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St Erconwald’s parish Finance and Fabric Committee are pleased to present the 2023 parish accounts.
The main headlines from the accounts are:
· our regular income from weekly and monthly donations has not been rising, despite increases in Mass attendance, and does not cover the parish’s day to day costs – we are operating with an unsustainable deficit;
· our fundraising activities (such as the Spring Ball) are proving very successful and this is really helping; and
· our church and hall need considerable investment to repair and then improve their fabric and appearance, and to help us to use less heating in the future. Some repair work needs to be done soon. At the moment we do not have the funds to do a great deal of what is going to be needed in the years ahead.
All of these points remain as relevant in the current financial year as they were last year, and the Finance and Fabric Committee is working up some principles and priorities arising from them which will be used to guide our future fundraising, spending and investment. In outline, these will be:
The parish’s funds are dedicated to supporting our mission to Grow in faith, love and community.
· Our aim must be for income from weekly donations, monthly standing orders and other similar items, to match or exceed the parish’s running costs so that we can start to build financial resilience for the future. A significant part of our costs arises from the annual levy that the diocese charges parishes – see below.
· We must invest in our church, our hall and the presbytery to bring them up to modern standards and to make them safe and comfortable places for worship and all the other activities that make up our parish mission. We are working up a prioritised list of projects.
· We must build up our financial reserves over time to help us manage future unknown commitments;
· We will set budgets and monitor our spending to make sure that we do only what we can afford.
The Diocesan levy is charged each year to parishes as a fixed percentage of general offerings (that is to say, offerings and donations made to the parish where no specific purpose has been specified by the donor). The levy rate is 35% on such income above around £10,000. As our accounts show, last year, the parish contributed £27,147 to the Diocese in this way. The levy pays for the costs of the Diocese, which include administration costs, Catholic education, training of new deacons and priests, care for retired priests and other aspects of the Diocese’s wider mission.
Our biggest current challenge is that our regular income is not enough to cover our costs including the levy. We are planning to talk more about all of this at all the Sunday Masses on 29 and 30 June. The quickest and most important thing which we can all do and which could make a huge difference is to look again at our weekly offerings at Mass and our monthly standing orders and see if we can afford to regularly give a little more. If each household in the parish could increase its donations by just £1 or £2 per week that alone could raise £10-20k or more extra for the parish per year.
Please do prayerfully consider whether this is an option for you and/or your family. You can donate here:
www.sterconwalds.org.uk/giving.html
The main headlines from the accounts are:
· our regular income from weekly and monthly donations has not been rising, despite increases in Mass attendance, and does not cover the parish’s day to day costs – we are operating with an unsustainable deficit;
· our fundraising activities (such as the Spring Ball) are proving very successful and this is really helping; and
· our church and hall need considerable investment to repair and then improve their fabric and appearance, and to help us to use less heating in the future. Some repair work needs to be done soon. At the moment we do not have the funds to do a great deal of what is going to be needed in the years ahead.
All of these points remain as relevant in the current financial year as they were last year, and the Finance and Fabric Committee is working up some principles and priorities arising from them which will be used to guide our future fundraising, spending and investment. In outline, these will be:
The parish’s funds are dedicated to supporting our mission to Grow in faith, love and community.
· Our aim must be for income from weekly donations, monthly standing orders and other similar items, to match or exceed the parish’s running costs so that we can start to build financial resilience for the future. A significant part of our costs arises from the annual levy that the diocese charges parishes – see below.
· We must invest in our church, our hall and the presbytery to bring them up to modern standards and to make them safe and comfortable places for worship and all the other activities that make up our parish mission. We are working up a prioritised list of projects.
· We must build up our financial reserves over time to help us manage future unknown commitments;
· We will set budgets and monitor our spending to make sure that we do only what we can afford.
The Diocesan levy is charged each year to parishes as a fixed percentage of general offerings (that is to say, offerings and donations made to the parish where no specific purpose has been specified by the donor). The levy rate is 35% on such income above around £10,000. As our accounts show, last year, the parish contributed £27,147 to the Diocese in this way. The levy pays for the costs of the Diocese, which include administration costs, Catholic education, training of new deacons and priests, care for retired priests and other aspects of the Diocese’s wider mission.
Our biggest current challenge is that our regular income is not enough to cover our costs including the levy. We are planning to talk more about all of this at all the Sunday Masses on 29 and 30 June. The quickest and most important thing which we can all do and which could make a huge difference is to look again at our weekly offerings at Mass and our monthly standing orders and see if we can afford to regularly give a little more. If each household in the parish could increase its donations by just £1 or £2 per week that alone could raise £10-20k or more extra for the parish per year.
Please do prayerfully consider whether this is an option for you and/or your family. You can donate here:
www.sterconwalds.org.uk/giving.html