5 Best Practices Counting Tithes and Offerings

High accountability should be exercised in all businesses including churches and non-profits. When you have donors contributing to your business, like a church does, there must be processes in place that give evidence of transparency but most of all accountability. In churches, counting the tithes and offerings properly must be of high importance. Here are several best practices that must take place in handling money in the church. If you are not doing these, stop and change your process to handle money the proper way and not give way to fraud or misappropriations of any funds. These may seem basic but I believe there are many churches still lacking in security and accountability in this area.

• Once money is collected during a worship service, ensure that two people walk it to the office. Allowing one person to carry the cash to the office is setting them up to fail and giving an opportunity for an unsafe situation. Always have two people with the money always until secured
• Don’t think that dropping the money on the Bookkeepers desk and locking the office is secure enough. Never hide the money bags under a chair, in a desk drawer, or in a filing cabinet. The best practice is to have a drop safe securely mounted to the floor that money bags can be dropped into. Also, use this drop safe for all department deposits from the staff during the week. Only give the combination to the drop safe to key people that need to be in there. I recommend that be no more than 3 people, one being just for back up and emergencies.
• Many churches still use volunteers the next day to count and process the offerings from Sunday. Keep the number of volunteers to a minimum but enough that you can rotate them around with counting so that you don’t have the same people every week. Use a secure room that is locked while counting. Provide the volunteers with forms to record amounts with that can be verified later if need be. The Best practice is to have a member of your financial staff present and counting too.
• Now that the money is counted and verified, use the drop safe again to hold the money until a trip to the bank is arranged. The best practice would be to use an armored car service that picks up directly at your office each week. Otherwise, don’t let the same person go to the bank at the same time on the same day each week. Vary that process up using multiple staff people.
• Now that you are ready to post the deposits and donor contributions, I recommend segregation of duties. Don’t let the same person do all the counting and posting. For posting, let the Bookkeeper make the journal entries, another staff member posts the contributions, and the Business Manager does checks and balances.

Comments! Suggestions!

Back in the Saddle Again

Have you ever been bucked off a horse without warning? I was riding that day, doing what I always do, and without warning my horse bucked and jumped wildly and within a split second, threw me to the hard ground. I laid there flat on my back in the dirt with dust flying all around from the fall. The crowd went silent for a moment waiting to see what would happen next. Would I get back up? Can I even get up? I laid there for seemed like a year when in reality it was just a short few minutes in rodeo time. Here is how it happened.

I’m a horse rider in a Christian rodeo and have been riding for 23 years. I don’t own a horse, I just ride them. For four years I rode one of the best horses in the rodeo. We were a team and rode high and rode fast. The horse was sold abruptly one day out from underneath me and there I was with no horse to ride. For the next couple years, I rode a lot of different horses that were good horses but not like the one I had before. Changing horses often for a rodeo rider isn’t good. Riders must get to know that horse and ride him every day and bond together. I finally got a another horse and we started riding. It was a rough start but we were riding together. After 3 years as his rider, the unexpected happened. We were riding the rodeo that day and doing what we were both trained for, and out of nowhere that blasted horse reared its head up and bucked and threw me to the ground. Here is the rest of the story.

While lying there flat on my back in the dirt, in pain, I began reflecting on my life as a rider. Was I really a great rider? Do the people watching me ride like me? Do I want to keep riding after this fall? Would the pain ever go away? Will I ride again? Those were the questions in my mind. It felt like a year lying there but it was only a few minutes. I felt my legs move again and the pain was getting lighter. I heard the crowds that day chanting words to get me back up. You can do it! Get up son! We need you to ride again! You were born to ride!

I mustered enough strength to sit up and then finally stand . The crowds went crazy chanting my name and excited to see me get back up. It was incredible to hear them so loud and so excited. I got my balance and dusted myself off, looked all around at the crowds and waved my hat high in the air letting them know I was alright and will ride again. It was a glorious moment of exhilaration and emotion. I walked back to the horse stalls and there, waiting for me, was a new horse. It was tall and mighty looking with a beautiful hand engraved saddle waiting for me to mount. The horse appeared to be too big for a small rider like me, yet I sensed it was gentle. The horse turned its head around to me and with this look of gentleness seemed to say... get on and let’s ride son. 

