Financial Resources
Since 1803, the NC Synod has been fulfilling its mission of Walking Together—Sharing Christ. Together our congregations are able to accomplish ministry beyond the reach of a single parish. The annual budget and invested funds provide the resources necessary for ministry. We do much and can do even more!
Ministry Budget
Each fall synod committees, institutions and agencies develop and submit their proposed budget requests two years in advance. In February those proposals are considered by the Synod Council’s Finance Committee and incorporated into a proposed budget that is presented to the Synod Council at its March meeting. The budget is discussed, possibly amended, and is then posted online for assembly voting members and rostered leaders to review and consider. At assembly in late spring, the budget is again discussed, possibly amended, and then adopted by the voting membership of the assembly. The synod’s fiscal year runs from February through January.
Funds
Our synod is blessed with many funds which help support our ministries together. Young people develop leadership skills and families learn to pass on faith because of the youth and family ministry fund. Through the candidacy fund and NC Fund for Leaders, seminarians are encouraged and supported. Campus ministry donations provide a spiritual home away from home for college students. Thousands of multi-media resources are available to lay persons and clergy through the Heilig Resource Center Fund. Immediate care is possible for those overwhelmed by crisis thanks to gifts to disaster response. The generous and well-managed endowments of Michael Peeler and Virginia Casey enable incredible ministries across the synod in the name of Jesus Christ.
To learn more about planned giving, congregational endowments, or to make a gift yourself, contact Christine Post-Duncan, NC Synod-ELCA Planned Giving Director.
Mission Suppport
"Mission Support" is the term used to describe the unrestricted offerings congregations send to the synod. This is the largest expression of giving and the main source of revenue for the shared ministry needs of both the synod and churchwide missions. About 41% of the mission support received by the NC Synod is forwarded to the ELCA churchwide offices for our national and international ministries.
Mission support measures our generous response to God's generous gifts.
Each Fall every congregation is sent a letter outlining their suggested mission support for the next year based on the mission support formula adopted at synod assembly. This request is derived from the information provided by the congregation in its annual report (number of confirmed, communing, contributing members) and from giving history and other considerations. Congregations can accept their formula request, discuss other options with the synod, or designate an amount over and above the amount asked in response to God's generous blessings.
2011 Approved Mission Support Formula
2012 Approved Mission Support Formula
Congregational Treasurers
Thank you for serving as your congregation's treasurer. Here are some helpful hints: When writing a check to the synod, please make the check payable to "NC Synod ELCA" and submit with the remittance slip. Also, be as specific as possible in the notation line. It is especially important to be specific when sending designated monies to the synod office. [Example: Instead of writing "missionary support," be more specific. If the funds are to go to a missionary your congregation is supporting, write in the missionary's name. If disaster relief funds are meant to go specifically to "Tsunami Relief" or "Hurricane (fill in a name) Relief" write that on the check. Gifts not specifically designated will be deposited into the synod's general disaster fund.]
Find resources for congregational treasurers and bookkeepers here. Contact Kelly Zalinsky, the synod accountant, or Ray Barnhardt, the synod financial director, with other questions.
