wfn.org | Raiser Hopes WCC Will Find Financial "Equilibrium"

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

20-March-1997 
97130 
 
        Raiser Hopes WCC Will Find Financial "Equilibrium" 
                        by The End of 1997 
 
                         by Stephen Brown 
                  Ecumenical News International 
 
GENEVA--The World Council of Churches (WCC), the world's biggest ecumenical 
organization, which has been facing a severe financial crisis, should reach 
"some degree of consolidation and equilibrium" by the end of 1997, 
according to the organization's general secretary. 
 
     Konrad Raiser, interviewed by ENI following a meeting in Cyprus last 
month of the WCC's executive committee, said that during 1996 the WCC had 
been able to reduce its bank overdraft from 20 million Swiss francs (CHF) 
to CHF1 million.  This was primarily due to good returns on investments and 
favorable exchange rates. 
 
     "Thus we should be able to conclude 1996 with a deficit well below the 
amount we anticipated of CHF 2.3 million. We hope these positive indicators 
will continue through 1997 so that by the end of 1997 we will have had a 
balanced budget," he said. 
 
     Raiser acknowledged, however, that contributions from Germany -- which 
account for over 40 percent of the WCC's income -- may drop "significantly" 
in 1999, as a result of proposals to cut income tax being considered by the 
German parliament. (Germany's main Protestant churches receive a 
substantial part of their income from church tax, which is calculated as a 
percentage of income tax.) And exchange rates were beyond the control of 
the WCC, as for all nongovernmental organizations, he added. 
 
     "This means that we have to find a financial policy that is flexible 
enough to react to changing situations, to anticipate risks and to have 
sufficient safety built in," he said. 
 
     The WCC's financial crisis has led to major cuts in staffing, from the 
equivalent of 237 full-time staff  at the beginning of 1996 to 189 at the 
beginning of 1997. According to a press release issued by the WCC after the 
Cyprus meeting, "It is likely some reductions in staffing levels will have 
to be made in 1998 and 1999." 
 
     Asked about reports in the German media that the WCC could cut up to 
70 full-time staff positions by the end of 1998, leading to only 120 
full-time staff  at the organization's Geneva headquarters, Raiser said 
these figures had been based on financial projections contained in an 
internal WCC paper drawn up last November.  
 
     "I would not say that it was speculative, but it was a model 
calculation -- an attempt to get a clearer understanding of the structural 
factors that have to be taken into account in putting WCC budgets onto a 
more sustainable basis," he told ENI. 
 
     Since November "more refined calculations" had taken place, he said. 
It seemed possible that the WCC might have CHF22 million in general funds 
in 1998 rather than the CHF20 million that had been envisaged last 
November. The executive committee had also agreed that a greater proportion 
of these general funds could be used for staffing costs than had been 
assumed in November. 
 
     Calculations undertaken on the basis of these figures "would mean 175 
to 180 full-time staff positions" next year, although Raiser stressed: 
"This is still a model calculation and we are only now beginning to put 
together staffing figures and to cost this." 
 
     He said, "At this stage it appears that we may not need a further 
dramatic reduction in staffing numbers, but we need to wait for more 
precise figures before we have certainty." 
 
     The executive committee hoped that the "WCC could retain as many as 
possible of its present staff in order to carry through" its assembly, 
which is planned for Harare, Zimbabwe, next year. "You cannot in the same 
year you have to organize an assembly slash into your staff," he said. "But 
we are not yet in a position to make predictions for 1999," Raiser added. 

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