St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Well, we are back on the topic of money this month.  No, I’m not going to ask for any at this time, but I do want to explain how to make sure that what money you give ends up in the correct place.  In addition to the pledge payments that everyone makes, we have several special funds for various ministries and if payments are not clearly marked, they can end up in the wrong place or take weeks to get to the right party.

Let’s start with regular gifts and pledges.  Everyone who pledges receives a box of envelopes, even if they request not to. I have heard from our collector, Deb Robles, and the vestry members who do the counting that sometimes it is hard to tell from a check whose pledge is being paid.  Perhaps the check is written from a joint account, yet each person pledges separately.  There are many scenarios and if checks aren’t clearly marked they may go to the wrong individual’s account.  Whatever the situation may be, if everyone uses their envelopes with the numbers that are unique to their account, then we can make our counters’ and collector’s job a lot easier.

Now, for the special funds.  This happens more times than one may imagine:  I will find an envelope of cash in my treasurer inbox and it will have virtually no information on it to tell me where it should go.  There is also no name on it, so I don’t even know who to ask where it should go. (Ever since our fingerprint scanner broke down I have no way to know from whom it came.) I will ask the staff, some of the various group leaders in the church and none of them will have any idea what it is for.  It is nice that someone is giving money, but without basic information the treasurer cannot possibly make sure it goes to the correct “pot”.   I have made up a form that everyone can use to tell the treasurer where money came from and where it should go.  Please try to use these forms for fundraisers and any other special donations.

We are looking into setting up a system for electronic payments and hope to have something in place in a few months which will replace these paper conveyances that we currently need.  We will keep you posted as we cross into the 21st century……

Carrie Ruo