2022
Church
Budget
Guide
Set Your Church Up for
Financial Success
Table of Contents
Intro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01
The Benefits of a Church Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 02
Preparing a Church Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04
2022 Church Budget Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 08
Make Your 2022 Budget More Predictable . . . . . . 15
Church Giving Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2022 CHURCH BUDGET GUIDE
i
Start the year
with a faith-filled
financial plan.
N
o matter the size of your church, a well-thought-out budget
is crucial. It’s how you ensure that the resources you need to
fulfill your mission are being properly allocated every month. It’s
how you plan for the year ahead and anticipate the financial needs
of your different ministries.
The money coming into your church is given by faithful people who long to serve
God and build his kingdom. With that in mind, you have a great responsibility to be
wise with how that money is being distributed.
We understand the great importance of properly stewarding church resources,
which is why we built giving software to help you do so. In this guide, we will walk
through the steps to creating a budget, and strategies you can implement to create
a more dependable and predictable budget.
01
The Benefits of a
Church Budget
P
lanning and keeping track of a church budget may
benefit your ministry more than you realize. Apart
from giving you visibility into your church’s health and the
generosity of your congregants, it can provide you with
freedom in unexpected ways, and it allows you to protect
overlooked ministries.
Protects Essential Ministries
Without a healthy budget, there’s a danger to significant but smaller
ministries to lose out to the needs of high-profile ministries. Having a set
budget for all areas like children’s ministry or small groups allows you to set
up a boundary to protect them from financial neglect.
Financial neglect can also occur as you launch new ministries. By thinking
through the ministries you may want to launch in the new year, you smartly
allocate money in your budget and avoid taking money from smaller
ministries throughout the year.
Maybe, you find that it is a struggle to give specific ministries the budget
you’d like them to have. Later in this guide, we’ll cover some strategies you
can implement to nurture generosity in the church.
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02
A Budget is Freedom
Contrary to how it might feel going in, a budget is freedom. It represents liberty from:
Debt
Ignorance
Competition
Being able to allot money
A church budget stops
Prevent any frustration
to go into savings or to
people from assuming
and competition for
pay extra on outstanding
they know where the
financial resources among
loans is the key to getting
church money goes and
volunteers and staff.
your church out of debt—
allows them to see exactly
and keeping it out.
how it’s being used.
Church Budgeting Creates Buy-in
When people can see what’s happening with church finances, they begin to
understand the church’s needs and how their giving directly impacts what the
church can accomplish. As your church leaders understand the budgetary needs,
they’ll be better prepared to explain them to the congregation.
There can be a disconnect for some people between their faithful giving and the
church’s budgetary needs. Having a clear, accessible budget for church leaders
to explain to congregants can help people feel a sense of personal involvement
and responsibility.
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03
Preparing a
Church Budget
Audit
Project
Assess shortfalls
Think through your
and surpluses
goals going into the
every quarter.
new year.
Have Faith
Go Mobile
Your budget reflects
Make it easy for your
sound judgment and
church to use a mobile
trust in God.
giving solution.
By creating a new budget for 2022, you can set an expectation for the
resources you receive and prioritize their use. Planning and monitoring
your budget is the key to identifying wasteful expenditures. Additionally, it
will help you adapt better to changes in giving.
Take a Look At Your Past Finances
Step 1 |
Review the past 2-3 years and see if you can detect an upward or
downward income trend.
Step 2 |
Calculate the percentage of increase or decline.
Step 3 |
Think through your 2022-2023 goals and what income increase
you would need to achieve them.
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04
Audit Your Income Sources
Once you have all of your income sources in front of you, you can begin to look at
which ones are static and which ones you have an opportunity to influence. Also,
take note of when your money comes in. If you have specific services that get more
offerings, special fundraisers that you do once a year, or seasonal income, keep that
in mind. It will help when you’re performing your quarterly audit to know where
you should be at various points in the year.
Church Income Sources
Offerings
Trust funds
Donations
Investments
Facility rentals
Bequests
Project Your Income for the Year
Once you’ve audited all your sources of income and considered your trending
revenue for the last few years, it’s time to set a projected income from each source
and a total for the year. You want your budget to reflect your faith that God has
plans for your church and its effectiveness.
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A 2019 study from Exponential by LifeWay Research found that 6 in 10 Protestant
churches have plateaued or are declining in attendance. The COVID-19 Pandemic
has also affected so many churches and their attendance rates as some have had to
pause their in-person gatherings.
After what was a discouraging and challenging year for many, planning for an
increase is a great way to give your people something to rally around, making room
for God to move in your church. Focus on creating momentum and finding exciting
ways to bring in any funds that are lacking.
