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The following sections relate to specific aspects of Congregational Resources information for the Diocese of Chicago.The general 2010 Budget Guidelines are a synopsis of these data. The Church Pension Group has released its 2010 Federal Reporting guidelines for Episcopal Churches.
Audits at the parish or mission level Canon 39 of the Diocesan Canons and Canon 7 of The Episcopal Church require an annual audit for all entities, including discretionary funds. Audit guidelines have been established by The Episcopal Church and are included in its publication “The Manual of Business Methods in Church Affairs”. A copy of this manual has been sent to every congregation in the diocese by the bishop and is also available here in its most recent form. It includes an audit program. While a CPA audit is encouraged, public accountant and committee audits are permitted. If a committee audit is done, all members of the committee must be independent of the church’s treasury functions. All congregations and entities must have a fiscal year that ends on December 31st. The audit is to be conducted as soon as possible after the end of the calendar year and filed with the diocesan treasurer no later than September 1st. All accounts of the congregations are to be audited, including discretionary funds, the accounts of church organizations such as the ECW, and all restricted, endowed and property funds. An audit report is presented to the vestry and the minutes should officially record the receipt, acceptance and filing of the audit report. For more information abount Audit Guidelines, please visit Audit Guide for Churches.
The 2010 Church Year budget for the Diocese of Chicago has been approved by Bishop and Trustees and presented to the Diocesan Convention as the 2010 Budget. Please visit the Comprehensive Budget Booklet presentation 2010 Budget Booklet Convention 11-20-2009. For further information on the 2010 Budget presented at the 2009 Convention visit 2010 Budget Convention - General Session Slide Show 11-20-09 or 2010 Budget Overview Session Saturday 11-21-09 Slide Show with notes.
Diocesan Pledges: Reaching common mission share Common Mission Share Guidelines Each parish, vicarage, mission and other congregation is asked to make an annual pledge to the Diocese of Chicago to support the Common Mission undertaken by our Bishops, the Diocesan staff, Diocesan Commissions and other agencies, corporations and entities. The Diocesan Canon regulating congregational giving is Canon 40. This pledge is voluntarily given and the Diocesan Convention has set guidelines for giving. These voluntary giving guidelines are based on the congregation's reported income, or Line A of the annual parochial report. If Line A is under $100,000 Please pledge 11% of your income to the Diocese If Line A is $100,000-$200,000 Please pledge 13% of your income to the Diocese If Line A is over $200,000 Please pledge 15% of your income to the Diocese Common Mission Share request letters for the 2010 Church Year have been distributed to all congregations. All congregations not reaching Common Mission Share are asked to create a plan for reaching this status over time. Technical assistance from the Office of Finance and Administration is available. Please contact Keith Kampert at (312) 751-4201 with further questions. Pledge notifications and plans were due to the Diocese Office of Finance and Administration by December 31, 2009. Below is the link for the current pledges by congregation. 2009 Common Mission Share Pledge 10-12-09
All pledge payments should be sent to: EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF CHICAGO TREASURER'S OFFICE 65 EAST HURON STREET CHICAGO, IL 60611-2728
You may at some point need to determine the exact costs of each room, resource or facility at your parish. Perhaps you are planning for the upcoming budget year and facility costs are a mystery to you. Oftentimes, outside groups may want to use your space for their programs or meetings. How much should you charge them? What is your space worth? This spreadsheet can be an excellent starting place for facility planning or allocation needs. Please be aware that this spreadsheet is only a sample. Fuel costs will surely be different for you than for this 'sample parish' used in this exercise. Also, you may or may not have the same resources that the 'sample parish' has. Please be aware that there are formulas embedded within this spreadsheet to assist you with its completion. It may be wise for you to make a copy of this sheet when you tinker with your costs, saving an original sample copy on your hard drive.
Financial Management Questions Staff of the Treasurer's Office at the Episcopal Church Center are available to advise congregations and Diocesan entities on proper financial matters. Also available as a resource is the Manual for Business Affairs, provided by The Episcopal Church. In general, financial matters within any Diocesan entity are ruled by the Canons and Constitution of The Episcopal Church. More information is available in Canon 39 of the Diocese of Chicago Canons or Title 7 of The Episcopal Church.
Effective January 1, 2010, automobile mileage can be reimbursed at the rate of $0.50 per mile. Beginning and ending mileage must be noted from your odometer. Reimbursement from home to office may not be submitted.
The Parochial Report established by our Constitution and Canons is a tool for the collection of data that is intended to assist the Church in planning for mission. The “new” parochial report form was launched in 1999 with only 40 questions. If you have regularly filed parochial reports, your data in raw form is available going back to 1991. For information about how you can obtain this information, please contact National Staff Donna Alexis-Earvin at dalexisearvin@episcopalchurch.org These data also help us at the Diocese of Chicago more clearly understand who we are, where we have been and where we are going; they act as a metric for change, growth and progress in many arenas. The forms and instructions for the 2009 parochial reports are available below. Please use the following links to access these resources. In English: In Spanish:
The Diocese of Chicago and its entities are considered a 501(c)3 organization, a designation of not-for-profit status. Agencies held or housed by a Diocesan of Chicago church may need to apply for their own 501(c)3 designation. However, all entities of the Diocese may use the Diocesan Illinois Sales Tax exemption letter when visiting retail establishments. Most purchases made by an entity of the Diocese of Chicago are exempt from sales tax. The sales tax exemption is appropriate for the purchase of consummable items that will be used at church or church functions and fof the purchase of furniture and equipment that will be owned by the church and used for church purposes. Sales tax cannot be reimbursed, even with receipts. For this reason, it is important to present the Illinois sales tax exemption letter to all retail vendors. Please contact your parish treasurer for a copy of this letter.
Parishes may deal with many different types of restricted funds. Certain grants or financial gifts may be restricted in their use by the grantor or donor. Discretionary funds have specific rules for use and oversight. Honoring these requests and regulations is not simply a matter of propriety; oftentimes, it is the law! The guidelines for Discretionary Fund use are located here. For assistance with other kinds of restricted funds usage, please contact the Office of Finance and Administration.
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