Treasurer Seminar, Church Finances, and Stewardship Insights

Local Treasurer Seminar By Daniel Battin

Local Treasurer Seminar Items Powerpoint Presentation on Treasury and Human Resources items Jewel tutorial Questions and Answers

The Church Treasurer A Sacred Work The treasurer is called to an important task and is elected, as are other officers, for the period of one year. In large churches, it may be deemed advisable to elect also an assistant treasurer. The treasurer can greatly encourage faithfulness in the payment of tithe and deepen the spirit of liberality on the part of the church members. A word of counsel given in the spirit of the Master will help the brother or sister to render faithfully to God His own in tithes and offerings, even in a time of financial stringency.

Gospel Finance The gospel plan for the support of the work of God in preaching the everlasting gospel among men is by the tithes and offerings of His people. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has followed this plan from its earliest days. The biblical basis for the paying of tithes and offerings will be found in the following references: Leviticus 27:30; Malachi 3:8-12; Matthew 23:23; 1 Corinthians 9:9-14; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.

Stewardship Christians are God s stewards, entrusted with His goods, and the divine counsel is that it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful (1 Cor. 4:2). The question of stewardship in its fullest form covers many aspects of Christian life and experience, such as our time, our influence, our service, but there is no doubt that the stewardship of our means is a vitally important phase of this question. It is one that concerns every member of the church. It involves our recognition of the sovereignty of God, of His ownership of all things, and of the bestowal of His grace upon our hearts. As we grow in the understanding of these principles, we shall be led into a fuller appreciation of the way God s love operates in our lives.

NNEC Treasury Website https://nnec.org/departments/treasury/ Contains Documents and Forms for local churches and schools Contains tutorials on using the Jewel Accounting Program Contains Stewardship, Financial reports, online giving, and Conference Advance offering information

Best Practices for Mission Trips Instead of accounts for Africa mission trip , or Haiti mission trip , establish a Mission Projects Fund Excess funds can then be used for a future mission trip to another location or mission Donors cannot receive a charitable deduction if the funds donated are restricted for a specific individual to go on the mission trip. The church board or executive committee should vote to approve the mission trip for it to be a church-sponsored trip Appropriate volunteer labor and/or short-term travel insurance should be purchased through Adventist Risk Management

Earmarked donations: Avoiding the appearance of private benefit Be careful when writing receipts for amounts raised for Short-term mission trips Benevolent funds Guest speakers Pastor s gifts

The IRS needs evidence that The donation is intended to benefit the exempt organization and not an individual. The organization has ultimate control and discretion over the use of the funds. There is no commitment or understanding that the contribution will benefit a designated individual. See PLR 200250029, which summarizes a number of Revenue Rulings and court cases dealing with this issue.

Fundraising appeals should make it clear that The contribution will become part of the general (benevolent/mission outreach/women s ministries, etc.) fund of the organization. The organization retains ultimate control and discretion over the use of the funds. No commitment or understanding exists that obligates the organization to use the contributed funds to benefit a person specified by the donor.

Control and Discretion over Mission Project Funds The board votes to support the project Donor checks are made out to the organization and specify the project, not the individual participant. If disbursements are made to other than another nonprofit, it is only to pay direct expenses or to reimburse participants for documented project- related expenses (airfare, etc). Excess funds raised by one participant are not to be disbursed to that individual, nor returned to donors. If a participant backs out at any time, the organization retains the funds.

Best Practices for Benevolent Funds Instead of accounts for Daniel Battin assistance , or Ted Huskins assistance , establish an Assistance Fund Excess funds can then be used for a future person Donors cannot receive a charitable deduction if the funds donated are restricted for a specific individual. The church board or executive committee should vote to approve the appropriation to the person. It is preferable when possible to pay the person s expense, such as paying their electric or heat bill, or providing a grocery card than to give them a check or cash.

Control and Discretion over Benevolent Funds Have a board-approved written policy designating how and when funds will be disbursed Require church board action, or benevolent committee approval for each disbursement. at least two signatures and written documentation Some churches require potential beneficiaries to fill out an application and provide ID and evidence of a valid need (copy of overdue utility bill), or to sign a receipt. Amounts given to church employees must be considered compensation and included on their W-2

What Donors Need to Substantiate Charitable Contributions Donors must substantiate any single contribution of $250 or more with a receipt from the organization. Name & address of organization Date of contribution Amount of cash contribution Description (not value) of non-cash contribution Statement that nothing tangible was received by the donor or a good-faith estimate of the value of goods or services provided to the donor or a statement that only intangible spiritual benefits were received by the donor The receipt should be provided by January 31 of the year following the donation April 15 at the latest.

