The Finance Committee stewards the financial life of the church as an expression of our shared discipleship. In attending to fiduciary responsibilities, the committee ensures that the congregation’s financial practices reflect both legal standards and our deeper moral and ethical commitments.
Its primary goal is to faithfully receive, steward, and use financial resources in ways that align with God’s call and support the church’s mission and ministry. In this work, financial oversight becomes not only administrative but spiritual—an act of trust in God’s provision and a witness to the congregation’s shared life.
Membership
The Finance Committee shall be composed of individuals identified in the Constitution and Bylaws. Those called to this work are not only skilled but formed in generosity and trust.
Members should:
- Practice generosity in their own lives as an expression of faith
- Be deeply committed to the congregation’s mission
- Be known as trustworthy persons of integrity
A majority of the Committee should bring experience in business, management, or accounting. Members are called to hold both wisdom and courage—willing to assume appropriate fiscal responsibility, including matters related to debt, and to cultivate these capacities in others.
The Senior Minister (or a designated appointee) shall serve as an ex officio member, without vote on matters related to staff compensation and benefits.
Duties & Responsibilities
The Finance Committee is accountable to the Governing Board and reports regularly on its work.
In all things, the Committee’s responsibilities are grounded in the belief that everything we have is gift, and that how we steward these gifts reflects what we believe about God.
The Finance Committee shall provide oversight for all financial records in accordance with its fiduciary responsibilities. This includes, but is not limited to:
Financial Oversight and Reporting
- The detailed, accurate, and timely reporting of all expenditures and income
- Generating reports that can be interpreted and understood by those receiving the reports
Policies and Internal Controls
The development and maintenance of all finance-related policies and operating procedures, including:
- Internal controls to safeguard the congregation’s assets and the personal information of congregants
- Transparent reporting that assures members that assets are:
- appropriated and expended properly in support of the congregation’s vision and mission, and
- in accordance with governing documents, policies, and stated donor restrictions or donor intent
Budgeting and Financial Health
- The development of an annual budget as directed or required by the Governing Board
- The regular review of financial results as compared to the budget
- An ongoing assessment of the congregation’s financial health
Oversight of Financial Leadership
- Oversight of the Church Treasurer, Financial Secretary, and
- Any internal or external bookkeeper or financial management person or firm
Donor Contributions and Receipting
- Clarification of donor intent and/or the nature of a donor’s gift (such as gifts from an IRA or donor-advised fund) whenever these factors are unclear
- The timely reporting of donor contributions:
- no less than quarterly, plus
- an annual statement of contributions by January 20 of the subsequent calendar year
- Such statements should include, as appropriate, a statement that no goods or services, other than intangible religious benefits, were received in exchange for the donor’s gifts
- The IRS requires this statement for contributions to be considered deductible
- The timely acknowledgment of donor-advised fund and/or IRA gifts separately from the annual receipt and statement of donor gifts that qualify for a (federal) charitable deduction
Recordkeeping and Data Protection
- Maintaining historical financial records, including a record of individual donor gifts
- Ensuring that backup records of financial transactions, payroll, and donations are maintained off-site
Stewardship Leadership
- Unless designated to another committee, task force, or working group, ensuring that there is an annual emphasis on financially supporting the church
- Administering the congregation’s gifts policy
Audit and Accountability
Commissioning a regular financial audit and faithfully considering any “Management Letter” recommendations made as part of the audit. While an annual independent audit is ideal, some congregations may not have the resources to justify this expense. Other options may include:
- An internal audit (using qualified members of the congregation)
- An external review of internal controls
- Limiting a full external audit to years when there is a change in financial leadership or credible concerns regarding fiduciary practices
Confidentiality and Trust
Ensuring that appropriate confidentiality is maintained among committee members, staff, and others with access to donor information.
Practice & Philosophy
Members of the Finance Committee, along with all church leadership, are called to embody generosity—not only in what they manage but in how they live.
Those entrusted with fiduciary leadership are asked to lead from a place of integrity, with their own financial lives grounded in faithfulness and trust.
Money is a spiritual matter, addressed more than 2,500 times in the biblical witness. For this reason, stewardship is not the work of the Finance Committee alone. It is shared with Elders and pastoral leadership as part of the spiritual formation of the congregation.
To teach financial health, to invite generosity, and to form people in faithful relationships with money and possessions is central to the life of the church. In this way, financial leadership participates in God’s ongoing work of shaping disciples.
Confidentiality
The personal information and giving records of all donors shall be treated as a sacred trust—received with gratitude and protected with care.
The church will not sell, lease, or distribute member information to any outside party.
Confidential giving records may be shared only with those who have responsibility for financial oversight, donor receipting, or pastoral care. Those who count or record contributions are entrusted with maintaining strict confidentiality.
At times, church leadership may need access to broader patterns of giving in order to faithfully discern the congregation’s financial health. Whenever possible, individual identities will be protected.
In the case of major financial initiatives, such as a capital campaign, limited donor information may be shared with designated leaders or consultants for the purpose of discernment and preparation. All such information will be handled with care, discretion, and respect.
The pastor may be notified of significant changes in giving patterns solely as an opportunity for pastoral care—not for discussion of financial contributions. The pastor is trusted with this information as with all confidential matters shared in the course of pastoral care.
Wise fiscal practices suggest that all financial information regarding donor records should be accessible to the pastor. However, depending on your context, this may be negotiated with the Elders.
Members who wish to keep their giving information private from the pastor may do so by written request (which will be held as a matter of record) to the Chair of the Finance Committee, who will notify the Financial Secretary of this request.