Does Your Church Save Money?

Does your church routinely save a portion of the income it receives from tithes and offerings? I’m not talking about monies budgeted for Missions. That’s an expense. I am talking about saving some of your precious income for future unforeseen circumstances or perhaps expanding your church facility.

It is absolutely critical in our personal lives, but also critical not only for the normal operation of business (or church) that a portion of monthly income be deposited into a savings account. It is not poor stewardship to have money sitting idle in reserve.  It is poor stewardship to spend every dime one receives.

There are several reasons to save money each month. First, every church should have a reserve fund. This should be based on funding a sudden loss on income over a several month period. We recommend saving at least 3 months and preferably 6 months worth of expenses.

Secondly, should your church desire to seek debt financing for a future renovation or expansion project, it will need to prove to a lender that it already has established the habit of saving money. This is what church lenders always tell us and tell our church clients.

Your Project Needs a Church Expert

Churches have congregants with valuable skills including real estate and development experience. But rarely does a church have volunteers who have developed a fully functioning commercial church facility. Every church needs the guidance of professionals. Development Advisors now have years of learning (and making mistakes) how to execute these church specific projects.

Let us give you an example. Even though Mission Hills Church had volunteers with the skills and years of experience with commercial ground-up projects, they chose Advisors to lead them through the process of developing their new 100,000 SF church facility. Why did they hire a church specific developer?

1. All volunteers had full-time careers with no margin to lead a time consuming project.
2. They desired a professional firm to be accountable to the building committee.
3. They lacked experience with the design, financing and construction of a church facility.

Congregants with valuable skills are best suited to participate in a committee responsible for the facility project.

This Mission Hills New Building Committee was a “Who’s Who” of local and national organizations including:

• Former City Manager of the City of Littleton
• Principal of Weitz Construction (International construction firm)
• Principal of EKS&H (largest Colorado CPA and business consulting firm)
• Principal of MOA Architects (prominent commercial architectural firm)
• Principal of MTech (leading mechanical systems provider)
• Vice President of Wells Fargo
• Principal of a Private Equity Firm
• Real Estate Attorney

Advisors successfully led the site acquisition, rezoning, financing, design, engineering, construction and outfitting (AVL and FF&E) of this beautiful new church facility including regularly meeting with and reporting back to this amazing group of congregant volunteers.