Receipting non-cash donations Do not attempt to value non-cash items that is the responsibility of the donor. The donor should save receipts if items are new or use fair-market or thrift-store value. If a car, boat, or airplane with a value in excess of $500 is donated, the charity must issue a Form 1098-C. If a non-cash item is subsequently sold by the charity, it must file a Form 8282

Adventist Giving (Online Giving) Average cost of a Debit/Credit Card transaction is 2% of the amount donated Average cost of an ACH transaction is $0.17 per transaction. NNEC received $3,334,915 online in 2020. These Costs are split 70% local conference 10% local union 10% North American Division 10% General Conference

Unrelated Business Taxable Income Form 990-T is required to be filed if gross UBTI is over $1,000/year UBTI does not apply to rental income, unless property is financed by debt. Debt would be defined as outside debt, a loan from the AU Rev Fund would not be considered debt by this definition Daycare Income, but not Daycare rent Please let NNEC Treasury know if you may have UBTI

Local Church Audit Items Local Church Audits are done every other year for each church. Loose offerings should ideally be counted by two persons Church bank accounts should contain two signors from different families. The reason we ask about building programs is to record the buildings in the conference plant fund and to plan for a 10% local church building appropriation in the future. Bank reconciliations should be done monthly. Offerings should be deposited weekly within 6 days. Avoid writing checks to Cash and minimize checks to self.

Insurance Coverage Property Insurance Liability Insurance Auto Insurance

Human Resources Items Natalia Jamrog

Human Resources NNEC has a Human Resources webpage. It can be accessed at https://nnec.org/departments/human-resources/

Form 1099-Misc and W-2 Forms Don t issue a form 1099-Misc to someone who is also an employee and receives a W-2 form. This raises a red flag with the IRS.

Budgeting the Cost of Locally Funded Employees Add the total expected Wages base on hourly rate X expected hours. Add 7.65% for employer social security and medicare. If employee average hours per week is greater than 19, add 5% for employer defined contributions to the employee s retirement plan. If employee average hours per week is greater than 30, add $5,000- $10,000 additional for employee healthcare and discuss exact numbers with conference treasury department

Northern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Inc. Local Church and School Time Card Form For the Pay Period Beginning / / and Ending / / 2021 Data $12.15/hour $7.25/hour $11.75/hour Minimum Wage-Maine Minimum Wage-New Hampshire Minimum Wage-Vermont Employee Name Local Church or School Name Hourly Pay Rate $ (must comply with state minimum wage) Date # of Hours Worked / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / Total # of Hrs Worked=> Total # of Hours Worked Adj. Hourly Pay Rate Gross Pay(Box A times Box B) Add: Employer's Social Security D (Box C times Box D rounded to the nearest cent) IF Employee regularly works over 19 hours per week, Add: Employer Basic 403b Retirement F (Box C times Box F) Total for local church to send to NNE Conf. (Boxes C+E+G) A B C Item#10100 Dept $ Item#10005 0.0765 Item#41701 E $ 0.05 G $ Item#41500 H $ Check#_______________enclosed Please ACH debit church/school bank acct Employee Signature__________________________________ Local Supervisor Signature_____________________________

Locally Funded Payroll Form I-9 compliance The employer is required to fill out the employer section of the I-9 form within 3 days of the employee hire date(date they start working) Be sure to have the employee fill out their I-9 form and check with Human Resources prior to them starting to work.

State Minimum Wage Maine $12.15/hour increasing to $12.75 in 2022 New Hampshire $7.25/hour Vermont $11.75 increasing to $12.55/hour in 2022

Dept of Labor Minimums for Exempt employees Minimum is $701/week, $2,964/month Does not apply to pastors or teachers Does apply to teachers aides, custodians, maintenance workers, Bible workers. For NNEC, this would affect some of our Bible worker arrangements, changing them from salary to hourly.

Employment Taxes Independent contractor vs. employee IRS uses 20-factor test If employer provides training, instruction, tools and supplies, pays by the hour/week/month, and can fire the individual, the individual is likely to be an employee. If the individual sets his own schedule, works for more than one client or offers services to the general public, hires his own assistants or subcontracts work out, and supplies his own tools, he is likely to be an independent contractor.

Independent contractors Independent contractors If non-incorporated independent contractor is paid $600 or more for services in a calendar year, a Form 1099 must be issued to the payee at the end of the year. Do not try to issue your own Form 1099! Jewel has a feature to help you track the amounts of 1099 payments at the end of the year. Instead, send to the conference: Name, address, social security number, and amount paid