Episcopal Ministry and Support Offices

Program and Budget

• Episcopal Ministry
• Finance
• Stewardship & Development
• Communications
• Personnel, Travel, Office Equipment and Supplies

Episcopal Ministry

The core of this section remains unchanged from the 2008 level. The one significant change from the 2008 budget was the reduction of the line item for “New Initiatives.” This line was reduced from $25,000 to $5,000 in recognition that items identified in the Mission Strategy resolutions approved by Council are being funded elsewhere in the budget. Each year, however, new ideas for ministry arise after we have completed the budget process. Keeping some money in this line item gives Diocesan Council and the Bishop financial resources to fund such initiatives without having to pull money away from other ministries or effectively creating a deficit budget by introducing an unbudgeted expense.

Finance

The total of $38,800 for the Finance Office represents no increase from the 2008 budget.

The budget consists of administrative expenses and financial resource costs of $4,400 maintenance costs for the accounting software of $4,000, bank fees of $300, archive expenses of $700, payroll preparation costs of $2,400, and the fee for the diocesan audit of $27,000. These costs are substantially the same as in 2008.

The primary focus of the Finance Office is the SERVE component of the mission statement. In this capacity, finance administers the Joint Investment Fund for the Trustees of the diocese (investments of about $32 million and 276 diocesan and parish accounts); the health and dental insurance programs (offered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Guardian Dental, respectively) for 95 lay and clergy families; the Capital Loans and Grants program; maintains records of all gifs and grants to Episcopal Community Services, the Bishop’s Appeal, Cedar Hills (summer camp scholarships and Friends of Cedar Hills), Sacred Path, and other gifts; provides training for parish treasurers and bookkeepers in accounting and internal controls; coordinates the CPA audits of the diocese and the Joint Investment Fund, as well as the diocesan audit team (for parish audits) and committee and CPA audits of parishes; works with parishes in meeting their canonical requirements for reporting in the areas of assessments, insurance, lay pensions, and parochial reports; and provides accounting, payroll, financial reporting and budgeting for all diocesan operations (Council, Trustees, Cedar Hills, Sacred Path, ECSF, the Church Home and Holy Cross Fund).

Stewardship and Development

The Office of Stewardship and Development exists to promote stewardship as a discipline of our service to God in our care for our church and in thanksgiving for all that has been given to us by God; to promote sacrificial giving as a spiritual surrender of self to God; and to encourage the people of the diocese to own more fully our identities as stewards of God’s kingdom.

Becoming Whole … Resources for Mission: The Bishop’s Annual Appeal

Becoming Whole by Serving Others. The Bishop’s Annual Appeal, in its fourth year, responds to this invitation by providing necessary resources for leadership development, servanthood, youth mission, and Episcopal Community Services (ECS). The Appeal encourages annual giving to ECS and is effectively broadening parochial and diocesan opportunities to serve by providing financial resources for strategic priorities of benefit to the entire diocese.

2007 Appeal. The 2007 campaign total contributions exceeded $274,000. Your generosity has provided Episcopal Community Services with $136,572 for direct funding of services to those in need across the Diocese of Ohio. In addition to support for ECS, $136,572 has been allocated for initiatives to provide opportunities to grow, give, and serve: diocesan youth mission trips, which this year sent young people to serve mission areas within the diocese and around the country; internships for seminarians and recently ordained clergy; and ministry on college and university campuses, forming and inspiring a new generation of servant leaders.

2008 Appeal. At the end of September, 84% of the 2008 campaign goal of $250,000 has been realized with 84 congregations participating thus far in the campaign. Yet, with need ever-increasing, there is room to do more. Your participation in the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, this year and every year, is invited, encouraged, and important to grow our resource for service and mission.

Giving as Spiritual Surrender

In September 2008, the Diocesan Stewardship Network (DSN) began work to discern how best to serve as a resource for efforts to strengthen and build parish stewardship. Objectives for the DSN in 2009 include continued organization of a collaborative stewardship network of consultants, educators, speakers, and media resources; promotion of and support for planned and annual giving education and opportunities; and stewardship education events for lay leaders and clergy.

A continuing corporate and parochial subscription through The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS) brings Networking to each parish in the diocese six times each year and includes two annual TENS conference registrations for the diocese.

Planned giving offers a unique opportunity to give back to the church all that it has given to us. A planned gift to the Diocese of Ohio can be especially meaningful because these gifts provide long-term support that strengthens the diocese’s ability to meet future challenges and ministry opportunities. The Office of Stewardship and Development, in conjunction with Trustees of the Diocese of Ohio, will offer planned giving forums and support planned giving efforts to build Diocesan Endowment and local parish endowment.

