Duncan Posted February 12, 2017 Posted February 12, 2017 I was at my parents place earlier and my Dad made a comment about how the ward would have a yearly budget meeting. I was gobsmacked as I don't recall these meetings. It was how the previous year's budget was spent and was mostly a FYI. My parents told me of some situations and tensions arose like how one year half the budget was spent on photocopying and another time a ward member stole money that the cubs had collected for Trees for Canada so the budget had to recover the cost, among other stories. Apparently others wards did it the opposite where they said what the budget was and how they were going to spend it. They said it happened for years and years but it kind of died out. I know the worldwide church did that too in conference and I am wondering when they got rid of that they had wards and branches do it on the local level. Anybody remember these budget meetings?
rongo Posted February 12, 2017 Posted February 12, 2017 These were incrementally phased out over the 1980s, until finally being done away with in 1990. This was also the end of the building fund (cost of buildings being the responsibility of the ward). I'm 41, so barely old enough to remember church meetings in the evening and during the week. The overall thrust of these moves was to make the cost of membership in time and money less onerous. It also equalized budgets to reflect active membership, as opposed to wealthy wards doing extravagant things and poor wards not being able to because they didn't have much budget donations. 4
Calm Posted February 12, 2017 Posted February 12, 2017 I remember my parents going to meetings like that, but I might be confusing them with the meeting with the debate over getting a new building or renovating the old one. That would have been early 70s if it was only the latter. Dad was rather annoyed they were going to tear down what was in his view a perfectly good building that could last another 20 years at least.
Doctrine 612 Posted February 14, 2017 Posted February 14, 2017 When I attended the bishopric meeting at the beginning of the year we would give each group there budget and they would plan on how it was spent then I would go over it to make sure it was not wasteful then at the six month mark we would meet to see how things were going and in October we had our end of the year budget meeting to make sure they money was spent (no surpluses ) so we could get the same budget next year. Also every year we did great.
thesometimesaint Posted February 14, 2017 Posted February 14, 2017 On 2/11/2017 at 5:19 PM, Duncan said: I was at my parents place earlier and my Dad made a comment about how the ward would have a yearly budget meeting. I was gobsmacked as I don't recall these meetings. It was how the previous year's budget was spent and was mostly a FYI. My parents told me of some situations and tensions arose like how one year half the budget was spent on photocopying and another time a ward member stole money that the cubs had collected for Trees for Canada so the budget had to recover the cost, among other stories. Apparently others wards did it the opposite where they said what the budget was and how they were going to spend it. They said it happened for years and years but it kind of died out. I know the worldwide church did that too in conference and I am wondering when they got rid of that they had wards and branches do it on the local level. Anybody remember these budget meetings? Yes. I remember them. 1
Oliblish Posted February 14, 2017 Posted February 14, 2017 I remember these when I was younger. At the time families were assessed a ward budget contribution to help pay for the bills of running the ward. This was above and beyond tithing. You may be assessed $500 or some other amount determined by the bishop. At the end of the year there was a joint MP meeting in the chapel where they reviewed the ward budget on an overhead projector to see how money was spent and to make a budget for the next year. I remember the announcement where they did away with this because tithing funds reached the point where it was not necessary any more. It was kind of a big deal at the time. A quick google search shows that this was discontinued in 1989. http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/2010/06/lds-history-oct-05-1989.html Quote -- Nov 25, 1989 [Financial] The church announces that the expenditures of local units -- wards and stakes -- will now be paid by annual budget allowances from church tithing funds, ending the established practice of having members pay many local costs. (3) A major change in policy for financing local Church units in the United States and Canada was announced by the First Presidency. Ward members would no longer have stake and ward budget assessments. (2) Church announced discontinuance of stake and ward budget assessments; budgets to be funded entirely by tithing. (4)
Jeanne Posted February 14, 2017 Posted February 14, 2017 4 minutes ago, Oliblish said: I remember these when I was younger. At the time families were assessed a ward budget contribution to help pay for the bills of running the ward. This was above and beyond tithing. You may be assessed $500 or some other amount determined by the bishop. At the end of the year there was a joint MP meeting in the chapel where they reviewed the ward budget on an overhead projector to see how money was spent and to make a budget for the next year. I remember the announcement where they did away with this because tithing funds reached the point where it was not necessary any more. It was kind of a big deal at the time. A quick google search shows that this was discontinued in 1989. http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/2010/06/lds-history-oct-05-1989.html Wow...an assessment would have done my family in..already all of s holding jobs to make a house payment!
Tacenda Posted February 16, 2017 Posted February 16, 2017 (edited) I remember at the beginning of my marriage the building fund was around, and my husband and I contributed, it was specified to be a certain percentage also, so it wasn't something you could really choose to give any amount, according to my memory. BTW, today I read a post on another board, that someone's ward budget was cut by 50% coming from headquarters. Is this happening elsewhere? Edited February 16, 2017 by Tacenda
rongo Posted February 16, 2017 Posted February 16, 2017 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Tacenda said: I remember at the beginning of my marriage the building fund was around, and my husband and I contributed, it was specified to be a certain percentage also, so it wasn't something you could really choose to give any amount, according to my memory. BTW, today I read a post on another board, that someone's ward budget was cut by 50% coming from headquarters. Is this happening elsewhere? It is directly tied to sacrament meeting attendance on the month's before the quarterly report. If their attendance was down 50%, then they would get 50% less budget for that quarter. It's that simple. ETA: If their budget from one year to another was 50% less, that would indicated a big drop in attendance between the two years. This sounds much more probably to me. In a boundary realignment, for example, where a ward lost a lot of members, then the budget would reflect that. But they would also have less members for the budget to cover. Edited February 16, 2017 by rongo 2
mfbukowski Posted February 17, 2017 Posted February 17, 2017 On 2/14/2017 at 11:53 AM, Doctrine 612 said: When I attended the bishopric meeting at the beginning of the year we would give each group there budget and they would plan on how it was spent then I would go over it to make sure it was not wasteful then at the six month mark we would meet to see how things were going and in October we had our end of the year budget meeting to make sure they money was spent (no surpluses ) so we could get the same budget next year. Also every year we did great. I always hated this attitude and tried to come in under budget. Why spend the church's money on what is not necessary? We only discussed the budget in what is now Ward Council.
mfbukowski Posted February 17, 2017 Posted February 17, 2017 21 hours ago, rongo said: It is directly tied to sacrament meeting attendance on the month's before the quarterly report. If their attendance was down 50%, then they would get 50% less budget for that quarter. It's that simple. ETA: If their budget from one year to another was 50% less, that would indicated a big drop in attendance between the two years. This sounds much more probably to me. In a boundary realignment, for example, where a ward lost a lot of members, then the budget would reflect that. But they would also have less members for the budget to cover. Agreed, that is how it works
Doctrine 612 Posted February 17, 2017 Posted February 17, 2017 5 hours ago, mfbukowski said: I always hated this attitude and tried to come in under budget. Why spend the church's money on what is not necessary? We only discussed the budget in what is now Ward Council. I did as well, but the extra money was never spent to just spend it. It was used on things like new tents to replace the tents that got ripped during the year, and other things like that. also it would not have been fun with the stake president at the time if you over spent 👺
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