2022 Strategic Action Plan
In the fall of 2021, the Westside Board formed a Strategic Planning Team. They were tasked with creating a document that could define our priorities and help ensure the church's future growth and success. To prepare the plan, the team drew from a variety of sources, including gathering direct input from the congregation. The plan was approved by the Board at the August 2022 meeting.
We thank the individuals who contributed considerable time and effort to this project: Sue Anderson, Rocio Sarmiento-Ayala, Cindy Fountain, Myrtle McMahan, and Dwight Robarts. The link to download the document is below. We hope you will take the time to read the goals of the plan--and we hope you will help us achieve them, too.
Download the 2022 Strategic Action Plan
Treasurer's Annual Report - June 12, 2022
Good afternoon Westsiders,
It has been a privilege to serve as your treasurer during this fiscal year, which began last July 1 and in just a few days on June 30. On behalf of the board, I want to thank you for your financial gifts during this year. Today, I have mostly good news about this year’s finances. I’ll share three examples.
First through May 31, Westside members have donated over $205,000.00 toward their pledges for this year. In the 2021 Stewardship Campaign, members pledged a total of $216,755.00 for the 2022 fiscal year. We budget a 4% shortfall in pledges made and there is a good chance we will meet that budgeted number by the end of the month.
The second bit of good news is that unless something unusual happens in the next three weeks, we will end the year with a surplus. We won’t know for sure or how much until later in the summer once we have reconciled everything and closed the year out. I do know, that from July 1, 2021-May 31, 2022, we show a positive cash flow of a little over $65,000.00, meaning we have taken in $65,000.00 more than we spent through May 31st. We still have our June expenses to book, but I think we will end the year in the black.
Third, I want to mention that members have given over $6,600.00 in plate offerings through May 31. This enabled Westside to support many good works in the community and state.
Finally, I want to say a word about the future, assuming you approve the proposed budget for the coming year, it will be the third deficit budget in a row. We went into each of the past two years believing we would have to draw money out of reserves to cover our expenses. Fortunately, we did not have to withdraw near as much as we thought we would. The two primary reasons for this were the pandemic, which reduced our spending and we did not have a minister for 10 months this year. While that helped us spend within our income, it hurt in many other ways.
We are glad to have a minister and a full contingent of staff once again. This year for sure, we are reliant on the Betty Sanders Fund to make up the deficits we will have in the coming months. The balance of the fund at the end of May was $131,000.00. I estimate this gives us 12-18 months of funds to cover our deficits. Our challenge is to grow our income to meet the expenses that we currently have by the time the Betty Sanders fund is exhausted. This is something we must do to be successful and stable.
Again, thank you for your support of our church. If you have any questions about this report, or about any other financial issues, please let me know. You can email me at treasurer@westsideuu.org, or call me. My cell number is in the directory.
Respectfully submitted by
Dwight Robarts, Treasurer
Previous Board Meeting Minutes
December 2022: The Board did not meet.