The Mission’s General Fund is used to pay administrative expenses first, and then we use it to help cover what may be lacking in missionary allowances. God has abundantly blessed our General Fund with sufficient funds to pay for all of that each and every month since July of 2012. During that time the General Fund balance has gone from close to zero, to a balance of well over $100,000 at the end of 2012. This year that balance has been steadily decreasing, and was at just over $22,000 at the end of September.
As you may recall from one of my previous articles, 52 percent of every donation to a missionary’s support fund goes directly to paying that missionary’s monthly allowance; the rest pays for other support expenses. In a typical month we pay about $80,000 in total missionary allowances, with about $42,000 of that coming directly from designated gifts to missionary support funds and the remaining $38,000 from the General Fund. With the General Fund getting ever closer to empty, I thought it would be a good idea to remind us all how donations affect allowance payments.
For every $100 donated to a missionary’s support fund, $52 is paid to the missionary in allowance. A $1,000 donation to a missionary’s support fund will guarantee that the missionary will receive at least $520 in allowance that month. A donation to the Mission’s General Fund first goes entirely towards administrative expenses, and then whatever General Funds remain at the end of the month go entirely toward missionary allowances up to the target amount. The General Fund is used to help those with the most need first, and then goes on to raise the allowance payment of all those who are lacking in their support fund.
Many of you have commented to me that you look at this report each month to see if 100 percent of the target allowance is paid to our missionaries; many have said how gratifying it has been to see the good reports over the past many months. We notice and appreciate your concern. Without sounding any alarms, I wanted to let you know that funds for missionary allowance may fall short in the near future, and to remind all of us how donations to these funds are used. Most of all, I want to thank all of you for your continued support in finances, prayers, and many other ways.
In September we were able to pay all of our missionaries 100 percent of their target allowance. We used $39,868 from the General Fund to meet these needs, leaving a General Fund balance of $22,404 at the end of September. Our Benefits Fund carried a balance of $253,098.
Thank you for your ongoing support!