Last year the Sterling Newell Endowment Society was established. This diocesan gift society exists to honor those providing a lasting financial witness to the mission of the diocese. The purpose of the Newell Society is to encourage current gifts of at least $5,000 to the Diocesan Endowment, and bequests or deferred gifts to the Diocese of Ohio.

The Office of Stewardship and Development continues to serve as a link to a full spectrum of local, diocesan, and national stewardship and development resources to serve the programs and parishes of the diocese; to help initiate productive partnerships between parishes; and to provide the financial resources to help facilitate collaboration or the birth of new programs.

Serving Others … The Episcopal Community in Service: Episcopal Community Services

Episcopal Community Services (ECS) continues to be central to our common Christian witness in the Diocese of Ohio; integrating and encouraging service as formation, and biblically-modeled advocacy on behalf of those most needy and without voice. The major work of ECS, to address issues of human need in our midst, is accomplished by providing grant support to parish and community service agencies that work hard to provide compassionate care to the marginalized in our society.

The ECS Development Council serves in an active capacity by promoting the Bishop’s Annual Appeal; managing the distribution of grant monies received from the Trustees of the diocese and from the annual appeal; and providing strategic planning and policy guidelines for consistent fund allocation to Episcopal, ecumenical, and/or community services that address human need. ECS grant criteria strongly encourage Episcopal participation and collaboration.

At least half of all campaign receipts for the Bishop’s Annual Appeal flow to ECS. The proposed 2009 budget includes financial resources to support the campaign through the Bishop’s Annual Appeal.

The Development Council is in the process of reviewing more than 45 applications for program support. The 2008 requests for funding total over $389,000 and represent youth, education, prison ministry, legal services, housing, homelessness, health, and hunger programs. Nearly 50% of the applications are from programs administered by Episcopal congregations inviting ECS to partner with them in local mission. ECS also continues, under the direction of the Diocesan Trustees, to administer grant requests for services to the elderly on behalf of the Church Home Endowment. Nearly $188,000 will be distributed from the Church Home Endowment to programs providing services to the elderly by year’s end.

Thank you for inviting us––the staff and ECS Development Council members––into your churches. We appreciate every parish, clergy, parochial leader, campaign chair, outreach committee, and donor that has contributed to the mission of Becoming Whole by Serving Others through the 2008 Bishop’s Annual Appeal.

Communications

The 2007 report to Convention discussed three initiatives for the Communications Office in 2008. These were:

1. providing every parish upon request with a free website and helping to update existing websites;
2. researching and developing parish communications tools;
3. developing videoconferencing for parishes, campus ministries, and the diocese.

We have also begun three new initiatives in 2008:

1. redesigning of the Website
2. redesigning of ChurchLife!
3. updating our database

As of this writing, 18 websites have been developed or updated. We continue to offer this service, with the help of our part-time technology consultant, Bill Joseph (New Life, Uniontown).

We have also developed and subsidized print advertisements for campus ministries and parishes throughout the year.

Parish Packets and Research

In late winter and early spring, the Communications Office with the help of intern Doug Sundstrom (St. Andrew’s, Mentor), developed a Communications Packet with suggestions for increasing the visibility of our parishes in their communities. The purpose of the packet is to help parishes develop effective communications plans that are intentional and can be carried out consistently by everyone in the parish. The packet contains a checklist to assess how effective a parish is at welcoming visitors and ideas for welcoming new members; suggestions on print advertising and samples; and a list of radio and television stations in all parts of the diocese. The packet was handed out at Clergy Day and is available for download from the Website or by request from the Communications Office.

In March, the Communications Office hired Cleveland firm Triad Research to help us develop an effective advertising program. To do this, we asked them to assess the public’s attitudes on religion in general, and on the Episcopal Church, specifically. We conducted two rounds of research. The first was a phone interview of 20 questions with opinion leaders across the diocese. Opinion leaders in this case were faith leaders, religion editors at newspapers, civic or political leaders, and academic leaders. Secondly, we conducted three focus groups consisting of 10 people each. These people were chosen randomly from databases in the Toledo, Cleveland, and Mansfield areas. The Toledo and Mansfield groups were adults, ages 25 and up; the Cleveland group consisted of young adults, 18 to 25. While these samples are not large enough to be statistically significant, Triad Research and the Communications Office felt that the groups provided a good cross section of people in the diocese: rural/small town, urban/suburban, and a range of age groups.

The research is now completed and available for download on Website under the Communications Office. From this work we learned:

1. The vineyard is overflowing with religiously unaffiliated people in Northern Ohio, and many people have a negative opinion of organized religion.
2. Very few people in our surveys knew anything about the Episcopal Church;
3. Most people start going to church because a friend or relative invites them;
4. Seeing a church active in its own community is very appealing and would encourage people to investigate that church, as would the willingness of a church to engage in ecumenical work in the community.

