Los Altos United Methodist Church

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LOS ALTOS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Annual Report FY2016

A Note From the Senior Pastor Dear family and friends of Los Altos United Methodist Church, When Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21, NRSV), he must have been thinking about the congregation of Los Altos United Methodist Church. He must have known that 2,000 years after his earthly ministry, our congregation would have such a big heart for mission and ministry, for care and outreach, and for love and acceptance. Through your extravagantly generous support, our many hearts are joined amidst our mission of “touching heaven, changing earth with head, heart, and hands.” Together, we are touching heaven in our passionate worship services and in our gatherings of deepening faith and fellowship. We are changing earth as a welcoming, radically hospitable community and through our engagement in bold service and social justice. We are also blessed to have a fine team of governance committees that guide the stewardship of our church’s resources: the Finance Committee, Board of Trustees, Staff-Parish Relations Committee, and Nominations and Leadership Development Committee. As a part of the total Church Council, our practice committees and governance committees work hard to guide us and to enable all of our ministries. I invite you to see how your treasures are changing this world in God’s power and in God’s name. Please find here, in our new Annual Report, a glimpse of how we are all working together—and indeed, it takes all of us to work together to do this mighty and holy work. I hope you learn something about how we strive to be faithful stewards of our church’s resources. Thank you for your faithfulness as we continue to be in ministry with our community and our world. Thank you for your amazing prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Thank you for your awesome devotion to our God. Blessings on your generosity,

Rev. Mariellen Yoshino Senior Pastor

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Five Practices of Discipleship The mission of Los Altos United Methodist Church is “Touching heaven, changing earth with head, heart, and hands.”

Extravagant Generosity

Radical Hospitality “As a vital and diverse congregation, we strive to invite, welcome, receive and care for all members and guests to LAUMC’s community of faith. Radical Hospitality believes it is equally important to care for our existing church family and welcome all into the life of Christ’s church. As persons of faith, we seek to accept God’s love for us and joyfully offer it to others.” Jana Powell & Leslie Williams-Hurt, cochairs

Deepening Faith “Deepening Faith encompasses all ministry areas where people of all ages learn more about God. Growing our relationship to and with God is the “why” behind the other four practices. I’m passionate about Deepening Faith because … it helps us to know more and draw closer to the great love of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.” Carol Pugh, chairperson

“Extravagant Generosity teaches us about faith. Through our generosity, we can fund God’s work on earth, but more importantly, Extravagant Generosity is about making us, the givers, more like Jesus. By taking part, we slowly get better at trusting God to provide what only God can provide anyway.” Brian Jones, chairperson

To fulfill our mission, we engage our Five Practices of Discipleship.1

Passionate Worship

Bold Service & Social Justice “In the practice of Bold Service and Social Justice, we offer opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others through volunteer service, mission initiatives, and advocating for long-term solutions that bring justice. Through our service we seek to follow Christ.” Leslie Carmichael & Jan McDaniel, cochairs

“We worship passionately by intentionally involving ourselves in prayer, personal devotion, and community worship. As a church we offer a range of opportunities to experience the hope and healing that come from encountering God.” Jan Grace, chairperson

1. Learn more at www.laumc.org/growinfaith.

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Membership By the Numbers

By Calendar Year (January 1–December 31, 2016) LAUMC tracks statistics for people who attend worship and participate in the life of the church, categorizing them as members, constituents who regularly participate, or visitors. Professing Members

• 2016 Membership1:

Professing members2: 2,467 •

No. of Professing Members



New members in 2016: • 24 by 8th Grade Confirmation • 23 as Adults

• Constituents3: 2,793

2,750 2,525

2,500

2,481

2,492

2,467

2014

2015

2016

2,250 2,000 2013

• 2016 Worship and Discipleship:

Average combined weekly worship4: 881 • Average children and youth Sunday school attendance: 90 • Number in small groups: 473 •

Average Weekly Worship By Year Average No. in Worship

1,000

942

919

2013

2014

900

876

881

2015

2016

800 700

2016 Worship Service Attendance Averages4 Time/location Attendance 8:00am5 118 5 9:30am 248 5 11:15am 143 5 5:00pm 68 Sunnyview off-site 14 congregation Online6 216 Off-campus event7 41 8 Special service 293

