Reconnecting Our Ministries - 2022 Annual Giving Commitment

We Need Your Help to Reconnect Our Ministries!
Our church continues to build momentum as we come out of the pandemic. While our church finances have remained stable, operating revenues are behind budget $15,000. Thank you for your continued generous support!

Please mail or email carolyn@dgfumc.org your commitments to our church and any questions you may have, to reaffirm our shared mission. We look forward to sharing in this commitment with you in the coming year.

About Reconnecting Our Ministries

Dear Friends,

As we reconnect as a church after the pandemic, we need to fully fund our activities. We operate with an annual operating budget of approximately $900,000. This covers all the costs of operating the church — ministries, missions, music, staff, and property. Much of the budget is allocated to ministries and property, which enables us to continue to enjoy the programs that make us who we are.

For the past several years, we have had an annual shortfall in that budget, and this trend continues in 2022 with an estimated $66,000 gap. A number of elements contribute to this, including changes for members such as moving away, losing employment, passing away, or simply not reconnecting yet. Income from commuter parking fees and building rental has also significantly decreased during the pandemic.

In prior years, we have closed the gap by reducing expenses and using funds from the Church endowment fund to pay for our mortgage debt, which the Church took on to buy the vacant Grove Street lot located north of the church parking lot. Our Church endowment fund has agreed to cover the debt in 2022 if necessary, but using the endowment is not a sustainable practice nor the most fiscally responsible way to manage our finances. Currently, we are actively pursuing the sale of the vacant Grove Street lot, which will allow us to significantly reduce our debt and the annual gap in our budget.

However, even if we repay the debt in full, we still have a $15,000 gap in our annual budget, and those funds are needed to ensure our ministries remain strong. We are asking for your help to make sure we can fully reconnect our ministries in 2022 and beyond.

Respectfully,

Mike Roth,
Chair of Finance Committee