As I mounted the new horse, I was handed the reigns by my riding partner. She was standing there ready to lead me out to the arena again with the crowd waiting in anticipation of seeing me ride. She had been there before I was ever bucked off the horse and right there next to me as I lay there in the dirt with dust all around me. She was praying over me to get up and ride again and show the crowds I can do it. She handed me the reigns but I pulled her up on the back of the saddle with me. The stall gate opened and together we rode around the arena waving our hats to the crowd. They were ecstatic and screaming with joy and excitement for us. 

We stopped in the middle of the arena to take the moment in and there we saw the rodeo owner sitting high up in his booth that overlooks the whole rodeo. You could tell who he was because we wore the finest leather and the finest clothes and the finest boots money would buy. His face brightly glowed with joy over the fact that I got back on that horse again and was riding for Him again. At that moment, I knew it was Him that gave me the new horse that was strong yet gentle and would never buck me off again.

At that very moment, the rodeo owner silenced the crowd. I hear with a loud voice…”ride em cowboy, you’re back in the saddle again. 

Comments?

The Five Dollar All Staff Lunch

Looking for a simple way to build the team and have some fun? Here is a time tested outing that is perfect for your team building program. It is all inclusive and easy to set up and manage. You can use this in all sorts of settings; small business, corporations, non-profits, churches, and other type businesses. I used it in a church setting with about 30 total employees and had great success with it. Here is the premise of why I chose this event. I invited all the paid employees to lunch once a month at a local restaurant for some fun and casual dining. To entice them to attend, I asked them to just pay $5 and the church would cover the rest. That way no one could complain it was too expensive for them. I asked them to order off the lunch menu and keep the cost modest. They paid in advance at the office and signed up and then we chose a location. I would send an office email the day of reminding each employee to pay up and then meet us there. Some would carpool and if a small group we took the church van. Here was the results I pleasantly discovered.
It became a "look forward to" event and many times we had upward of 25-30 in attendance. I saw employees that normally don't interact much at the office sit together and have fun. I saw employees that worked outside of the main office come and have fun. We laughed and mainly talked about life and not so much work. I feel it built our team up and gave them an outlet to build a casual relationship with other employees. The cost to the church was nothing compared to the value of the event for the whole team. Need some fun at the office? Try this event and see what happens.

Your comments? Suggestions? Did you try it?

5 Core Essentials in Church Finance

Church Business Administrators, wear so many hats covering so many diverse departments, it can be a real challenge to balance it all. There are only so many hours in the day and sometimes it just does not get done. Daily “to do” lists can be created but with so many areas demanding their time, the Church Administrator can be distracted and not catch the important core essentials that keep the business of the church operating with smoothness. Here are 5 core essentials I believe every Church Administrator must perform in providing excellence in church finance. 

Transparency in Financials

The Church Business Administrator must develop a sense of transparency to the church that everything is visible to all. This does not mean you must show every person every part of the church financials. Presenting transparency to the church at large will eventually build trust and most will not even care to see it all knowing that everything is in order. State that you have an open-door policy and anyone at any time can see the church financials. Obviously, you must first HAVE all the financials in order, to present transparency. Be intentional in becoming transparent. Start by reporting key numbers that the church needs to know to ensure them the finances are in order.

Relevant Reporting

Research and find what the church wants to see each month and then report it in a timely manner. Look for stats that have meaning and that show the direction the church is headed, even if it is decline. Pull together a summary dashboard report that gives the state of the church financially and operationally that is easy to read and understandable. Include items like giving, attendance, special fund giving, cash flow, income / expense, emergency fund balance and other stats pertinent to the church. Include stats from all areas of church business administration at some point in reporting.

Annual Inspection

Do not rely on your own judgement or that of a committee that everything is in order financially and operationally. Use the services of a third party to inspect your work every year. There are different levels of inspection like compilation, review, and audit. Depending on the churches situation, choose one of those levels. For example, if the church is debt financed, the bank may require an audit. Conducting an annual inspection further enhances your transparency and further builds the trust of the congregants. Make the results of the inspection available to leadership and the church if so desired.

