Financial Resources

Mission Statement: Develop a financial program based on the spirit of Christian giving that meets the current, ongoing, and future needs of St. Nicholas Church. This program encompasses stewardship, fund raising, planned giving, and an endowment initiative.

Goals

  1. Identify alternatives to increase the success of our stewardship program, including the use of a proven financial consultant and/or resources available from the Archdiocese and the Metropolis. Recognize the need for annual stewardship increases to address the impact of cost-of-living increases on our budget.
  2. Limit fund-raising events to special or extraordinary needs and not as necessary supplements to make everyday ends meet. This includes the annual Labor Day Festival.
  3. Revitalize the planned giving initiative to encourage the naming of St. Nicholas as a beneficiary of estates.
  4. Develop an endowment program for St. Nicholas to fund certain activities, initiatives, educational opportunities, or staff positions.

Plan

  • 1Q 2007 – Hire a consultant to guide us through the process of developing a successful stewardship program. Evaluate what other parishes have done to expand their giving program. Work with the Membership subcommittee to exploit the benefits of an increased membership base.
  • 4Q 2007 – Encourage the giving of time and talent as a part of a well-rounded stewardship initiative and as a complement to financial giving. Use the Parish Management System to document willing donors.
  • 4Q 2007 – Assess alternatives to our traditional stewardship approach. Propose an agreed-upon revised stewardship concept as a by-laws change to the parish at a General Assembly meeting.
  • 4Q 2007 – Reconstitute the Planned Giving Committee to increase awareness of the opportunity and to provide guidance to potential donors.
  • 4Q 2007 – Better manage the stewardship program through quarterly evaluations. Publicize a monthly status of key stewardship indicators to the parish. Revise the parish by-laws to grant standing committee status to the Stewardship Committee whose members would then be elected.
  • 2008 – Create a St. Nicholas endowment program to perpetuate specific missions or activities of the church.
  • TBD – Establish an initiative as a complement to the Super Stewards program that will exemplify the spirit of Christian giving and meet basic budgetary needs for operations.