Mission receipts for the first seven months of 2013 were down compared to budget, but staff members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) managed to minimize expenses during that same period of time.
Earline Williams, new deputy executive director for Shared Services, gave the PMA Board and Executive Committee a glimpse of the financial situation during presentations at the board’s fall meeting in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 25-27.
The report indicated that unrestricted giving is less than planned, but staff members managed expenses by $5.66 million to help offset that reduction in giving.
“We are managing our expenses very well and spending well below what was budgeted,” Williams said. “Our staff is cutting costs, and we are very appreciative of their efforts to be conscientious of spending and giving approval of spending.”
According to a finance report listed in the PMAB papers for the meeting, mission receipts totaling $39,478,625 through July 31 were down $1.1 million from the projected budget total of $40,588,901.
Expenditures were pegged at $44,715,665 in the 2013 budget, but the efforts of staff referred to by Williams brought them in under budget at $39,056,899.
Unrestricted expenses were $8,969,221 (84.7 percent of the budget year to date), while restricted expenses were $30,087,678 (88.2 percent of the budget year to date).
Unrestricted income in the amount of nearly $7.5 million showed a slight increase over budget.
Restricted receipts ($31,983,844) were down 3.5 percent compared to budget ($33,166,355).
Shared mission receipts through the end of July were almost $500,000 short of the budgeted amount ($3,655,000), lagging nearly 11 percent behind the amount given during the first seven months of 2012.
Overall special offerings receipts, budgeted at $7,927,810, were up to $7.98 million, running slightly ahead of last year’s amount received, and bequests totaling $1.54 million were received. One of those was unrestricted in the amount of $669,125, while the other was designated as restricted in the amount of $871,052.
Williams also reported that the unrestricted Presbyterian Mission Program Fund (PMPF), a cash reserve for the PMA, is under budget by $1,691,449. Of the $3,165,889 set aside, 47 percent – or $ 1,474,440 – had been used through the end of July.
Despite the savings, Williams explained that a funding gap still is expected by the end of 2013, though not as significant as anticipated when the PMA budget of $85 million was put together.
Controller Denise Hampton provided information that shows the 2013 budget for shared mission giving is $8.5 million, with a projected intake of $7.6 million that will leave a shortfall of $900,000. The budget for total unrestricted receipts is $18.4 million, with $15.9 million projected to be received, a shortfall of $2.5 million.
Hampton also noted that even though receipts are anticipated to be down, there also is a projection that expenditures will be less than budgeted.
Williams indicated that budget plans for 2015 and 2016 will be crafted with a focus on ministries with the highest measurable impact and alignment.
“We believe going forward we need to figure out, as PMA and the church, what we do well and align our dollars with those ministries,” Williams said. “That will lay the groundwork for what we will look like in 2020.”