by Richard Anderson

Another year is quickly drawing to a close. As we look forward to a new year, there are a few financial things to consider. It may be time to reconsider how financial affairs are handled in the congregation. There are two pieces of useful software that are worthy of consideration to help make the job of your treasurer and/or envelope secretary easier and more enjoyable.

Let’s start with charitable receipts. There is an excellent Windows computer program written by Dan Cooperstock. It is available from www.Software4Nonprofits.com. The program is very aptly called Donation. Mr. Cooperstock has kept this program current with the Canada Revenue Agency’s requirements on what constitutes a legitimate charitable receipt. This includes printing the date the donation was received, the CRA Charities website address, unique receipt numbers and all the other required information.

After Donation is downloaded, there is a 60-day trial period. During this time, you may evaluate the software. It is very simple and user friendly. There is a manual that explains the program and its features as well as what to do at year end.

Donation has the ability to produce reports for any time period. This allows churches to send out quarterly or semiannual reports to the congregation if they desire. These reports can help donors see how they are doing in relation to their planned giving for the year. Donations can be entered in batches (weekly), saving time by not having to enter the date for each entry. Donation can also be set up to track givings for special fundraising appeals. Personalized letters can be produced for the donors for mail-outs as required.

There is a nominal charge for Donation and a yearly renewal fee that entitles you to support and all upgrades. As new features are requested and added, a new version is released and made available to all paid subscribers. Our church has been using Donation for over 10 years. There are great benefits to the program, as it saves time and ensures that receipts issued meet Canada Revenue Agency’s requirements.

Along with a good donation tracking and recording program is the need for a good accounting program. A program such as Quicken or Quickbooks works well for a congregation. There are accounting programs specifically designed for congregations, but they tend to be more expensive. Not every treasurer has accounting or bookkeeping training. Neither of these programs requires any special training to get started, although training might help to uncover some of the features of the program.

Quicken works well for smaller churches since it is simpler to set up than Quickbooks. Quickbooks is a true double entry accounting software package and, as such, has more features. The double entry system works in the background to provide audit trails if required but does not mean that every entry needs to be entered twice. Both packages have simple-to-use bank reconciliation procedures.

Both of these programs have numerous reports that can be produced. An important consideration in reporting to the board and congregation is simplicity and clarity. This can be accomplished by using comparison reports, budget reports or profit and loss reports. A comparison report compares the current year’s income and expense with the previous year. A budget report compares year-to-date income and expenditures to the budgeted amounts. A profit and loss statement is a report of how the income and expenses are categorized. For a report to the annual meeting, a budget report explains the financial state of the church for the previous year.

More needs to be said about budgeting. Budgeting for a church is not as simple as expecting to receive one twelfth of your donations every month. The income a congregation receives does not come in on a steady basis. There are ups and downs. Donations in one congregation may be down in the summer when people are taking vacations, whereas another congregation’s donations (in a rural setting) may be down in spring (seeding time) and fall (harvest time). Each congregation’s giving patterns are unique. To get a better picture and understanding of giving patterns, you need to look at previous years’ givings on a monthly basis. This will show when the ups and downs occur so that when they repeat in the current year, there is no need for unease or panic. It is best to study the giving patterns for three or four previous years to get a good indication of those patterns. This information can be put on a computer spreadsheet. With the information derived from a few years’ worth of giving patterns, a prediction can be made of the current year’s expected givings.*

There are great benefits to the program, as it saves time and ensures that receipts issued meet Canada Revenue Agency’s requirements.

The data from either of the bookkeeping programs suggested is needed for another year-end procedure – having the books audited or reviewed. In 2008, the Clerks of Assembly clarified what “audit” meant when it came to auditing the books of a congregation. An “audit” or a “review” could be done by an external, licensed, public accountant or the audit could be conducted by volunteers following the guidelines set out in the 2008 Acts and Proceedings, pages 251-253. Acts and Proceedings can be downloaded from www.presbyterian.ca/ap.

Once the audit or review is complete, it is time to file the T3010 Information Return with the Charities Directorate. The T3010 is an annual filing requirement to maintain the charitable status of the congregation. Text box please The form needs to be filed within six months of the financial year end of the congregation. For most churches, the year end is December 31, making the deadline for filing June 30. The form, along with a guide to completing the form, can be downloaded from www.presbyterian.ca/resources/online/1769.

As the financial reporting to regulatory agencies – CRA among others – and the congregation become more complex and time-consuming, we need to think of ways of helping. We can support the individuals doing this important work in the church by providing them with useful, easy-to-understand software. We can also support them by encouraging them and thanking them for this important ministry.

Richard Anderson is a member of Memorial Presbyterian Church, Sylvan Lake, Alberta. He is treasurer of the Presbytery of Central Alberta and treasurer of the Synod of Alberta and the Northwest.

Consider the following ways to tell your congregation’s budget story

a) use posters and bulletin inserts
b) highlight one ministry/mission area each week/month
c) have people speak in worship, or meetings, about the special ministry they are engaged in
d) have every group or committee share, discuss and reflect on the narrative budget from their perspective
e) plan a weekend or workshop to interpret your ministry/mission story with the congregation
f) make a video or slide or power point presentation based on the ministry that is happening in the congregation
g) incorporate your narrative budget into your Annual Visitation Program (or other stewardship commitment program) and new members classes.
h) in whatever ways possible, take time in worship and community gatherings to share and celebrate your participation in your areas of ministry and mission
i) most importantly, be creative and enthusiastic

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