Revenue Task Force Report

July 3, 2023

Dear Beloved MPUC Community,

This spring, the Macalester Plymouth United Church Session created a Revenue Taskforce (RTF) to identify ways to address the church’s projected 2023 budget shortfall. While we are still working on details, you can expect to see plans for fall fundraising events. In addition, Session has authorized a request to the congregation to help close this gap with an additional 2023 contribution. We’ll be sharing more on that later this summer.

In addition to recommendations for actions that address our immediate financial situation, Session directed the RTF, which consisted of Lead Minister Adam Blons and 12 members of our congregation, to assess MPUC’s long-term financial health as a church and to determine how we can sustain our mission as a vital, vibrant and welcoming congregation.

The RTF spent many hours digging into our financial and membership history. They projected our income and expenses for several years out and assessed how long our financial reserves – from which we’ve drawn funds in 2023 and several years previous – will last if we do not make changes. This group also brainstormed a variety of paths we can explore, coming up with more than 30 ideas! 

Here are key findings, recommendations, and next steps identified by the RTF and endorsed by Session:

Findings

• We are growing steadily smaller as a church. While today we are comparatively healthier and stronger financially and in membership numbers than many of our peer congregations, the trend is clear. 

• As our membership declines so do our financial resources and our volunteer pool essential to carry out our mission.

• If we do not take action, our cash reserves will be depleted by the end of 2025, leaving only our endowments to cover any future shortfalls.

Recommendations

• Together, we must be proactive, not wait for a demographic crisis to dictate our future as it has that of so many churches.

• We will work together to close some of the 2023 gap, which will give us time to create and execute accelerated congregation membership growth strategies. Should our application be approved, we will use COVID-era Employee Retention Credit (ERC) funds to provide a financial cushion.

•  We will follow through on Session’s approval to hire a church consultant to guide us in crafting a strategic plan that identifies the actions our congregation is willing to take to strengthen our mission and reach our financial and membership goals by the end of 2025.

Actions to date

• MPUC has applied for the ERC funds and hopes to receive them. The session is working on fall fundraising events. 

• Later this summer, we will ask the congregation for an extra contribution to help balance the budget and fund the strategic planning work.

• We are in the process of hiring an experienced church consultant to guide us in creating our strategic plan. 

It’s important to put all of this into perspective. Like many congregations and other entities, we were in “survival” mode during the pandemic. With your support, one-time government programs, and our reserves, we made it through. Now we have the opportunity to move forward together and create the future we envision. 

We need every member of our MPUC community to be engaged in this critical conversation as we discern the next steps that are right for our beloved community. We ask you to prayerfully open your hearts and minds to a vision of our future. We encourage your input and support for the strategic planning process this fall to help us solidify our common vision of MPUC’s future and how we will achieve it. We are planning a church town hall (both live and recorded) to share more information and answer questions. In the meantime, we invite you to share your questions and your thoughts at ourmpucfuture@gmail.com.

MPUC is poised and ready to embrace planning for the future. We know that our greatest risk is not the changes we may pursue but the failure to act today to address the challenges we see ahead. Together we’ll explore and make the right decisions that will sustain our current and future communities. 

Yours in Christ,

Adam Blons

Lead Minister

Lauren Wood

Vice Moderator

Chris Kemp

Finance & Stewardship Elder/Chair RTF