600

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1. Membership data are from the 2016 calendar year-end numbers LAUMC reported to the California-Nevada Annual Conference. 2. A professing member is someone who has taken membership vows at LAUMC. 3. A constituent is someone who has not taken membership vows but has attended worship at least five times in a 40-week period. 4. “Combined weekly worship” includes in-person and online attendance at all on-campus and off-campus services held in a given week, so the total 2016 attendance average does not equal the sum of the attendance averages in the table. 5. In-person worshippers are counted by the ushers and certified by the Congregational Care Ministry Team. 6. Online worshippers are counted through the “unique total views” metric provided by our livestream host, multiplied by 1.6. The multiplier, adopted from research done at Church of the Resurrection, represents the average number of viewers watching on a single computer or device. 7. Church-sponsored events happening over a Sunday are counted toward our worship attendance. These include youth/women’s/men’s retreats, Starfire Singers tour, Mexico house-building trips and other mission trips, and church camp. 8. Special services include Holy Week, Confirmation, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving Eve, and others.

Contribution Levels

By Calendar Year (January 1–December 31, 2016) When looking at stewardship, donors are categorized into one of four “Steps of Giving” by the amounts they give to the LAUMC Operating Fund each year1: up to $600, $600–$2,400, $2,400–$9,000, and above $9,000. Dollars Given By Donor Level $0–599

$600–2,399

$2,400–8,999

$9,000+

$2,500,000 $2,250,000 $2,000,000 $1,750,000 $1,500,000 $1,250,000 $1,000,000 $750,000 $500,000 $250,000 $0 2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Number of Giving Units2 By Donor Level $0–599

$600–2,399

$2,400–8,999

$9,000+

1,200

No. of Giving Units

1,000

35 191

800 277 600

509

44

39

187 260

196 227

48 201

47

207

181 199 403

470

471

426

2013

2014

2015

400 200 0 2012

1. Congregant giving is recorded on a calendar (tax) year. 2. Contributions are counted per giving unit, which may be an individual or family.

2016

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Operating Income

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016)1 Your contributions are LAUMC’s primary source of funding for the work of our mission and ministry. Thank you for your continuing support. In November 2015, faced with a significant shortfall in expected contributions, the Extravagant Generosity and Finance Committees asked the congregation to consider increasing your donations. In response, you substantially boosted general contributions and the Thanksgiving Offering in November–December 2015. However, in fiscal year 2017, contributions are falling short of expectations. There is still time to make up the difference.

Planned: $2,320,000 Actual: $2,251,696 Stock Gifts, $71,322

Thanksgiving 2015 Offering, $56,822 Christmas 2015 Offering2, $15,360 Easter 2016 Offering, $9,339 Cash in Plate, $20,705 Facilities Use, $15,815 Wedding Net Income, $10,971 Designated Ministries3, $3,770

General Contributions, $2,047,592

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1. Income and expenses are reported on the last fiscal year (FY2016), which ended June 30, 2016. This is different than the monthly stewardship information reported in the Sunday bulletin, which charts contributions received on the calendar year. 2. The Christmas Offering does not include offerings in the plate at Christmas Eve services, which are entirely designated to Advent Generosity. See page 9. 3. Designated Ministries captures the net income minus expenses from study book sales, confirmation class activity payments, etc.

Expenses & Commitments

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016)

Planned: $2,339,7071 Actual: $2,221,4421 Children's Ministry, $12,269 Youth Ministry, $5,887 Young Adult Ministry, $6,596 Adult Ministry, $2,478

Music Ministry, $15,538 Worship, $30,629 Special Benevolence, $1,000 Conference Tithe, $225,170 Committed Mission Giving, $44,500

Congregational Care, $1,989 Lay Leadership, $3,987 GroupLife, $6,987 Food Services, $15,419 Information Technology, $20,887 Property Operations, $249,799

Administration & Finance, $85,729 Board of Trustees, $48,000

Staff and Clergy, $1,444,579

Beyond our operating expenses, LAUMC is committed to giving beyond the church in two ways: We contribute a tithe (10%) of our operating income as our share toward the operations and missions of the California-Nevada Conference and wider United Methodist Church, and we also designate 2% of contributions received for missional giving to local and global partners (see page 9 for more details). 1. Money received from the Children’s Center Preschool for shared expenses ($170,093) was subtracted proportionally from the operational categories of food services, information technology, property operations, and administration and finance. See page 8.

