare to calendar-year 2009?

Tucked into the survey is the latest information on the healthcare legislation, followed by questions such as:

• Were you aware that the new healthcare law requires dependent coverage up to 26 years of age?
• Were you aware that the new healthcare law includes a non-discrimination component mandating equal coverage for all covered employees?

To add your thoughts to this survey, participate in future surveys, and review previous survey reports, join our online Ministry Advisory Panel. Your input is what makes these surveys relevant and actionable. We look forward to hearing from you!

In between decking the halls and planning your Christmas Eve service, this time of year brings one additional task for many ministries: Finalizing your budget. Here are a few quick tips to simplify your budgeting process—and keep you in the holiday spirit—as you crunch the numbers:

• Get the right people involved. Planning and financial management often divide rather than unite far too many ministries. Use your budgeting process to align your ministry to what is truly mission central. Staff, leadership, and board members should participate in any phase of the budgeting process that affects the line items they are responsible for.
• Remember you’re on the same team. Tug-of-war is all too familiar between those planning the programs and those managing the finances. Program planners and fiscal managers speak different languages, have different priorities, and may not be aware of the importance of the other’s approach to the budget process. Program staff and financial staff should work with the leadership and board to develop budgets which truly reflect organizational priorities and act as a guide for spending and decision making.
• Draw a picture. While it may be clear to executive leaders or the finance staff, your financial structure is often mysterious to other ministry leaders and board members. Creating a visual representation of the financial structure, similar to an organizational chart, provides clarity and understanding for the entire organization. (This is especially true when there are donor-restricted funds which must be accounted for separately.) When preparing this picture, make sure you identify the individual who is responsible for each area. Then you can begin to work with those individuals on the budget for their area. Follow this link to see an example of what this might look like.
• Avoid information overload. Once you have established your organizational financial structure and identified the responsible individuals, you can prepare a budget package for each person involved. This package should be appropriate for their role in the organization. For example, the program director responsible for your children’s program would not need budget information related to the office, at least in most cases. Don’t overload your staff, but give them access to enough information to do a thorough job working through the budget process.

Here’s to keeping your holidays—and your budgeting—happy.

I have always been a saver. Even as a child, I tucked away my allowance for a rainy day (making me quite popular when my siblings needed a loan). Recently, though, I read about a family who adopted a baby from China. The Lord laid it on their hearts to adopt, but they did not know where the money would come from. Then it dawned on them that they had a nice cushion of “emergency” funds set aside. What greater emergency is there than saving the life of a child, they reasoned. They stopped saving and started spending—whatever it took to bring that little girl home.

So it is with spending versus saving—and it’s not cut and dry for ministries, either. There is undoubtedly merit to saving. It prepares us for the unexpected and allows us to cover larger expenses when they pop up.

Take, for example, Clayton Valley Church of Concord, CA. “We intentionally set aside money to prepare for major replacement costs,” says Leonard Tilton, treasurer. “We’ve also set up a contingency fund to help cover emergencies.” And it’s paid off. “For a while the church did not have a pastor, but giving remained the same. Rather than spending the surplus, we opted to save it. That money is now getting us by while we are in a season of transition with our new pastor,” says Tilton.

But spending seems to have a place, too. One church in Washington reasons that “God has provided the funding, and He will continue to provide.” As money comes in, it is immediately put toward ministry use. Opportunities are not missed while money is safely sitting in a savings account.

Then there is the rationale that saving allows for spending (like in the example of the adoption). Twin Cities Church in Grass Valley, CA can attest to this. “By investing in savings and unrestricted cash reserves, we are able to give to special projects or needs when we want to give. Constraining ourselves too tight financially would take away those choices,” says accounting director Karen Allen.

Even for savers, there are seasons of spending. For years, Twin Cities built up their cash reserves. In 2010, they opted to use a large portion of those reserves to make improvements to their parking lot. But 2011 will be another year of saving, intentionally rebuilding their reserves.

For Clayton Valley Church, the current economy is the “rainy day” they’ve been saving for. Because of the transition to a growing congregation, they are using all the money that comes in toward immediate ministry needs, plus dipping into their savings. “Giving is growing, but so are expenses. The time is coming when we will need to make significant budget cuts if we want to be intentional about saving again,” says Tilton.

What is your ministry’s approach to spending versus saving? If you’re a saver, what kinds of “rainy days” have tapped into your reserves?

We’ve been talking more lately about how deposits at ECCU are used exclusively to support member ministries. One of those ministries is the Denver Rescue Mission (DRM). Here’s a story of how God used the DRM in a significant way over Thanksgiving.

The DRM is as close to the intersection of the economic downturn and increased physical needs as any ministry. Their programs provide life-sustaining support to hundreds of people every day. And if you caught the ABC World News with Diane Sawyer on November 19, you saw just how abundantly God provided for people’s needs through one DRM program—its annual turkey drive.

A November 15 story on the ABC News website reported that “from California to Connecticut, food banks and charities nationwide report that donations of frozen turkeys—the cornerstone of a traditional Thanksgiving meal—have fallen dramatically this holiday season.”

DRM Director of PR Greta Walker was interviewed for that story. “This year has been really tough,” she said. “We started the turkey drive on November 1, and about ten days into it, we had zero turkeys. And I started to get really worried…We know that people have been struggling with the economy. We can tell with our numbers everyday. Our meal service programs have gone up 20 percent.”

Walker said the turkey shortage would have a ripple effect, because each year the 5,000 turkeys they collect are distributed to some 80 other organizations in the Denver area. So she got the word out about the shortage, and four days later she sent me an email with this message:

We started out 9 days ago with zero turkeys and now have over 11,000. We have distributed 9,000 to agencies and churches for their holiday food boxes. The community in Colorado is amazing!

Greater need often prompts greater generosity. How about at your ministry? Do you have a Thanksgiving story to encourage your fellow ECCU members? Post a comment and let us know.