Edited transcript of James message on Sunday 5th November
Introduction
I'm James, with my wife Christine, we've been in the church for about five years. I took over from Alan in the summer as treasurer. I'm a aware that not everybody likes talking about money on a Sunday morning, but it is part of church life, so you'll still get it anyway.
Where we were
Mark and I decided it was time that we gave you another update. The last one was about 18 months ago. To put that in context, it was just about when Mark and Meg took on the leadership. We were still emerging from COVID, and our financial position then was not very good. Our reserves were virtually zero, and our expenditure was exceeding our regular income regularly.
Current Position
I'm pleased to say that since then, things have vastly improved, so heave a sigh of relief. Why is that? Well, we have benefited from two significant donations in the last year, for which we are very, very grateful. And there's also been an increase in our regular giving, for which we are equally thankful. And those two things, alongside managing our expenses, have improved our situation enormously.
A huge thank you to everybody who has donated either regularly or one-off. It made such a difference. The result of that is that our reserves are now much, much stronger. We have the equivalent of probably three months' worth of expenses as our reserves, which is a sort of benchmark that charities aim to achieve. And the other thing we've done, and it's a bit of a work in progress, but we have invested some money in some better cameras and lighting. This will improve the quality of our live streaming. Increasingly, our internet presence is a window into the church. And when this is finished, the experience that online viewers will have will be vastly improved. But it's a work in progress still.
Looking Ahead
But it is not a time to be complacent. Because our expenditure is sadly still running a bit ahead of our income. You can see from the slide. We have three main sources of income. Our regular giving, our gift aid reclaim, and our income from hirings. Those fluctuate from month to month, particularly the hirings. And our expenditure fluctuates from month to month, depending on whether we have a fuel bill come in or something like that. But these are averages, typical month. We're running about £1,000 behind on a monthly basis. Now, to state the obvious, if this continues, then that reserve position, as I talked about earlier, will gradually be eroded to the position. We'll be back to where we were about 18 months ago.
So why has this happened? Well, I think it's fair to say that as a church, we suffer the same pressures as everybody else. We've had a rent increase in the last year. You wouldn't necessarily think it from this morning. But we spend about 20,000 pounds a year on heating and lighting. We get no subsidy, unlike households. We get no subsidy for the fuel bill. And we're generally subject to the same inflationary pressures as everybody else.
Opportunity to Give
£1000 sounds a bit of a big number. Breaking it down, if all the adults in the church were to give up the cost of a couple of coffees a month and give the six pounds they saved to West Wilts instead, we would fill the gap. It's as simple as that.
Bookkeeping Help
So far, this has been all about the general fund. We have several other restricted funds, including the Storehouse and Refresh Frome. There is a lot to oversee. Lorraine Breese is our current Bookkeeper, but she has recently moved to Wales so we are looking for her successor. If you have bookkeeping skills, general admin skills, you are IT literate, and you can spare a few hours each week to do our books, then Mark or I would really be pleased to talk to you.
To talk with James, please email Email James
Please consider increasing or starting to give to West Wilts Vineyard
Thank you in advance
Mark and Meg Searle - Senior Pastors
James Salter - Treasurer and Trustee