Another important aspect of budgeting for churches is considering long-term goals. This could include things like building renovations, expanding the church facility, or starting a new ministry. While these projects may not be immediate needs, it is important to plan and allocate funds towards them in order to make progress and achieve your goals. No matter the size or age of your church, it is important to prioritize people and allocate a payroll significant portion of the budget towards programs and ministries that directly impact members and visitors.

Can You Tithe with a Credit Card? Online Giving for Small Churches

• U.S Protestant churches spend an average of 45% of their budget on staff and pastor salaries per year, which is about double that of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
• Medium church and small church attendance both increased by just over 1 percent after regathering.
• “From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.”
• At this rate, growing churches should prepare to offer multiple ways for church members to give electronically and make sure they are prepared to handle any technical issues or security concerns.
• Whether you use Illustration A, B or C, the point is to land on one of them and stick with it.

Therefore, allocating a portion of the budget towards outreach and community involvement is important. This may include supporting missions, local charities, and other initiatives that align with your church’s mission. With staff compensation comprising approximately 50% of your budget, you can then dedicate about 40% to ministry expenses and operations. This encompasses utilities, maintenance, supplies, and other costs pertinent to church operations.

Guidelines for a Healthy Church Budget

It allocates a certain percentage of funds towards paying off church debt, such as loans or mortgages, while also ensuring that staff salaries and benefits are at an appropriate level. This model allows for a balance between supporting the needs of the church (staff salaries and facilities) while also prioritizing outreach and missions. It also ensures that a majority of the budget is being used for direct ministry purposes, rather than administrative costs. Church budget percentages also play a crucial role in supporting growth and adaptation.

• In other words, in our example above they would take the additional 10% (50%-40%) and either pay down on their mortgage, save or do a combination of both.
• The smallest congregations (or church plants) are often powered by outside funding and/or extremely committed families.
• At Vanderbloemen, we offer custom compensation reports to show you how your organization compares to others similar to yours.
• For staff compensation, the accepted range typically falls between 33% to 50%.
• These churches try to let the income catch up with the compensation levels.
• By communicating and explaining the budget percentages, members can feel a sense of ownership and support for these goals.

Thomas Costello

• Interestingly, churches that did not receive PPP funds were more likely to see total giving meet or exceed their budget last year (77 percent) than churches that received PPP funds (65 percent).
• However, studies suggest that attendance frequency correlates with higher giving.
• First, there is a steep drop off once you venture outside of the 40 to 60 percent range (the first and third quartiles).
• We made major changes to our annual church survey to better reflect the uniqueness of church ministry in 2020.
• It’s been so easy to learn, our staff is loving it and best of all even our staff who are not computer savvy find it a breeze (pun intended).
• Amid the pandemic, over half of the churches (59 percent) increased their cash reserves or savings in 2020, and another 26 percent were able to maintain their cash reserves; only 14 percent of churches saw a decrease.

Some congregations may be able to do many things within their budgets, while others have just enough funds left over after paying bills each month that they can only afford one additional activity. Tithely provides the Bookstime tools you need to engage with your church online, stay connected, increase generosity, and simplify the lives of your staff. Nearly half of all churches said they contemplated cost cutting measures but only 39% actually took any action. Those that did froze salaries (21%) or cut programs (20%) as the two largest actions by far.

Innovative Christmas Eve Ideas for a Midweek Church Service

Small churches increasingly utilize online giving platforms to simplify the donation process for congregants and to improve stewardship of tithes, offerings, and the admin’s time. Church management software can automate many aspects of financial tracking, reporting, and planning. When selecting software, consider features like donation tracking, fund accounting, and financial reporting. Include the cost of this technology in the budget, recognizing it as an investment in efficiency. Here are 7 key tips for creating a church budget that works for your community. A budget is an important part of the planning process for the upcoming year, and also includes generating church financial reports to keep members up to date.

What percentage of church members give?

The overall average number of in-person worship weekends among churches we surveyed was 37 in 2020. We used this combined average worship attendance figure to determine each church’s size category for last year. All other research statistics how to create a church budget were calculated based on combined average worship attendances. Other articles on this topic states that “most churches” allocate between 45 and 55 percent. While this is not a bad advice, we suspect this narrower range reflects a healthy goal rather than reality—i.e., aim for 50 percent and allow for a 5 percent fluctuation.