Possibilities and the necessary financial conversation

A good chunk of our board meeting on February 19 was spent discussing the financial needs of *culture is not optional. We’ve never been more excited about the work we’re doing and the possibilities that lie in front of us–especially the Imagining Space project. But to move forward, we really need to establish a much more stable financial foundation. Toward that end, we established three budget goals that we’ll be working toward over the next few years.

Getting by

$30,000 per year / $2,500 per month

• Basic building expenses (mortgage, insurance, utilities)
• Technology costs (server fees, domain registration, etc.)
• Printing and mailing
• Event fees (conference displays, etc.)

Sprouting

$60,000 per year / $5,000 per month

• All of the above, plus …
• A double mortgage payment (paying down principle faster)
• Additional printing budget for books in the Road Map Series
• Salary and benefits for director
• Funding for professional accountant
• Promotional budget

Thriving

$120,000 per year / $10,000 per month

• All of the above, plus …
• Additional mortgage payments, paying off the mortgage in 3 years
• Additional printing and mailing budget for expanded mailing list
• Additional printing budget for books in the Road Map Series
• Intern stipends
• catapult magazine/road journal honoraria
• Salary for part-time property manager
• Additional promotional budget

These budget goals are primarily operational and only extend for the next few years. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to raise additional funding through grants and other sources to help fund the renovation of Huss School.

We’ve set the following timeline to try to meet these goals:

• $2,500 per month: June 12, 2010
• $5,000 per month: End of 2010
• $10,000 per month: End of 2011

On the one hand, these goals seem ridiculously ambitious and unattainable. On the other hand, we feel like we’re simply following through on *cino’s vision. As we reflect on God’s faithfulness when *cino’s supporters contributed $25,000 in 40 days a little less than a year ago, an annual budget of $120,000 seems pretty realistic. And when we think of what we’d be able to accomplish with such a relatively small institutional budget, we get pretty excited …

We’ll be sending out more information soon about meeting our first goal!