Why have a ward budget and reimbursements?

[Art Vandelay]

There is no budget roll over for the Wards in our Stake. Our Stake requests that all receipts be turned in by the 5th of December. Most Ward Christmas parties are within the first week of the month because of this.

Any money left over at the end of the year is placed in the Stake Fund. Our Stake keeps and uses that money at a Stake level. It never finds its way back to the ward.

Our ward gets a new, smaller budget next year, because we didn't use all of our money in the previous year. And that is why we have a spending spree the first week of the month in December. If we don't use it, the Stake keeps it. And we are penalized with a smaller budget next year.

I guess that makes sense, even though it does seem somewhat unpredictable as to what the stake budget will be year to year. In our stake we are assessed $3.25 a quarter per individual attending sacrament meeting ("the count" upon which all figures are dependent). It is predictable, fair and seems to work well for our stake.

[clackamascoug]

Interesting Case Sample.

This past year end our ward had $1,500 in unused funds. The Bishop, six months new, on his own initiative, went and spent $700 on toner, printer paper, paper plates, plastic ware , Ensign subscriptions for the poor/needy, and turned the receipt in on Jan 10. The Stake already confiscated our surplus, and we had no money to reimburse the Bishop. He went to the SP and they honored his receipt for the goods, but he was told to never do that again.

[Moliere]

The hardest part of ward budgets is when you have a newly formed ward. I've been through this and the ward basically has nothing. No scout supplies/equipment, no eagle scout/YW plaques to hang in the foyer, no baptismal clothes, no teacher manuals, etc. Starting up a ward is expensive.

I have other thoughts on this based on my experience that I won't share but it is interesting the issues around supplies/money that arise when a ward is split or formed.

[LA Ute]

Budgets are both limiting and enhancing. In poorer areas they enhance what acitvities are offered to the members and in richer areas they may limit what acitvities can be offered (or at least they should be). Moreover, it also make the organization responsible for the activity as opposed to the caprice fo the leader (or the size of the leader's purse). It makes the organization accoubntable. You would probabyl save more time for finaicail clerks if you forbade coins as tithing or fast offerings than you would by eliminating reimbursement requests.

When the change in ward budgets was announced back in the late 80s I remember one of the GA speakers in the satellite broadcast referencing the problem of "inequality" in the church. I'm pretty vague about this. But I seem to recall those scriptures (or one of them) being referenced. I thought of the Salt Lake ward I lived in as a student, where the annual ward Christmas dinner tradition was to have lobster flown in from Maine.

[Soccermom]

When the change in ward budgets was announced back in the late 80s I remember one of the GA speakers in the satellite broadcast referencing the problem of "inequality" in the church. I'm pretty vague about this. But I seem to recall those scriptures (or one of them) being referenced. I thought of the Salt Lake ward I lived in as a student, where the annual ward Christmas dinner tradition was to have lobster flown in from Maine.

Two questions.

1. How did they used to determine a ward's budget?
2. How did the lobster eating wards react to the budget change?

[happyone]

Two questions.

1. How did they used to determine a ward's budget?
2. How did the lobster eating wards react to the budget change?

1. The members contributed to the Ward Budget. When you went to tithing settlement, the bishop asked to for a certain amount for the year.
The richer the ward, the more budget you had to spend. The stake then accessed each ward for its budget.

2. If I remember right, there was some heartburn.

[Pheidippides]

The hardest part of ward budgets is when you have a newly formed ward. I've been through this and the ward basically has nothing. No scout supplies/equipment, no eagle scout/YW plaques to hang in the foyer, no baptismal clothes, no teacher manuals, etc. Starting up a ward is expensive.

I have other thoughts on this based on my experience that I won't share but it is interesting the issues around supplies/money that arise when a ward is split or formed.

I went through this two years ago. What he said.

[Pheidippides]

Interesting Case Sample.

