Where UUMC finances stand at mid-year—and the challenges ahead
The Finance Committee recently reviewed UUMC financials through the first five months of the year. And while I’m happy to report that our 2024 budget is on track, our committee is already looking ahead to some budget challenges coming in 2025.
First, here’s where we stand for 2024. Our current-year pledge total of $327,000 is $31,000 ahead of budget through May, thanks largely to some annual pledges given in full at the beginning of the year. As always, thanks to everyone for pledging and for keeping their pledges current. That’s especially important in summer, when the church’s bills don’t take a vacation. Non-pledge giving of $56,000—which includes the offering plate as well as credit cards and bank drafts not associated with pledges—is $12,000 below our budget forecast but not a concern for now. Income from the Platinum parking lot and ATM site rental is on track.
Expenses continue to present challenges. Like all of us, the church is dealing with higher-than-anticipated costs for utilities and property insurance. As detailed in the first-quarter financial report, UUMC’s property insurance premium nearly doubled this year, to $98,000, when our longtime carrier left the Texas market. Electricity and natural gas costs are $5,500 over budget for the year through May. Fortunately, our staff and lay leaders continue to do a great job of keeping the expenses that we can control under budget.
As we begin to look forward to our 2025 budget, the Finance Committee is preparing for the likelihood that our property insurance premium will remain at or exceed $100,000. We’re also expecting our conference apportionments to rise again as the larger church absorbs the financial cost of doing the right thing to become more inclusive. And we know that other costs, such as utilities, continue to go up.
These increased expenses come as our pledged giving has remained below pre-pandemic levels. For the past three years, we’ve averaged 150 pledges from individuals and families totaling $714,000; in the three years before 2020, we averaged 189 pledging units totaling $794,000.
The simplest way for us to overcome these challenges is for more of us to pledge and for those of us who can to pledge more. Together we have the opportunity to do our part so that the church can continue to do the kind of work that makes such a difference in so many lives. We will highlight this opportunity again during our stewardship campaign this fall, which will be especially important as we look to keep UUMC on solid financial footing.
In the meantime, we thank everyone for their gifts to UUMC—gifts of money and time and love—and for working with us to be faithful stewards of God’s abundant resources.
— John Bridges,
finance chair