Promote Giving

Do not assume every person knows how to give to the church. With the tech age, ways to give not only expanded but also got complicated for many donors. If the church uses state of the art giving like Text to Give, make sure there are instructions easily accessible for those first-time users. Remind the church congregants about how to give and include it as a regular part of church promotions. With any special giving emphasis, include the ways to give with the presentation.  

Trends and Forecasting

This one ties the other core essentials together. Using meaningful metrics in church administration is key. Track everything in church finance using that info to build useful metrics that give the church a wide-angle view. Tracking will build the trends needed to see where the church has been, where they are currently, and where they are headed, financially speaking. Forecasting is not predicting the future. It simply gives the church a picture of where the church may be headed. Include in your tracking stats items like per capita, average monthly giving, budget history, and attendance.

By Rick Cadden CCA, CCBA
Associate Administrator, First Baptist Marble Falls, Texas
Speaker and Trainer in Church Business Administration

5 Powerful Ways to Say Thank You

While I firmly believe that  saying thank you in person is the best way, sometimes a simple card in the mail to someone is powerful. People love to receive gifts, have someone compliment them, or be acknowledged for something they did. That adds value and goes a long way in building relationships.

That's why I started something that has proven to be powerful in saying thank you. Every Monday at the office, I think back on the week before and  remember things I noticed people did to serve others or help out around the church. I load up on simple thank you cards and kept a stock on hand for this. I simply write a hand written personal thank you to 5 people that I saw serve or help.

Once I sent a card to a small child that I noticed helping his dad take up the Sunday offering. The dad was just training up his child and letting him help out that day. It was a simple task but one I thought should be acknowledged. So, that following Monday, he was one of the 5 cards I sent out that week. A few days later, his mom posted the card on her Facebook page thanking ME for sending that thank you card to her son. The child was so excited to get a card in the mail and much more that it was to thank him for serving with dad. What a blessing for me to see his response.

Every Monday, while at the office, I take some time to think of 5 people that served or helped around church that week and I send them a hand written thank you. I keep a list of who I mail to so I don't keep sending the same people cards over and over. It takes just 15 minutes of my day and the reward for me is the opportunity to thank people. If you look around and be cognitive of your surroundings, you will see them. They are people that serve and help without even realizing it. Those 5 thank you cards will become powerful ways to thank others.

Comments? Suggestions? 

3 Ways To Jump Start Your Day

Business Administrators, try these to start your day better.

Depending on how you are wired, you may be like me and start your day fast and furious as soon as you get in your office. Your "to do" list grew over night and by the time you get to work, your off and running. There are days you get a phone call before you leave the house that one of your staff are out sick and now you are feeling behind before you even start. Does this sound like you?

Before you get that overwhelmed feeling of a crazy schedule for the day, try doing these three things. Make them your daily routine before you get into your office and get start. I know your rushed some days and feel you don't have time to do any of these. Trust me! You have time or can make the time and they will help you greatly to start your day off not feeling better even on those hectic start days.

1. As you arrive to the church, drive around the perimeter of the campus. This will take around 5- 10 minutes depending on the size of your campus. Drive slow and notice things that need attention. Drive through the parking lots and around buildings and behind buildings. Make a route and then make it a routine every day. The outside of your campus doesn't always get the close look it needs. Your busy schedule keeps you in the office area and in meetings most the day. This allows you a few minutes every day to check the outside as you drive around making mental notes.

2. Once inside the building, do not go directly to your office. Take a walk around the complex down common areas, large spaces like the Worship Center, Fellowship Hall, the Chapel, and other often used spaces. Look for things out of place or needing attention. Don't rush, make it a casual walk checking things out and making mental notes again. Just take 5-10 minutes for a walk through.

3. Its not office time just yet! I know you are chomping at the bit to get in there are start your hectic day. Take the next few minutes walking to each of your staff team members office and saying hello. Ask how they are doing and if you can help them with anything. If it is Monday , maybe ask how their weekend went. If you sense a need, take a minute and pray with them. This is one of THE best ways to add value to your team. They feel important and valued that you took time to stop by and acknowledge them. Now their day just started out better!

Do these without fail every day of the week and see what a huge difference it will make in your day and the days of your team members. Now you can go to your office and start. It will wait on you to do these three things. Now you are are not so rushed and can think more clearly to get started.

Comments? Suggestions? Just do it!