Graph: Presbyterians Sharing income 1999-2013
A total of $7.8 million was donated to the church’s national mission and ministry fund in 2013, falling short of the $8 million budgeted for the year.
Last year was expected to be a difficult one for churches struggling with tight budgets. Pension contributions increased for congregations on Jan. 1, 2013, meaning congregations collectively provided an additional $2 million to the pension fund in 2013, according to Karen Plater, associate secretary of Stewardship.
2014 will also be “an interesting year,” she said, because it will be the first time her department has used a new formula to calculate Presbyterians Sharing allocations.
Each year, congregations’ suggested Presbyterians Sharing allocations and mandatory pension contributions are calculated using their dollar bases—or the congregation’s income in a given year, minus any money used for mission purposes or debt repayments, and excluding revenue for major building projects or renovations.
In 2014, each congregation has been asked to contribute 10 per cent of its dollar base to the national mission and ministry fund. Plater said the new calculation should provide a more achievable fundraising goal for smaller congregations. But if larger congregations that gave more than 10 per cent of their dollar bases in the past reduce their allocations to 10 per cent in 2014, it could cause a drop in total income to Presbyterians Sharing.
“I was encouraged because the first couple [of allocations] I got back were from congregations above 10 per cent and they were going to try to maintain giving at that level,” Plater said.
“Presbyterians Sharing is the mission and ministry we do, so it’s the heart of what we do as a church together, with the relief and development work we do through PWS&D,” she said. “On the one hand we do very well. Presbyterians are very generous for the number of congregations we have. I think that we raise a lot of funds to support the work. So I think we should be encouraged with that. And the budget has been declining so we do have to make important decisions about what is it that we do together as a national church and how do we contribute to God’s mission in the world with the resources congregations are able to give.”
The 2014 budget, which was passed by the General Assembly last June, set Presbyterians Sharing income at $7.5 million.
In 2013, Presbyterians also donated $3.1 million to Presbyterian World Service and Development to be used for emergency aid and long-term development projects with partners around the world.