This past year end our ward had $1,500 in unused funds. The Bishop, six months new, on his own initiative, went and spent $700 on toner, printer paper, paper plates, plastic ware , Ensign subscriptions for the poor/needy, and turned the receipt in on Jan 10. The Stake already confiscated our surplus, and we had no money to reimburse the Bishop. He went to the SP and they honored his receipt for the goods, but he was told to never do that again.

I'm confused on two points here:

1. Why didn't his clerk tell him about the fiscal year end?

2. Why didn't they have money to reimburse him? The church will honor any check properly printed and signed. All the budget stuff is accounting - it's not real money in a bank account somewhere.

[The_Tick]

I guess that makes sense, even though it does seem somewhat unpredictable as to what the stake budget will be year to year. In our stake we are assessed $3.25 a quarter per individual attending sacrament meeting ("the count" upon which all figures are dependent). It is predictable, fair and seems to work well for our stake.

Our Stake operates on "theory". The Spanish Ward is the largest Ward in the Stake. They are a freaking black hole though. That ward is so far into the red you would think they are sponsored by the Utes. At their current contribution lvl, it would take somewhere around 3-5 years to come into the black. (That is without cutting another check.)

So we have 9 Wards in our Stake. The SP at that point divides the money up per Ward. It isn't an equal share.

Example:

Our Ward holds an annual garage sale that makes anywhere from 800-1200 for boy and girls to go to camp. 5 years ago when I started it, we brought in 1200. With the money that was given to the ward by the Stake for Scout/Girls camp, no one had to pay any money out of pocket to go to camp.

We have been so successful in our fundraiser, that the Stake no longer sets aside any money for our ward for girls/scout camp. That money goes to other wards that have a harder time financially getting their kids to camp.

Not fair, but in theory I can understand.

[LA Ute]

Two questions.

1. How did they used to determine a ward's budget?
2. How did the lobster eating wards react to the budget change?

1. Happyone is right. There were some very well-off wards. I remember YM/YW from those wards (including my own) going to pretty remote locations to youth conference, for example.

2. I recall a fair amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth in some wards. I personally thought it was great. We were (at that time) in the most-affluent ward in our not-very-affluent stake, and I felt very uncomfortable about many of the contrasts.

[statman]

Our Stake operates on "theory". The Spanish Ward is the largest Ward in the Stake. They are a freaking black hole though. That ward is so far into the red you would think they are sponsored by the Utes. At their current contribution lvl, it would take somewhere around 3-5 years to come into the black. (That is without cutting another check.)

So we have 9 Wards in our Stake. The SP at that point divides the money up per Ward. It isn't an equal share.

Example:

Our Ward holds an annual garage sale that makes anywhere from 800-1200 for boy and girls to go to camp. 5 years ago when I started it, we brought in 1200. With the money that was given to the ward by the Stake for Scout/Girls camp, no one had to pay any money out of pocket to go to camp.

We have been so successful in our fundraiser, that the Stake no longer sets aside any money for our ward for girls/scout camp. That money goes to other wards that have a harder time financially getting their kids to camp.

Not fair, but in theory I can understand.

WE had exactly the same situation in our ward in Illinois. Our lawn aeration fundraiser was bringing in enough in two weekends of work (Friday evening & all day Saturday) that we paid for scout camp for each of our scouts each year, plus a high adventure camp for the older scouts as well (good ones - rafting and hiking in Colorado, caving in Mammoth Caves in KY, canoeing at a national park in Canada, etc). But our Stake contribution to our YM program went basically to zero. They were happy for our success, but didn't want to any for any of the great activities we took our YM on (in that ward, the bishop once confided in me that one of attributes he sought in YM leaders was lots and lots of vacation time at work. I had six weeks - and "got to" attend every scout camp/high adventure/youth conference/etc.). I couldn't really blame the Stake for their position. We didn't really have a problem raising money, so they didn't feel obligated to provide it...

[Art Vandelay]

Our lawn aeration fundraiser was bringing in enough in two weekends of work (Friday evening & all day Saturday) that we paid for scout camp for each of our scouts each year, plus a high adventure camp for the older scouts as well (good ones - rafting and hiking in Colorado, caving in Mammoth Caves in KY, canoeing at a national park in Canada, etc).

