It is important to think about how money gets from the offering plate to the counters to the bank. If this isn’t thought through, you could open your church up to all kinds of problems. Here are my thoughts on how this should happen.
When someone donates a noncash gift (stock, grain, cattle, piano, etc), the church needs to give them a receipt for tax purposes. The information on that receipt needs to be in accordance with IRS guidelines as well as be helpful to the donor. I’ll guide you through this.
Giving statements don’t have to be an administrative task meant to guilt members about their pledge. Instead, they are an opportunity to thank donors and share with them how the LORD is using their giving to change lives.
Why would a pastor want to see the giving records for their church? Most of the time they feel like they need to see the records in order to lead better…not because their curious or slick.
SUMPRODUCT, the Excel function that I no longer find to be obsolete and worthless. In fact, it’s awesome at allocations.
Even in the accounting world, looks matter…at least when it comes to spreadsheets. How you format your spreadsheets can help people see what’s important and see that your spreadsheet is important.
Gallup did a poll some years back and found that 33% of households kept a formal budget. The adopting and living by a budget is really the first step for anyone wanting to feel more secure in their finances. The same is true for the church. While the vast majority of churches adopt a budget, few live by that budget. Why is that?