Church Financial Info
The following information is provided for those involved with Church Finances. If you have any questions about the information on this page, please contact the Presbytery office at 610.391.9020 or office@lehighpresbytery.org
The Lehigh Presbytery hosted two Church Finances Workshops led by Frank Orzehoski (Business Administrator of the Synod of the Trinity) and Nelson Rabenold (Treasurer for Lehigh Presbytery). If you missed joining the workshop you can view the recordings and informational documents below.
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March 14, 2021 – View the recording of this workshop by clicking here. Frank shared the following documents:
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September 26, 2021 – View the recording of this workshop by clicking here.
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Some additional links that are helpful, as well as some links to books.
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Books by Rev. Edd Breeden (Treasurer of the Presbytery of San Jose):
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PC(USA) Resources
Legal Resource Manual 2020 – PCUSA
Church Lease & Covenant Issues – PCUSA General Counsel Mike Kirk has prepared advice on best practices when a church is considering an outside group to use its building.
Lehigh Presbytery-Forms etc.
Per Capita Information and Rate
2023 Honoraria for pulpit supply & moderating
2022 Combined Lehigh Presbytery-PNEC UCC Supply List – Honoraria 7.1.2022
Resources
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Board of Pensions 2023 Medical benefit increase for pastors participation
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Church Lease & Covenant Issues – Advice on best practices when a church is considering allowing an outside group to use its building.
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Guidelines for Presbyterians in Times of Disagreement – Seeking to be Faithful Together
Online Giving Program Through the Presbyterian Foundation
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Your church can easily accept secure online donations through the Presbyterian Foundation’s online giving system.
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Add a donation form to your website to accept gifts by electronic funds transfer, debit or credit card.
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Simple, safe and secure.
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No setup or maintenance fees.
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Many Americans find that the only check they write is their offering to the church. Those in younger generations may not even use a checkbook–preferring to handle all of their contributions and bills electronically. When your church passes the offering plate on Sunday morning — are you limiting your offering to pocket change from those who feel obligated to put something in, but would give more with an online account option?
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Online Options to Simplify Giving
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Through the Foundation’s Online Giving Program, your church can now accept secure online donations. You can add the donation form to your website to accept gifts by debit or credit card, and electronic funds transfer. Your members can even set up recurring gifts, adding predictability and regularity to your offering receipts.
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No need to negotiate with credit card vendors, merchant services, banks or any other company. The Presbyterian Foundation will take care of processing all online gifts, validating and reconciling transactions for you. Online fund management tools allow you to :
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Monitor donations and funds balances
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Receive disbursements from money raised monthly
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Thank donors and tell about the impact of their donations
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Produce giving reports
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For more information click here.
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Below are links to the program guide, application and basic sales sheet along with a sample pew card. If you sign up with our online giving program, your church will receive a starter set of 100 pew cars as well. Once you complete the application, you can submit it along with a voided check via email, USPS or fax. it takes 5-7 business days once received from our home office for your site to be live.
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If it would be helpful to schedule a zoom meeting with your finance committee and/or session to answer questions and provide a demonstration of what donors see, Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley (Ministry Relations Officer) would be happy to do so. Simply let her know and she will schedule a time. There was a webinar on on-line giving that you can view at https://recording.join.me/yr2y78cGfUWuaVdVTblosQ. There is also a powerpoint presentation from this webinar below.
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Online Giving through the Presbyterian Foundation
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10928.PFD-Online Giving Program Guide.F
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Online Giving Application 7.19 Form F
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10910.PFD Online Giving Sales Sheet – Rebrand.F (002)
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Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley
Ministry Relations Officer
Presbyterian Foundation
855-251-8212
ellie.johns-kelley@presbyterianfoundation.org
The Board of Pensions 2022 traditional benefits package for members is 37% of effective salary (Medical 27%; Pension 8.5%; Death and Disability 1%, and Temporary Disability 0.5%); If the effective salary is lower than the Board of Pensions Medical participation minimum of $44,000, then the medical portion would be based on the Board of Pensions minimum effective salary.
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Board of Pensions informational documents
2023 Medical benefit increase for pastors participation
Board of Pensions Ministers Choice
Churches need to log on to Benefits Connect to enter and make changes to the pastor’s benefits package. Click the logo below to go to Benefits Connect.
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Information
Links
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Presbyterian Foundation – Investments & Endowments
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Scholarships, Grants, Loans, and Awards – Synod of the Trinity
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The Hubbard Press – Source for all giving materials such as: Offering Envelopes, Pledge Record Forms, and Automatic Debit Services for Pledge and Gift Giving. See Appendix for Electronic Funds Transfer Program.
Annual Report to the PA Department of State
Churches should submit an Annual Corporation Report to the PA Department of State to help reserve your corporate name and doing so will exempt you from the Decennial Filing in 2021.
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You can verify that your church is correctly registered with the state by going to the PA Department of State site – and doing an entity search – https://www.corporations.pa.gov/Search/corpsearch
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By doing this you will know the correct corporate name to use when filing the report. You may view the online fillable form by clicking the link below….
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We encourage every church to do this annually. It’s FREE!
Tax News & Payroll Procedure Updates
The Clergy Tax Journal is an email newsletter created exclusively for clergy and churches that features breaking tax news, tax tips and services that affect your ministry. Below is some excerpts for the latest edition that you may find helpful.
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Clergy Tax Law Update: The Internal Revenue Service recently announced cost-of-living adjustments for pension plans and other retirement-related items for the tax year 2015. Most clergy will be able to increase the amount of maximum contributions into their church pension. Find out how much you can contribute.
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Church Payroll Procedures – New Hire Checklist: Before an employee can begin work, the church must have certain documents on file to prove that the worker is indeed eligible to work in the United States. Find out which documents your church needs on file for every worker.
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HR Hot Topic: Our employees often don’t turn their timesheets in on time. If an employee doesn’t submit his sheet on time, can we delay processing his paycheck until the next pay period? Find out the answer.
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Clergy Financial Resources
11214 86th Avenue N.
Maple Grove, MN 55369
cfr@clergytaxnet.com
ClergyTaxNet.com