Look at Last Year’s Expenses
As you review your expenses from the last year, write down the percentage of
income spent on each category. Here are common portions to give you a framework
for what a “typical” church budget looks like. Did the percentages you spent on
these various line items reflect your missional priorities?
Facilities
Staff
20–40%
35–40%
Ministries
Missions
20–40%
10–30%
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06
Plan a Reserve Fund
As you plan and allocate income, you need to create a reserve fund. This protects
your staff in the event of a drop in giving. Some of your expenses can’t be trimmed
down, such as debt, rent, and utilities. Additionally, your church needs to continue
doing ministry and funding missions, even during lower income months. To avoid
sacrificing personnel, plan a smart reserve fund. Even if this fund is never used for
emergencies, it can be useful for things like future expansion.
Auditing Your Budget
At least once a quarter, it’s wise to go over the line items in your budget and see
how you’re doing. There needs to be a decided protocol for what you’re going to
do with extra income or shortfalls in revenue. If you need to make up a budgetary
shortfall, do you have a plan in place to raise more funds, cut some expenditures, or
use your reserves?
Line up the
....against the
MONEY COMING IN
MONEY GOING OUT
This includes things like:
This includes things like:
• Offerings
• Trust Funds
• Facilities
• Ministry Expenses
• Donations
• Investments
• Staff
• Benevolence
• Dues
• Bequests
• Debt
• Savings
• Facility Rentals
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07
2022 Church
Budget Template
S
croll down to view some of the typical income sources
and expenses included in church budgets. If you’d like to
use this as a starting point for your church budget, download
one of our adjustable templates below.
•
Church Budget Template.docx
•
Church Budget Template.pages
•
Church Budget Template.rtf
•
Church Budget Template.odt
Income
2021
Source
Amount
Offerings
Donations
Dues
Facility Rentals
Trust Funds
Investments
Bequests
Total
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2022
Source
Expected Amount
Offerings
Donations
Dues
Facility Rentals
Trust Funds
Investments
Bequests
Total
Expenses
Missions
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Mission Name
Month
Annual
World Missions
Mission A
Mission B
Mission C
State Missions
Mission A
Mission B
Mission C
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Local Association
Association A
Association B
Local Missions
Mission A
Mission B
Mission C
Others Missions
Activity A
Activity B
Activity C
Activity D
Total Missions
Salaries
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Title
Month
Annual
Senior Pastor
Executive Pastor
Worship Pastor
Small-Group Pastor
Finance Director
Education Pastor
Youth Pastor
Operations Director
Outreach Pastor
Children's Pastor
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Stewardship Pastor
Missions Pastor
Associate Pastor
Creative Director
Director of
Communications
Technology Director
Education Pastor
Total Salaries/
Benefits
Discipleship/Education
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Title
Month
Annual
Sunday School Material
Vacation Bible School
Youth Ministry
Discipleship/Bible
Studies
Women's Ministry
Children's Ministry
Senior Adult Ministry
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Discipleship/
Education Total
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Music/Worship
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Title
Month
Annual
Month
Annual
Music
Christmas Program
Easter Program
Special Events
Instruments
Other
Other
Other
Music/Worship
Total
Evangelism
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Title
Evangelism Training
Revival Expenses
Special Events
Media
Advertising
Other
Other
Other
Total Evangelism
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Facilities
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Month
Annual
Debt Retirement
Loan #1
Loan #2
Utilities
Electric/Gas
Water
Telephones
Other
Insurance
Building/Facilities
Liability
Other
Repairs/Upkeep
Facility Repair/Upkeep
Other
Custodial
Supplies
Salaries
Personnel Insurance
Social Security
Retirement
Office Expenses
Office Supplies
New Equipment
Equipment Repair/
Upkeep
Computer Expenses
Total Facilities
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Savings/Reserves
Percentage of
Budget xx%
Month
Annual
TOTAL
Missions:
%
Salaries/Benefits :
%
Discipleship/Education:
%
Music/Worship:
%
Evangelism:
%
Facilities:
%
Savings:
%
Budget total
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How to Make Your 2022
Budget More Predictable
C
reating a reliable and predictable budget is challenging for
churches of any size. Because they are contingent upon
the freewill offerings of their members, all churches struggle
with fluctuations in congregational giving. Many churches
were also heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, making
predictable budgeting even more challenging.
What steps can you take in 2022 to
make your budget more predictable?