The researchers also tested several lists of words and concepts to determine what kinds of words appealed to people who might be looking for a church (e.g., comforting, friendly, open, non-judgmental, mission-oriented) as well as words that would be off-putting.

This research now allows the Communications Committee to develop more targeted advertising for parishes, campus ministries, and the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Ohio.

Videoconferencing

This past summer we signed a one-year contract with MegaMeeting, a web-based videoconferencing provider, to test using videoconferencing for meetings of committees and commissions of the diocese. We also designated eight parishes as MegaMeeting sites, so that no one would have to drive longer than 1 hour to attend certain meetings. The eight parishes are: St. Stephen’s, Steubenville; St. John’s, Youngstown; Grace, Mansfield; St. Paul’s, Canton; Trinity Cathedral; Grace, Sandusky; Trinity, Toledo; and St. Mark’s, Sidney. Anyone with a camera and headphones on his or her computer can also join in MegaMeeting. So far, we’ve had mixed results. Sometimes MegaMeeting has worked very well; other times, the lag time between speaking and hearing is very long (possibly due to bandwidth), and it is often difficult to get everything (and everyone) up and working in less than a half hour. We hope it will improve as we continue to work with it.

Redesign of Website and ChurchLife!

We are currently in the process of redesigning the diocesan website to make it easier to navigate. ChurchLife! is also being redesigned to make it more flexible and to save money. The redesign will be approximately 8 1/2 x 11 in size, with a glossy cover and very high-quality newsprint inside. It will be four-color throughout. In addition to saving money, the new design will allow us to expand the size of the paper and include more pages when necessary. ChurchLife! will remain a quarterly publication.

Finally, the Communications Office is overseeing an update to our database to Filemaker 9. Conversion will begin after Diocesan Convention.

Kristin Crites, administrative assistant and graphic designer in the Office of Communications, continues to do the design work for this office and for others on request. Martha Wright, communications officer, is available to speak to any parish, vestry, or group in the diocese about parish communications.

The budget for the Communications Office for 2009 is 5% less than it was for 2008. Significant differences from 2008 include a reduction in the total cost of ChurchLife! of about $10,000, which will be possible by changing the format, lowering the paper and mailing costs, and using a less expensive mailing house. In addition, we will reduce the cost of printing the Diocesan Journal by posting it on the Website, rather than printing a copy for every parish. Additions to the budget from 2008 include $2,500 for professional photography and videography.

Personnel, Travel, Office Equipment and Supplies

Personnel

Expenses for Personnel in 2009 are $68,480 (4.7%) higher than the 2008 budget. The increase has two major components: a cost-of-living adjustment for diocesan staff, and an increase in health insurance premiums over the 2008 amount. The change represents the first increase in the personnel budget in several years.

Over 11% ($171,600) of the $1,526,080 is funded by reimbursement from diocesan trusts administered by diocesan staff, providing accounting and grant-making services.

The budget includes funding for Bishop Hollingsworth, 6 full-time program staff positions, 7 full-time support staff positions, a part-time planned giving person, three part-time assisting bishops and two part-time positions in the archives. There is no anticipated increase in the number of full-time positions in the 2009 budget.

Personnel expenses are 41.96% of the diocesan budget in 2009, as compared to 40.75% of the 2008 budget. The ratio of personnel expenses to the total budget is lower than the same ratio for many large and small parishes, which report a ratio of 50–60% or more. Many service organizations also report a higher ratio.

The total provides for salary, pension, health and dental insurance, workers compensation insurance, and long-term disability and life insurance for lay employees approximately equivalent to that provided to clergy. It also provides for training, continuing education, and sabbatical assistance for lay and clergy and continues payment of a supplement that assists retired diocesan employees in meeting their rising expenses for health insurance costs.

Travel

The 2009 budget for travel expenses represents reimbursement for all business-related travel expenses of the diocesan staff. The $80,000 represents no increase from 2008, but does include a provision for the mileage reimbursement for lay volunteers, which is estimated at $6,000.

Office Equipment and Supplies

Office expenses, including our share of the operating expenses of Trinity Commons, are $280,550 in 2009, an increase of $11,170 from 2008. The operating costs of Trinity Commons increase by four percent ($13,170) and are offset by a $2,000 reduction in property insurance. All other items remain at their 2008 levels.

Office equipment and supplies are $19,100 in the 2009 budget. This amount is unchanged from the 2008 level. The budget includes funding for postage, copies, computer software, supplies and network maintenance; and office supplies and stationery. In 2009, all of these costs are funded from the operating budget, except $1,000 for office furnishings from the BLF Discretionary Fund.