Hello NP Friend,
The Finance Team presented the 2011 Newark Presbytery budget for first read at the September presbytery meeting in Roseville. In this post, you will be able to access the proposed 2011 budget which we are presenting for second read and approval at the November 20th presbytery meeting in Irvington. In addition, we are attaching the Finance Team’s (1) Highlights, (2) 6-Year Historical Chart of Investments, and (3) not for profit Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures. We hope you find these supplemental documents helpful.I am proud of the excellent financial guidance provided by the entire finance team and support staff. We are particularly grateful to God for the blessings Newark Presbytery has enjoyed including a great positive-direction rebound from the 2008 market crash, better than expected return on our investments, and the collaboration we have felt working with every committee of the presbytery which has promoted aggressive ministry while reducing costs wherever possible.
Should you have questions, or wish to offer your feedback, please contact me at lj578487@aol.com.
Thank You.
Elder Lawrence Jackson
Moderator, Finance Team
Newark Presbytery
comments disallowed
Thank you. This is a lot of information, but it would be more helpful to see a copy of the Presbytery of Newark Financial Policy as well as some comparison that shows why you have chosen not to follow it. As we established at the last Presbytery meeting, it is possible to follow GAAP and yet fail to follow policy. (You may note that the Financial Policy points out how misleading GAAP can be.)
The comparison of investments that is shown mixes restricted and unrestricted assets as if they are all unrestricted, and treats new money as if it were part of the original corpus. That is misleading, and I doubt that even GAAP allows this mixture. If we are actually doing this, then Newark Presbytery is breaking the law. We knew it was not legal when we moved to close a church, did we not?
This budget fails to follow policy in that it:
1. Fails to adopt a budget using Total Return for assets. Knowing that a charity is using Total Return is an enticement for donors to give and members to act. To fail to use Total Return is really, really problematic.
2. Expends incoming bequests as recurring sources of money. These should have been added to investments or expended on a special project. This is really problematic as well.
3. Fails to label losses as "additional endowment consumption."(Per 2) The policy is to make bad ideas clear.
4. Creates a further imbalance in administration and program. Administration has moved from 62% of budget to 72% of budget since 2008. Given this direction, it is also problematic that Staff is receiving an increase while ministers of the Presbytery and Social Security recipients receive no increase.
Knowledge that we faced a mandatory move to a balanced budget under Total Return and that we were imbalanced as to administration and program is not new. This is no eleventh hour complaint. I would ask that you prepare the budget and information that supports it according to law and policy.
Shalom.
Mac