Teach Biblical
Provide Mobile
Utilize Financial
Money Management
Giving & Recurring
Management Tools
Giving Tools
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Teach Biblical Money Management
In 2020, 54% of households were giving more carefully than before due to the
pandemic, and only 28% will keep giving as before. Additionally, in a study done
by Dunham+Company, 17% of households will stop giving completely until the
economy is back on track.
Generosity can be an uncomfortable topic and, after the COVID-19 pandemic, many
probably wonder if they can afford to be generous. Though the world continually
changes, knowledge of biblical money management remains essential. By helping
your congregants practice biblical stewardship, they’ll be more likely to practice
generosity. They will also be in a better place to give freely and without concern.
Provide Mobile Giving &
Recurring Giving Tools
According to NonProfit Source, only 27% of digital giving happens on a Sunday.
The other 73% occurs on the other six days of the week.
Digital giving
occuring on Sundays
27%
73%
Digital giving
occuring rest of week
Mobile giving allows your people to give at any time from anywhere. The
mid-service offering is no longer an obstacle to generosity. People can give
as quickly as they can order a pizza or get an Uber.
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Pushpay’s Mobile-Friendly
Giving Includes:
A mobile app that allows
Text-to-Give that is as
people to give anytime,
easy as typing an amount
anywhere.
and hitting send. .
Platforms that offer more
A recurring giving option
security than physical
that your donors only
cash and checks.
have to set up once.
Before we started using Pushpay, it was easier to order a pizza on your
phone than it was to give to our church. While our registered members
grew, we saw a steady decline in average weekly giving per family over the
last five years. We have now overcome that and feel confident that we are
setting up the Millennials to share their stewardship of treasure in the way
they now how…on their phones. The first month of giving on Pushpay saw
an immediate increase in participation and dollar amount.”
Stephen Lenahan – Director of Development & Communications
St. Anthony of Padua Church
2022
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Pushpay users have the option of choosing a predetermined amount to
automatically take out of their bank account at whatever interval they choose
(weekly, monthly, etc.). It’s called recurring giving — and it can make a huge
difference in your budgeting.
When church members take advantage of recurring giving, their giving becomes
dependable. Whether they’re present or not, their offering comes in at the same
interval—for the same amount. And it doesn’t drop during the summer when they’re
on vacation.
Recurring giving helps church members achieve the giving consistency they long
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for but might struggle to reach. They only need to be inspired to set it up once, and
their giving becomes persistent—and so does your budget.
How to Encourage
Recurring Giving
Recurring giving might sound like a great idea,
but how do you inspire people to try it out?
In the admin console, churches can turn on a feature
that allows Pushpay to suggest recurring giving. When
someone has established a rhythm to the amount of
their donations, Pushpay prompts them to sign up for a
regular schedule consistent with their normal giving.
Churches can also set up recurring giving as a
default. When someone donates, they can choose
to make a one-time gift, or the app will default to
recurring giving. Many users are happy to stick with
automatic giving when they see that it’s an option.
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Utilize Financial Management Tools
Start the year off with better control over your church finances. With the help of
financial tools, you’ll gain visibility into specific metrics that can aid you in financial
planning every year.
Pushpay gives you aggregate giving data to help you keep track of your church’s
financial health and your congregation’s participation. Being able to view a person’s
donations over a span of time, can tell you a lot about their commitment to your
church’s mission.
Pushpay Financial Management Tools
A Financial Dashboard
Donor Pledges that allow
Rich Donor Development
that helps you to quickly
your church members
insights that let you
generate reports, explore
to set giving goals for
know where your
insights, and look at
themselves, make a
congregants are in their
giving trends.
pledge to a specific
giving journey. You’ll be
campaign, and keep track
able to see the average
of pledge progress online.
donation amount as well
as any changes in giving.
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Church Giving Statistics
Recurring Givers
Give 24% More
Digital Givers
Give 24% More
Overall, recurring givers are more
Digital givers are in fact more
generous, giving on average 24%
generous than non-digital givers
more in spontaneous gifts above
and, on average, give 24% more
and beyond their recurring gifts.
in a month than offline givers.
Increased Recurring
Giving by 24%
12% More in Total
Dollars Given
Our church management software
Annually, our church management
customers who also have our
software customers who also
giving solution see a higher share
have our giving solution receive
of recurring giving, a 24% increase
an average of 12% more in total
overall, compared to those not
dollars given than those who
using our giving solution.
don’t have our giving solution.
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Generosity You Can Count On
By improving the process of giving and making it simple
for donors to give regularly, your church will see more
dependable generosity all year round and a more
predictable budget. Ready to learn more?
Meet ChurchStaq
Grow generosity and engagement
with one powerful suite of easy-touse giving, church management, and
engagement tools.
REQUEST DEMO
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