As I watch the debates on whether to move the 2012 General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) out of Arizona because of the boycott stemming from Arizona SB 1070, I am reminded that financial budgets are in fact expressions of our goals and dreams.
The current conflict about whether or not to move the 2012 GA will come to a vote at this year’s GA, which will take place in Minneapolis June 23-27. If there were no budget implications — if it cost nothing to move General Assembly in 2012 –there would be little discussion about whether to move it or not. But it will cost money to move GA in 2012; and the current UUA budget is tight to begin with, with layoffs and cuts for the past two years.
We’re seeing budget battles playing out in many local congregations right now. Many congregations have seen revenue drop over the past two years of the Great Recession, and most of those congregations have had to make budget cuts. What do you do when you have to choose between a paying full-time minister, and repairing a leaking roof on a historic building? What do you do when you have to have to choose between cutting your Director of Religious Education’s (DRE’s) hours, and paying a rising heating bill?
Making budget cuts is extremely painful, because every time we cut something out of a budget, we are cutting away a piece of someone’s vision. When we cut the DRE’s hours to pay the heating bill, we are cutting away at someone’s vision for the congregation’s ministries to children and youth. When we cut the minister to half-time in order to repair the leaking roof, we are cutting away at our vision of our congregation’s ministry.
This suggests a strategy when we’re trying either to cut a budget, or to move money out of one budget category into another budget category. When I get excited about a vision, I won’t give that vision up quickly, nor will I give it up at all if I don’t see a more compelling vision. Visions are a matter of the heart. Thus, if you want to change a budget that supports a vision that I’m excited about, your strategy should be to engage my heart — to get me excited about your new vision.
This is why I think it helps to think of budgets, not as dry statements of facts and numbers, but as passionately emotional vision statements.
This is so true. How we choose to allocate our money is our vision. Wouldn’t it be nice though, so start with a vision and write the budget from that. I know you are implying that budget and vision are related. I would like to see it in writing up front.
Thanks for reminding us that a budget it not about how we “keep the place running” but about how we fuel the journey toward our great, inspiring vision.
So often, “what we’ve always done” has a higher priority in the budget process than the new vision-driven initiative. After all, stopping something always seems riskier than starting something. This is entirely backwards thinking!
The “Pigeon Control Committee” budget needs to be evaluated on a level playing field with the new inspired plan to change our piece of the world!
Andy
Joy, that’s always been my understanding of how budgets should work. Start from the goal, and estimate the resources needed to get there…. sometimes we can’t do it all at once though.
I’m not sure that “vision” is the right word to associate with a budget, because a vision is generally used to describe a view of the church that is radically different. In fact, that’s the point of creating a vision – to think “outside the box” of the constraints of your current financial situation. However, a budget certainly can be said to support the current mission of a church.