Finally, church revenues can be broken down by date. When are your cows fat and when are they lean? Tithing patterns for some dates are predictable. For example, Easter Sunday and the week of December 31 are fat cows with plenty of money rolling in. But, on the other hand, in the summer the […]
Some churches give pastors (or other employees) monthly expense allowances in their paycheck. The allowances provide a way to advance cash to employees so that they can purchase items needed for the church or to carry out their role within the church. There are two important things to keep in mind if your church does this. […]
David Middlebrook, partner with the Church Law Group, recently spoke at our monthly church breakfast on the topic of intellectual property. He made some very interesting comments regarding employment agreements. Here are a few things that I learned. Employment agreements within churches are frequently overlooked, but are one of the least expensive measures a church […]
Examining designated or restricted gifts helps the church understand who is giving how much and to what causes. It also helps determine the spirit of unity of the congregation. While receiving gifts is usually a good thing, unrestrained designated or restricted giving can cause significant problems. These types of gifts can be used by […]
Tithes and offerings can also be analyzed geographically breaking dollars given down by zip code. This technique has proven very useful to churches whose primary mission is outreach to the un-churched and who rely heavily on mass mailings. It has been used effectively in two ways. First, significant presence of gifts from a certain […]
Participants in short term mission trips are often called upon to help raise their own funds. In almost every case, churches want to know how much a specific mission trip participant has earned toward his/her trip. Additionally, they want to take donations online to help each participant reach their mission trip goals. The easiest way […]
A second way for a church to answer the question “Who gave us the money?” is to determine if the bulk of the tithes and offerings are concentrated within a small group of individuals. This is a simple process and is accomplished by generating a list of the top ten to fifteen contributors. If the […]
Great news for the small nonprofits. The filing threshold has finally increased from $25,000 in gross receipts to $50,000 in gross receipts for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2010. This means if the nonprofit’s gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less you can file the simple 990-N e-postcard as opposed to the […]