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ENS: Executive Council approves draft budget affected by economic realities

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Kendall Harmon

On the final day of its three-day meeting here, the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council passed a draft budget for the 2010-2012 triennium that reflected the effects of the world’s financial crisis.

The draft budget calls for increasing the draw on endowment income from 5 percent to 5.5 percent, deferring debt repayment, freezing church center salaries in 2010, cutting most non-personnel church center costs by 9 percent and slightly reducing personnel costs.

Episcopal Church Treasurer Kurt Barnes told the council January 30 that the world economy has not been in this sort of financial crisis “since the time of the Depression,” and thus the council “must take very, very serious action. We are not forgetting the concept of abundance, but we also cannot forget the concept of being good stewards for all those who come after us.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, * Economics, Politics, Economy, Episcopal Church (TEC), Parish Ministry, Stewardship, The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

6 comments on “ENS: Executive Council approves draft budget affected by economic realities”

  1. Branford says:
    February 2, 2009 at 4:29 am

    Interesting. Room for legal/lawsuit expenses, but not for MDGs:

    Another cost-saving measure, the elimination of the budget’s line item of 0.7 percent spending for specific Millennium Development Goals spending, drew comment even as it was approved. Advocates of the MDG movement (eight goals for social progress set by the United Nations) have urged countries and organizations to devote 0.7 percent of their spending to programs aimed at achieving the goals. That line item in the last budget amounted to about $924,000.

  2. Irenaeus says:
    February 2, 2009 at 4:35 am

    [i] Executive Council approves draft budget affected by economic realities [/i]

    Ah, yes, the old “economic reality” of making vindictive, un-Christian lawsuits one’s top priority.

    That sort of approach will never, ever draw worshipers or increase tithing. ECUSA’s chief purpose is to serve, albeit unwittingly, as a warning to others.

  3. Todd Granger says:
    February 2, 2009 at 6:02 am

    Well put, Irenaeus.

  4. A Senior Priest says:
    February 2, 2009 at 10:24 am

    I just got Episcopal Life (called “Episcopal Death” at my house) on Saturday. Why are the pictures ENS issue seemingly nothing but a continual repetition of the very few people of color in that organization together with some LGBT and old people (generally female, like the ones in this article’s photo)? Aren’t there any younger leaders in TEC any more? Don’t they realize that they are demographically killing themselves by the image they project?

  5. Phil says:
    February 2, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    Senior Priest: they don’t care.

  6. w.w. says:
    February 3, 2009 at 3:06 am

    [blockquote]Even increasing the draw on the endowment from 5 percent to 5.5 percent would mean that income line would still be down by about $7 million from the last triennium, Barnes said.[/blockquote]

    What is the full meaning of this statement, and what are the implications long term? Is TEC’s “endowment” synonymous with TEC’s “investments”?

    With the recent trends (and blowups) in the financial markets, will that projected percentage change by the time GC convenes?

    Do monthly or quarterly balances in the Endowment get reported to members of TEC? Does anyone know the latest balance reported?

    w.w.