elca youth ministry network - director’s report january 2011
To date: Silver Partners: Everyday Ministries Lutheran Educational Conf of North America Lutheridge+Lutherock Ministries Marilyn Sharpe Ministries Youth Leadership
Gold Partners: Augsburg Fortress Publishers ELCA Youth Gathering Luther Seminary Thrivent Financial
6. Extravaganzas 2013, 2014 and 2015 E2013 is good to go in Anaheim. We won‟t begin work on that until next fall. Currently, we are working now on identifying sites for E14 and E15. Our goal is to have the 2014 site identified by March and the 2015 site identified by the end of May. As in the past, if feasible, our 2015 event will be held in the city of the ELCA Youth Gathering. 7. Financial Update It is our normal protocol that we don‟t include a regular financial update in this report. Our financial situation in January and February changes dramatically from day-to-day as Extravaganza income is received and bills are paid. I will include a more detailed update at our spring meeting. Our current balance in our ELCA Mission Investment Fund account is: $20,424.09. 8. Audit in 2011-2012 At our fall, 2010 meeting, we discussed our desire to do a full, external audit. We haven‟t done one since 2005. As I mentioned in the fall, the cost of a full, external audit was very high, and we weren‟t actually sure we‟d even be able to do one. However, I met with our CPA to get more information after our fall meeting, and was able to clarify some information that would result, we think, in a lower cost for the audit. Our CPA was assuming that we dealt with a lot of cash income while at the Extravaganza. If that is the case, there are in-depth controls that need to be in place in the handling of money in a different city, and the audit would actually require us bringing one or two of the auditors to the Extravaganza to observe our processes. Once I clarified that we actually deal with very little cash while in the Extravaganza city, he said that we then fit into a different category and that the cost would be lower than his first estimate. He believes now that we could do a full, external audit for in the neighborhood of $4000-$5000. We are planning on doing a full, external audit beginning with the start of our next fiscal year, July 1, 2011. We should have results at the winter or spring, 2012 meeting. I have built this audit cost into the 2011-2012 budget (see below). 9. The Network Budget, 2011-2012 One of our tasks while we meet in Kansas City is to approve a budget for the 2011-2012 (July 1 -June 30) fiscal year. I have attached a budget as an appendix to this document. The document is very close to the preliminary draft I presented in October, with the following changes: The addition of the costs of the audit. The elimination of financial support from the ELCA. (I have not been told that this is the 4 case, but I am trying to be prepared for its possibility.)