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Children’s Center Preschool

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016)

• About the Preschool • The Children’s Center is a play-based preschool that offers a weekday program for children ages 2–5. The preschool enrolled 170 students and employed 40 educational staff members (4 full-time and 36 part-time) during the 2015–16 school year. • The Children’s Center is a wholly owned entity of Los Altos United Methodist Church. It runs a separate budget and has a separate Board of Directors. We share its operating figures as a celebration of this ministry.

Children’s Center FY2016 Income

$1,405,000

Operating Expenses Shared Expenses1

Capital & Maintenance Reserve

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$1,181,106 $170,093

$20,000

Operating Surplus to Mission Outreach (10%)2

$3,380

Operating Surplus to Opportunity Fund (90%)2

$30,421

1. The Children’s Center pays “shared expenses” to the church to contribute its share for facilities, staff, and other resources used in common. 2. By Children’s Center policy, a tithe (10%) of the preschool’s net activity surplus is allocated to mission outreach with a priority on children’s ministry as an expression of generosity and thanksgiving. The remaining 90% goes to the church’s Opportunity Fund (see page 10) in support of the mission and ministries of LAUMC.

Outreach Giving

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016) You are an extravagantly generous congregation! In addition to the funds you provide to support LAUMC’s operating budget, below are some of the ways you have given to support our community and our world. • Committed Mission Giving:

LAUMC is committed to giving 1.2% of contributions received to community partners. The Outreach Team disburses grants to address immediate and ongoing basic needs: food, shelter, and/or education. • LAUMC is committed to giving the Bold Service & Social Justice Practice Committee 0.8% of contributions received, and that committee designates additional recipients of these funds. •

• Special & Emergency Mission Giving:

You give directly to selected community partners during 10 monthly Outreach Connection highlights in worship. • You give during other special offerings that are taken as needs arise, such as responding to natural disasters. •

• Age-Level Ministry Offerings: •

Our children, youth, and young adult groups take offerings for mission.

• Advent Generosity: •

Your Advent Generosity gifts and Christmas Eve offering go to selected partners every year. In December 2015, the chosen projects were the Hope’s Corner capital campaign; Compassion Week 2016; and UMCOR Gifts of Hope: Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.

• And Many More:

Outreach Giving FY2016

Our United Methodist Women organize Committed Mission Giving $44,499 fund-raisers for local and global missions. Special & Emergency Giving $120,085 • Our Starfire Singers high school choir raises money for missions through free- Age-Level Ministry Offerings $3,427 will offerings taken while performing on tour. Advent Generosity $104,141 • The Children’s Center preschool gives 10% of its net surplus to outreach partners that benefit children. • The Gifts & Memorials Committee funded more than $80,000 in scholarships and internships in FY2016. It also occasionally has had a surplus and opted to distribute those funds to LAUMC’s outreach partners. • Dozens of you are fund-raisers in the LAUMC Walk to End Alzheimer’s Team. •

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Endowment Fund

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016) • About the Endowment Fund • The Endowment Fund was created in 1992 for the perpetual benefit of Los Altos UMC. The Fund gives supporters the opportunity to be part of LAUMC’s long-term success by investing major gifts in perpetuity and using the proceeds to fund the growth and sustainment of ministry programs. • By policy, the Endowment Committee is charged with maintaining the original investment, adjusted for inflation. Only the yearly gains above that value can be distributed. • All undesignated gifts to LAUMC larger than $25,000 are invested in the Endowment Fund, allocated as follows: 50% Property Endowment, 20% Program & Mission Endowment, and 30% Opportunity Fund1. • Distributions have been reduced since FY2010 as the Endowment Committee has waited for the Fund balance to meet or exceed its original balance before the Great Recession, plus inflation adjustment. • The distribution for the 18-month period ending December 31, 2015, was $61,280 (1.5%) from Series A (funds invested before the Great Recession) and $5,143 (3.0%) from Series B (new gifts added after the Great Recession).

