Your Membership Subscription
Members of Forward in Faith will receive with this issue of New Directions the annual financial report to members from our Treasurer, Jonathan Prichard. The good news is that, thanks to generous legacies, we now have an invested reserve which – in addition to its primary purpose as a reserve – provides an income which helps to reduce our annual deficit.
The bad news is that there is still an annual deficit. In recent years Forward in Faith has been sustained by substantial annual donations from two remarkably generous donors. One of these has understandably concluded that, since we now have this invested reserve, our need is no longer urgent. This means that, although further economies have again reduced expenditure levels, our budget for 2017 still envisages more expenditure than our predicted income will cover. If we cannot increase our income, this gap will have to be filled by drawing on our reserves, which in turn will reduce investment income and further increase the annual deficit.
Part of the problem is that our income from members is drifting down, as older members who were generous in their donations die and are replaced by new members paying the minimum subscription.
The Council has asked me to invite all members to consider whether they could increase their contributions. Those who pay by Standing Order (which in itself helps us greatly by reducing bank charges and administration) can make their payments on a quarterly or even monthly basis rather than annually. Some members of Forward in Faith are already very generous in their donations, and there are others for whom the minimum non-concessionary subscription of £30 (£2.50 a month) is as much as they can afford. But the Council believes that there are more members who could easily pay £5 per month – in some cases perhaps even £10 per month or more – than actually do so. For some, £2.50 a month is quite a lot of money, but there are others who would hardly notice paying £5 or even £10 each month.
Please review your standing order to Forward in Faith and consider whether you could afford to increase it – especially if you changed from paying annually to paying quarterly or monthly.
The simplest way to change a standing order is to contact your bank direct (please ensure that the six-digit membership number on your address sheet is given as the reference along with your surname), but if you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Alison Shaw in the office.
Parish Affiliation to The Society
By the end of April, 290 parishes were affiliated to The Society. There were still 26 FiF registered parishes, and a hundred other resolution parishes that are under the oversight of a member of the Council of Bishops, that had yet to affiliate. If your church is under the oversight of a member of the Council of Bishops of The Society and is not displaying the Society porchcard or shown on the map on the Society website (www.sswsh.com/map.php), please speak to your priest or churchwardens to encourage affiliation. NB the annual affiliation fee of £60 (which includes FiF registration at no extra charge) is payable by standing order only.
Colin Podmore Director