By Rickey Letson A dear friend shared a box of books with me recently. He is at the end of his professional career and had been doing some cleaning and down-sizing. In the process, he had gathered some items from his library that he thought I might like to have. As I thumbed through the box, one … Continue reading
By James Jordan The Merriam-WebsterDictionary defines transparent as “free from pretense or deceit: frank; easily detected or seen through: obvious; readily understood and characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices.” What does transparency of financial matters have to do with a church? Everything. People join organizations they perceive are successful. They leave them because of … Continue reading
By James Jordan, CPA When it comes to church transparency, a needed practice for congregations to prioritize is a regular audit. An important first step for many ministers and churches when considering an audit is simply learning what is meant by the term as well as understanding how a proper audit is carried out. An … Continue reading
By Rickey Letson, CBF Congregational Stewardship Officer My wife and I had our annual financial review recently. Our advisor has worked with us for years and the hour-long meeting had a very natural, conversational tone to it. Over the course of the call, we moved between three major topics. We started by discussing our careers, current salaries … Continue reading
By Shauw Chin Capps, CBF Chief Development Officer & CBF Foundation President Gifts in-kind or gifts of non-financial assets are a very tricky component of church giving. These types of gifts certainly have the potential to be a win-win for both the donor and the congregation, IF the gift matches a very specific need the church … Continue reading
The end of summer vacation and beginning of a new school year signals the start of the annual budget process for many churches. As we enter this season, let me mention five very practical things for your church to consider in conjunction with your budget planning this year. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but, … Continue reading
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