Our August meeting was packed with updates, information to be processed and decisions to be made. Two key elements of discussion were the remaining Everyone Welcome tithe funds and our budget for the upcoming year.
Everyone Welcome tithe funds
After soliciting input from the congregation, we narrowed potential recipients to the five organizations that had strong support among congregants. From there we considered any specific proposals from those groups, the nature of the work they do, needs of our community, CMC’s Vision Process priorities, the sustainability of the organizations, and their capacity for other fundraising avenues. In the end it was voted on to allocate the remaining $10,00 as follows:
Comité Salvadoreño de Paisanos Unidos (COSPU): $4,000
Vine & Fig: $3,000
Scholars Latino Initiative: $3,000
Budget discussion
Hadley (Jenner, chair) supplied a proposed budget for 2017-2018. Historically, the congregation has sought to make Outreach Commission’s budget equivalent to about 15% of CMC’s total budget. Looking at the budget trend over the past few years, we are currently (roughly) $6,000 from meeting the 15% goal. We thus discussed the option of increasing our budget incrementally by $2,000/year for the next three years. First, we need to determine more accurate numbers regarding CMC’s total budget and how far off we are from the 15% goal. Additionally, with the possibility of a larger budget, OC members agreed to come to our next meeting having each drafted an “ideal” budget that fits the evolving needs of our community by rethinking current recipients, their funding levels, and any organizations we think should be added to or taken out of our budget.
*If you have strong input for our process, please email comments to aliese.gingerich@gmail.com.