Our scouts have always done sprinkler blowouts and earn $2,000 for two Saturdays of work. This year we weren't able to get the compressors we usually have so are planning on aeration and thatching in the spring. How involved were the younger scouts with the aeration? That has always been our problem, the older boys or dads do all the work to pay for the ones who use the most money. I would like to get the deacons more involved with the actual project, but don't trust them to run actual power equipment.

[John McClain]

It is a rare day when I submit a request for reimbursement. I earn a good living and if I have to spend some money as part of my calling, I generally consider it part of the equation (sacrifice/consecration/blessings). I taught early morning seminary last year and always bought treats. I enjoyed it because the kids enjoyed it. Now that I have a calling in High Priests, I might have to reconsider whether to submit my receipts. Those guys just don't appreciate treats as much.

[Medfordcoug]

It is a rare day when I submit a request for reimbursement. I earn a good living and if I have to spend some money as part of my calling, I generally consider it part of the equation (sacrifice/consecration/blessings).

That is how I feel. I think I have only turned in a couple receipts in since I moved out of the starving college student stage of life (a long time ago). I make a decent living and consider it a part of my calling.

[statman]

Our scouts have always done sprinkler blowouts and earn $2,000 for two Saturdays of work. This year we weren't able to get the compressors we usually have so are planning on aeration and thatching in the spring. How involved were the younger scouts with the aeration? That has always been our problem, the older boys or dads do all the work to pay for the ones who use the most money. I would like to get the deacons more involved with the actual project, but don't trust them to run actual power equipment.

We'd have the deacons & smaller teachers out selling the aeration door to door while the bigger teachers and priests (and leaders) did the manual labor. We'd generally have three crews of people out - an SUV with 6-7 people (two adults and 4-5 kids) and a trailer pulling the aerator. Generally 3 people taking turns working the machine and 3 or 4 selling. We'd average about $50-$60 a yard on ~1/4 acre lots in suburban Chicago (yard services would usually charge ~$100). A yard would take about 30 minutes to do, and we'd get in about 3 hours on Friday afternoon/evening and 10 hours on Saturday. In total, we'd take in about $1300-$1500 per crew we had out for Friday evening + Saturday. The rental cost was about $150 per machine - the standing deal we had with Home Depot basically got us Friday evening for free - so we'd clear up to $4000 on a good weekend when we had three crews out and the weather was good. We'd generally do it twice in the spring - the first two weeks that the weather permitted. If for whatever reason we thought we needed more money, we'd add a week to the process. The work absolutely sucked, but it allowed us to do some really fun activities with our kids - and send everyone to scout camp / high adventure with no/little out-of-pocket.

There were a few really nice things about this fund-raiser - it provided a service that people wanted, at a good price (less than yard service), and the vast majority of the funds came from outside the ward. People would see us out working in their subdivision, and would pull over and ask us to stop by & do their yards.

Another good thing - almost no one in IL had in-ground sprinklers. You really have to watchout for sprinklers with those machines...

Holiday Flags is another fundraiser that I've seen great success with - if your ward is geographically small. A $65 donation to the troop gets you a flag put up and taken down during each major patriotic-type holiday. (I think we did President's Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Election Day and Veterans Day & Thanksgiving (?)).

Flags and a piece of rebar costs about $15 bucks, so the first year we were clearing $50 per order - and we did 50 or 60 families in the ward. After that, it was a full $65 per order, and eventually we got up over 100 homes (a little more than 1/2 were LDS - patriotic Texans!). We also encouraged people to give the service to friends and neighbors within the ward boundaries as christmas gifts, and had some nice cards printed up that they could give them to explainthe gift (about 1/3 of our sales came at Christmas).

After the 2nd or 3rd year we did it, we were clearing $6000 - $7000 a year for the scouts. If I could choose, and if the ward was small - I'd do flags. The aeration is much harder work. I'd rather get up early a few times a year to put up flags...