Market Value as of June 30, 2016: $4,814,436 Unrestricted Endowment, $144,144 Children & Youth Endowment, $106,883

Opportunity Fund1, $369,320

Program & Missions Endowment, $1,116,435

Property Endowment, $3,077,653

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1. The Opportunity Fund was created as a means of distributing a portion of unrestricted large gifts to support opportunities for ministry at LAUMC. Grants from the Opportunity Fund are approved by the Church Council.

Board of Trustees

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016)

The LAUMC Board of Trustees is charged with the responsibility to maintain all church-owned properties, including the church campus and two parsonages. The Nehemiah’s Call capital campaign was launched in May 2012 to fund major repairs and maintenance while the Property Endowment Fund recovered to prerecession levels. Through your generosity, we raised $621,187. The Board has spent the funds over the last four years on repaving the parking lot, refurbishing the Chapel garden, reroofing the breezeways, making entry doors ADA-compliant, and refurbishing the Youth Room, including a kitchen remodel, among other projects.

Board of Trustees Funding Model

Board of Trustees Assets As of June 30, 2016: $551,404

Income Sources

Operating Fund Annual Allocation

Property Endowment Fund Annual Distribution1

Personal Donations to “Building Fund”

Building Fund Trustee Reserves Preschool Capital & Maintenance Reserve Columbarium Fund

$431,460 $99,268 $20,676

Capital Campaign Donations (e.g., Nehemiah’s Call) Opportunity Fund1 Grants

10% Project Tithe1 Preschool Columbarium Capital Reserve Capital

Trustee Funds Trustees’ Building Fund

Capital Investment Trustee Investment Projects Reserves Projects

Projects Capital Capital Investment Maintenance & Investment Projects Upkeep Projects Projects

Capital Capital Investment Capital Investment Investment Projects Projects Projects

1. These allocations/distributions are governed by their respective policies.

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• Acknowledgements • This annual report was spearheaded by the Rev. Mariellen Yoshino (Senior Pastor), Becky Everett (Managing Director of Operations), Mary Joyce (Financial Controller), and Emily Allen (Director of Communications). • Additional information and support were provided by Kyle Aiken-Forderer (Membership Services Assistant), Harvey Dixon, Margie Gong, Raymond Lockley, Bob Morley, Derek Nam, Dick Wilson, and others. • The chairs of our five practice committees provided quotations for page 3. • Audit Report • The financial records of LAUMC, including all income, expenses, and assets for both the church and preschool, consistently pass an external audit every year. LAUMC’s latest audit report from Storek, Carlson, & Strutz LLP is for FY2015.

LAUMC Church Council Members Margie Gong, Church Council Chair Angela Wipfler & Bridget Wipfler, Church Council Co-Secretaries Raymond Lockley, Board of Trustees President Derek Nam, Finance Committee Chair Susan O’Neil, Nominations & Leadership Development Committee Co-Chair Ernie Sapigao, Staff-Parish Relations Committee Chair Leslie Carmichael & Jan McDaniel, Bold Service & Social Justice Co-Chairs Carol Pugh, Deepening Faith Chair Brian Jones, Extravagant Generosity Chair Jan Grace, Passionate Worship Chair Jana Powell & Leslie Williams-Hurt, Radical Hospitality Co-Chairs Sam Pompei, Young Adult Ministries Member at Large

Bob Olah, Adult Ministries Member at Large Harriet Palmer, Older Adult Ministries Member at Large Rev. Mariellen Yoshino, Senior Pastor Rev. Dirk Damonte, Minister of Music & Worship Arts Rev. Sam Lewis, Minister of Young Adults Rev. Debbie Weatherspoon, Minister of Community Engagement Lisa Conway, Director of Children’s Ministry Carol Damonte, Director of Ministry & Music for Youth Heidi Bliss & Dee Gray, Children’s Center Preschool Co-Directors Patricia Parfett, Director of Congregational Care Emily Allen, Director of Communications Becky Everett, Managing Director of Operations Mary Joyce, Financial Controller

Los Altos United Methodist Church is part of the El Camino Real District of the California-Nevada Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.