An important message from our Treasurer

From the Treasurer

Dear Congregants,                                                                                                                                          August 2011

                I suspect that you can gather that hearing from the Temple Treasurer partway through the year is not a good sign. And your suspicions would be spot on. To be clear, while Temple Sinai is not facing financial collapse, it is clear from our mid-year financial statements that we face some challenges if we are to finish this year without going significantly in the red.

                There are three reasons we are facing so much red ink, some of which we, as members of Temple Sinai, have some control over and some of which we simply have to make the best of this year and plan for in next year’s budget.

First, our budget included Religious School tuition income assumptions that do not appear to have been realized – many of the expenses for our Religious School are fixed, so when enrollments do not meet projections, the resulting decreased tuition income directly affects our bottom line. Current enrollment projections for Religious School indicate we will bring in about $5-10,000 less in tuition revenue than we had budgeted.

Second, we set a very ambitious goal for fundraising for this year and, with an unexpected vacancy in the VP for Fundraising position on the Board, it is likely that we will end up about $10,000 under our budgeted fundraising goal for the year.

And, lastly, while we are keeping very close to our budgeted expenses (which were trimmed significantly for this year’s budget), unplanned expenses ($10,000 of which include payments to URJ for dues that accrued while we renegotiated our Congregation’s membership) will bring our expenses about $15,000 beyond what was budgeted. The bottom line is that, without taking any action, our budgeted deficit of about $4,000 would most likely end up closer to $35-40,000 (out of an annual budget totaling about $400,000).

                Here is where you can help! First, if you have not paid your membership dues yet (or even made a dues commitment pledge), please do so immediately. Membership dues commitments for the year were due by January 31^st and, while many members have either paid or made a commitment to a payment schedule, we still have members who have not yet done so. Why is this important? We have payroll to meet for our staff and a building to support. These expenses are incurred every month of the year, so we count on regular receipt of your dues payments. If membership dues were only paid just before the High Holidays, we would have to run a deficit until then, requiring us to borrow money to pay our bills (which, ultimately, results in higher expenses since we then need to pay interest on the money we borrow!). All members of Temple Sinai received a statement in the mail recently showing their account payments and remaining balance. If you have a remaining balance, and have not setup an auto payment plan on your credit card to cover it, please write a check to Temple Sinai today for the remaining balance.

Are your dues already completely paid in full? Consider an additional donation to the Temple as a general contribution. Some of our congregants are unable to make dues contributions at the level established for this year (and we never turn away anyone who wishes to be a member but is unable to pay at our established dues level), so contributions from those who can afford to pay more help make up the difference between our budgeted dues income and dues payments that have been reduced based on a Tzedakah request. ALL additional general contributions to Temple Sinai go directly to plugging the gap in our budget, so if you are able to contribute more, please consider writing a check to Temple Sinai so we can minimize our projected deficit.

                Most importantly, recognize that this is your Temple. Your contributions not only keep the lights on and sanctuary cool (in the summer, at least!), but they ensure that we have an active Reform Jewish community that you can count on for worship, study, social action, B’nai Mitzvot, weddings, comforting the sick and bereaved, providing a Jewish eductation for your children, holiday celebrations, and simply providing a Jewish sense of place in our community. Your contributions make it possible for all of this and for your continued participation in and access to a vibrant and engaged Temple community. Thank you for your support!

Shalom,

Joel Goldberg, Treasurer
Temple Sinai