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All Saints Church 2024 Pledge Campaign

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Dear All Saints Members and Friends,
 
   It is Stewardship Season in the Church. As we plan our annual budget we ask members and friends to pledge their time, talent, or treasure. When I joined the Episcopal Church in 1991, I found the lack of guidance on pledging unsettling. The person asking me to pledge gave me a pledge card and when I asked what a reasonable pledge might be, he answered “Whatever the Holy Spirit tells you.” Fortunately, word spread quickly that folks in my cohort—college students and young professors earning modest salaries—were withholding pledging, for lack of guidance. We were as generous as we could be each Sunday, but we had no sense of what we should or could pledge for the coming year. The church’s treasurer/accountant rose to the occasion, holding several post-Sunday-service seminars on what pledging meant to the church and what a reasonable pledge might be given the pledger’s financial circumstances. Pledges went up a lot after that. In that light, please allow me to offer the following.
   
Why pledge? A financial commitment to All Saints helps support all that All Saints stands for and does (see attached budget snapshot), and strengthens the importance of God and All Saints in the pledger’s life. While we are grateful for any gift we receive, pledging helps us to anticipate in advance how much we will receive during the year. This is turn helps us to build an accurate and realistic budget.
   
How much should I pledge? While tithing—giving 10% of one’s income—is a tradition, we urge you to pledge as much as you can comfortably. This may be 2% of one’s income. Or 5%. This year, we are more interested in getting 100% participation from members, than in receiving a specific amount.  
   
How do I pledge? If All Saints has your address, you will receive a pledge card in the mail. There also will be pledge cards available in the church. To submit a 2024 pledge card online, simply click here.
   
What if I cannot fulfill my pledge? Please let the church know, so we can reset the budget
   
How else can I give financially to All Saints?
             •    IRA (Individual Retirements Account): Making a qualified charitable deduction without increasing your taxable                             income. Your IRA administrator can help with this.
             •    Contributions to the Endowment Fund. Periodic gifts; bequests; or memorials
   
How else can I give to All Saints besides financially? 
            •    Time. The time you give in attending All Saints services, responding to its inquiries, and reading its weekly                                    newsletter and other messages is a gift in itself. You might also volunteer to participate in the service, serve as a                            Eucharistic minister (taking communion to homebound parishioners), or help with the Community Meal.
 
             •    Talent. Do you have expertise that you would like to donate to All Saints? For example, we may need the services of                     a lawyer, a contractor, an author, a group facilitator, or a youth leader. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about our stewardship campaign.

Thank you and Blessings
Chris+
2 Corinthians 9:7

 

 

ALL SAINTS’ 2023 BUDGET: A SNAPSHOT

(Numbers are rounded)

Expenses: $671,100

 

•    Salaries and Benefits (rector, music minister, choir, verger, parish administrator, bookkeeper, sexton):        317,000

•    Buildings & Grounds (utilities, inspections, maintenance,insurance, tax, service contracts):                         164,000

•    Office (auditor, fees, technology, web page, postage, supplies,printing, payroll service, payroll taxes):          73,000

•    Diocesan Assessment (“tax” to the Episcopal Diocese of New York):                                                              61,500

•    Community Meal                                                                                                                                                30,500

•    Liturgical (music, laundry, supplies, flowers, livestream, coffee                                                                       21,000

•    Parish (advertising, rector’s fund, vestry expense):                                                                                             4,100

 

Income  

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•    Transfer from Endowment (16% draw down)                                                                                                 483,600  

•    Other (rent, use of facilities, banking interest, misc. income):                                                                        120,000 

•    Ordinary (pledges*, gifts, plate, holy day):                                                                                                       49,500 

•    Community Meal                                                                                                                                               18,000 

 

*Budgeted pledges for 2023: $16,000, or 2.4% of the expected income. All Saints hopes eventually to reduce the endowment draw to 4% and increase other means of income proportionately.

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