 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003 (XXXXI 1) |
It was a classic November morning – cold, rainy, and bleak – an appropriate match for the information on the current state of PYM’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2003, to be presented to Friends who had come to the Meeting for Worship and Financial Stewardship at Westtown School on Saturday, November 16. Friends gathered in worship, supported by members of the Meeting on Worship and Ministry, who had come to provide worshipful prayer throughout the meeting to assist us in our work.
This budget conference had four important purposes:
- to remind us of PYM priorities adopted in July 2002 by Interim Meeting;
- to learn about the 2003-2004 budget and why this is a difficult budget year;
- to hear the Quarterly Meeting reports on Monthly Meeting covenants with PYM;
- and to advise the Financial Stewardship Committee.
The programmatic priorities adopted by PYM last year are: creating more visible and more hospitable Meeting communities, supporting religious education for children and adults, and enabling community service and witness that expresses what is best in our faith.
All of us are aware of the state of the economy. What we might not be conscious of is the effect it is having on the income of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. At the budget conference, Friends learned how the increase in fixed costs, in an already closely pared current budget, coupled with a very real decrease in income from investments, had left us with an enormous gap between income and expenses, a gap of $223,000. And this was after serious budget cutting by the Standing Committees!
Next, we heard from representatives of the Quarters as to the covenants of Monthly Meetings with PYM for fiscal year 2003-04. Would we be able to reduce the budget gap through an increase in the overall covenants? Financial Stewardship's letter to Monthly Meetings had asked for a 5% increase if possible. With this economy affecting Monthly Meetings as well, we feared the covenants might not increase at all. It was gratifying to find, at the end of the reports, that the total of the covenants showed a 4% increase and that the gap was now reduced to $184,000. It was an exciting moment. The belief in the work of our Yearly Meeting that this increase expressed was a ray of sunshine on that rainy day.
Much work was still to be done. The gap was still too large to be bridged by just cutting programs. To do that would seriously harm the work and cut into the priorities. A two-pronged approach was needed - more cuts, yes, but also more income.
We reported that the Financial Stewardship Committee would ask Interim Meeting to allow us to bring to them in January a budget that would include, if necessary, moving some income from designated funds to the general fund. (And, in fact, Interim Meeting did approve this request at its November 21 meeting.)
Friends then settled into discussion on how, long term, to increase the income to PYM and how priorities adopted by Interim Meeting (which, by extension, inform the budgeting process) can gain acceptance and support among the Monthly Meetings. There seem to be no easy answers to these issues, but all suggestions were duly recorded and will be studied as we go into preparing for the next budget year.
The Financial Stewardship Committee wishes to thank all Friends who, in witness to their faith, spent that Saturday morning with us.
Jacqueline Bowers
Falls Meeting (PA)
Clerk of PYM Financial Stewardship Committee
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM