Support for the General Fund should be your first gift to the church, as this fund enables Williamson’s Chapel to exist. Tithes and gifts to the General Fund support the programs, worship events, staff compensation, operating and maintenance needs of the church included in the annual budget. They enable us to offer and improve existing ministries.

What goes into making an annual budget? 

The first step in identifying annual budget needs is for leaders of each ministry area to consider the past, the present, and the future. Looking at the history of what has been offered, considering current costs associated with the ministry, and envisioning how the ministry needs to grow, all help to identify the financial needs of the coming year. This historical and visioning process begins in late summer for ministry leaders. The Financial Ministry Committee begins their review of the requested budget amounts in October of each year, and submits a recommended budget to the Church Council for consideration and approval by the end of the calendar year. 

What exactly is included in the annual budget for Williamson’s Chapel? 

Let’s take a look at each financial category and what it covers:

Staff Compensation and Benefits is normally between 50% - 55% of the total annual budget of every church. The same is true for us. This expense budget covers all Clergy, all Staff ministry leaders, the staff who provide administrative support, our nursery workers, and all related benefits, taxes, payroll processing, and workers compensation insurance expenses.

Facilities maintenance is normally around 20% - 25% of the total annual budget. This expense budget covers power, water, phone, garbage collection, pest control, and internet services, grounds maintenance, custodial work, security officers at Sunday worship services, maintenance of our elevator, security systems, and all the heating & cooling units, and other general maintenance and repair work across campus. This budget also covers the annual funding of the Capital Improvement & Replacement Fund, which covers expected upcoming replacement of capital assets.

Operating Expenses are normally around 10% - 15% of the total annual budget. This expense budget covers fees for banking, credit card, and online giving options, annual independent audit fees, IT hardware, software, security, and other related licenses, and costs to run the office of the church, including the cost of the copier leases, paper and other essential supplies, postage for mailings, and Clergy & Staff travel reimbursement.

Program Ministries is normally around 10% - 15% of the total annual budget. This expense budget covers planned program expenses for the year for the following ministry areas:

The Youth Ministries budget includes curriculum and programming costs, a portion of the cost to fund week long mission trips, and a large amount of the cost of youth retreats.

The Children’s Ministries budget includes all aspects of Sunday & other weekly programming costs, special events such as the Easter event, and the cost for Vacation Bible School each year.

The Adult Ministries budget includes monthly and quarterly devotionals, literature and curriculum supplies, and other supplies for small groups such as the nurturing ministry. The senior adult ministry also has a budget each year to cover a portion of group trips and other meeting supplies.

The Other Grow Ministries budget includes the family (bridge) events, marriage ministry events, and supplies for the young adult ministry, as well as our virtual ministry access through RightNow Media.

The Witness Ministries budget includes marketing events and efforts, hospitality costs, and new member orientation costs (Pizza with the Pastors).

The Congregational Care Ministries budget includes costs associated with prayer shawls, the Care Team, bereavement response, divorce and grief share programs, our Stephen Ministry, and the wellness and outdoor ministries.

The Worship Ministries budget includes all aspects of regular and special planned worship services, such as music and video expenses, communion supplies, worship banners, guest musicians, and equipment costs.

The budget that covers ministries across all program areas includes training costs for Laity, stewardship supplies, fellowship supplies, volunteer support and background checks, and costs associated with church-wide initiatives.

Apportionments are about 5% - 8% of the total annual budget. These District and Conference level support payments cover needs beyond our church walls, as determined by the United Methodist Church. Our apportioned, or asked, share of the total annual need is determined based on an average of the last three years of reported expenditures (excluding capital expenditures). Some of the funding is used for administrative support at the Conference level, while other funding is used for international and U.S. missional support.

If you have questions, or would like to know more about the annual budget, please contact the Financial Administrator.

Williamson’s Chapel is blessed with church members, volunteers, and staff devoted to our worship and educational programs. The majority of the funds to support these programs are provided through the annual budget. When gifts are received that support the General Fund, those gifts support programs, staff compensation, and operating and maintenance needs of the church, so we can continue to improve upon all these areas.
Occasionally, though, a ministry group will have an idea of a new or better way of doing things, and a different source of funding is needed. To provide for needs beyond the annual budget, Williamson’s Chapel has established several Special Ministry Funds. Gifts to the Special Ministry Funds are considered second mile giving, as they go beyond normal tithing and they provide for newly identified or special needs. We have various Special Ministry Funds covering our worship and educational programs, missional and benevolence programs, and facility needs. To help you understand these Special Ministry Funds better, we want to tell you more about three of these special funds.

Worship, Arts, and Music Fund

The Worship, Arts, and Music Fund was established to further develop and improve the overall worship experience at Williamson’s Chapel. While the annual budget supports all the normal costs for our worship experience, gifts received for special worship needs can be used to go beyond the budget. This special ministry fund can be used to support the choir, bands, dramas, and other special programs, or even to obtain special worship supplies or instruments. In the last few years, the Worship, Arts, and Music Fund supported the purchases of technology and equipment to enhance the overall worship experience both in person and online. 

Youth & Children’s Ministry Fund

The Youth & Children’s Ministry Fund was established to further develop and improve the educational and worship experiences for the children and youth at Williamson’s Chapel. The annual budget provides well for many ongoing programs for these groups. Special gifts, however, can be used to expand programs or develop new programs, or even to obtain special supplies and equipment. In the last few years, the Youth & Children’s Ministry Fund supported the purchase of furniture, decorations, and major structural improvements for the youth house area and the new children's wing for Sunday school, as well as providing scholarship tuition for certain youth trips.

Scholarship Fund

The Scholarship Fund was originally established to administer an endowment given to create the “Arthur and Christine Becker Family Scholarship”.   In 2021, another endowment was received  which created the "Robert and Frankie Howard Scholarship".  The earnings from the endowments, and other gifts received for the fund, are used to provide a $500 scholarship to a graduating high school student each year, which can be applied to the tuition at a college of his or her choice, and either a seminary school scholarship up to $1,000 or up to two additional graduating high school student college scholarships for $500. To be considered for the scholarships, the applicants must regularly attend or be a member of Williamson’s Chapel, complete an application, and submit an essay. If you would like to help support the issuance of future scholarships from this fund, you can do so by specifying either the Becker or Howard “Scholarship Fund” on the check memo or envelope when you give.

If you have questions, or would like to know more about second mile giving to these or any of our other Special Ministry Funds, please contact the Financial Administrator or the Senior Pastors.

Williamson’s Chapel uses a Missions Grant Fund to provide funding to missional organizations in our community and beyond. The Missions Grant process allows us to send funding to our supported community and international organizations earlier in the calendar year, and allows us to target specific needs within each of these organizations. Each year, an annual mission grant budget is determined based on specified gifts received for mission work. The missional organizations ask for funds for specific or general needs by completing a grant request, and the grant requests are then considered prayerfully by our Missions Council. The Missions Council’s annual grant process allows Williamson’s Chapel to make meaningful, targeted donations to our supported missional organizations.

At certain times, a newly developing issue or an unexpected request for help is identified, so Williamson’s Chapel has two other Special Ministry Funds to allow for additional missional and benevolent support to the community and the world, beyond the annual budget of the Missions Grant Fund.

Pastors’ Discretionary Fund

The Pastors’ Discretionary Fund was established to provide benevolence payments to individuals and community organizations. If an individual or group has a specific need, the Clergy at Williamson’s Chapel work together to determine how to help. The Pastor’s Discretionary Fund is also used to supplement funding of mission projects as needed, or to enable ministry to happen in ways not covered by the annual budget. This fund is used at the discretion of our pastors, and two pastors agree before funds are used.

Emerging Missions & Outreach

The Emerging Missions & Outreach Fund was established to cover newly developing concerns and needs. As the community became more aware of the issues of Human Trafficking, Williamson’s Chapel used this fund to launch a way for our church to work with other organizations to End Human Trafficking. This fund has also been used to start missional work on smaller projects.

If you have questions, or would like to know more about second mile giving to these or any of our other Special Ministry Funds, please contact the Financial Administrator or the Senior Pastors.

The Capital Improvement & Replacement Fund was established and funded between 2012 - 2015 to support the improvement and replacement of old, broken, or out-dated existing capital assets in our buildings and on the grounds of our campus.  The funding is based on a detailed analysis of well over 100 major assets around the Williamson's Chapel campus, ranging from the rooftops of our buildings to the flooring within and most everything in between.  These are assets that we know will need to be replaced, when they most likely will need to be replaced, and what the cost of replacement is likely to be,  based on the original purchase date and price and expert estimates.  The analysis of assets has led the church to a target funding goal between $215,000 to $240,000, and this target will be regularly re-analyzed and updated to accommodate new capital assets purchased and future expected replacement costs.  In fact, the church has been able to repair and replace many large assets over the last few years without negatively impacting the overall operating budget, including Sanctuary roof repairs prior to replacement.  We analyze the annual budget need each year based on expected asset replacements in the next two to three years to maintain the target balance.