 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 (XXXXI 4) |
PYM's Meeting for Worship and Financial Stewardship will take place on Saturday morning, November 15, in the Meeting House at George School on Route 413 south of Newtown, Pennsylvania. This is the meeting that Friends often call the "budget conference." It is sponsored by the PYM Financial Stewardship Committee, the committee charged with bringing a budget for approval by Yearly Meeting in session each March.
The meeting has three purposes:
to learn the last piece of income information needed for final formation of the 2004-05 budget, i.e., the total of the Covenants of the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings,
to inform Friends attending of the status at that point of the 04-05 budget, and
to give an opportunity for the Financial Stewardship Committee to hear the advice and counsel of Friends attending on matters related to the PYM budget and the budget process.
The meeting is open to all Friends, and the Financial Stewardship Committee welcomes and encourages your participation. For the most part, the financial Covenants with PYM are reported by representatives of the Quarterly Meetings.
As you no doubt are aware, last year's budget process was a difficult one. This year promises to be even tougher, because we have to reduce costs in a budget that was heavily pruned last year. We face severely reduced income from investments as well as increases in fixed costs. Current projections show an income shortfall of $200,000 or more for fiscal 04-05. Any increases in income can only come from the Covenants or from the Annual Fund.
So there is lots of hard work to be done to bring the 04-05 budget into balance. Some of that work will be done at the budget conference on November 15. Please join us, whether you see yourself as a number-cruncher or you just want to have a better understanding of the finances that underlie the work of PYM. We promise to have both the numbers and explanations of what those numbers mean. We'll have coffee and donuts with a bit of socializing prior to the meeting, and a mid-morning snack to sustain us.
Jacqueline D. Bowers
Falls Meeting (PA)
Clerk of PYM Financial Stewardship Committee
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM