Stewardship : Our Annual Fund and our
Capital Campaign 2010
The "stewardship" of our resources involves the way we take care of each other, our building, and our financial health. "Stewardship" with a Capital "S" is the umbrella term that we often use to describe our financial care-giving.Stewardship at West Shore is a three-legged stool.
The three legs are the annual stewardship campaign to raise the Operating Budget (sometimes called "the Canvass"), Capital Giving to support capital needs (mostly related to the building and mortgage), and Legacy Giving, planned gifts that are often part of an overall estate plan or will (often applied to endowment needs.)
The annual Stewardship Campaign for FY 10-11 kicks off on Valentine's Day Sunday, February 14 and ends March 27 2010. Leadership Givers are being contacted in January and February. We encourage our members and friends to make a generous gift commiting 5% of their income to West Shore in the year ahead. This year because we are combining the annual pledge drive with a capital funds drive, we are asking everyone to meet personally with a fellow member at home, church, or a restaurant to discuss this campaign.
Plan to come to the celebrations after each service on February 14 to help us kick off the campaign, sometimes after church or sometimes on an evening. It's a way of reminding everyone why we need the formal pledges from all the church's members and friends that represent predictions of what they will be giving to the church in the next fiscal year. We build our annual budget, which runs from July 1 to June 30, based on the pledge predictions we receive. This year we hope you will personally give your pledge card to the visiting steward who arrranges a meeting with you.
A pledge is not a legal contract, but a prediction. Our members appreciate the monthly reminders in the mail about the amount they pledged and how much they have paid so far on their pledge.
Annual pledges at West Shore vary considerably according to household income, so the ministers and the Stewardship Committee encourages everyone to consider 5% of income as a standard to strive for.
The Annual Fund is always our highest priority, but we also need to pay off and service the mortgage on our beautiful building, and we do that from "another pocket", from what churches used to call a "Building Fund". Since we renovated our building in 2005 we have relied on unrestricted Capital Gifts for financing. Within five years we are proud to be able to say we have paid for or retired retired the debt for 3/4 of the cost of the project. But there is stll a substantial mortgage to retire. We hope our members will plan for a Capital Campaign pledge this year as well, payable either before September 15, 2010 to make a principal paydown, or else paid gradually over four years to support the routine payments. A group of Leadership Givers have already given $150,000 (20% of our $750,000 goal for this campaign) to help with a prompt payoff and challenge all the rest of us to collectively match their gift this year. Plan on contributing your fair share.
