wfn.org | Guide offered for those seeking General Conference funds

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 10, 2000	News media contact: Joretta Purdue·(202)546-8722·Washington
10-71B{012}

NOTE: Conference editors may want to use a General Conference logo with this
story.

By United Methodist News Service

In recent years, attaching a price tag to new programs and initiatives and
then trying to fit those costs into the United Methodist Church's total
budget has been a problem for General Conference delegates and the staff who
assist in the process.

Now, help is on the way. The denomination's General Council on Finance and
Administration (GCFA) has prepared a set of guidelines to use in reviewing
financial aspects of requests for new agencies, task forces or mission
initiatives being proposed to the General Conference. The church's highest
legislative assembly meets May 2-12 in Cleveland.

The guidelines are currently available from GCFA and will be distributed at
General Conference. Advance copies of the guidelines can be downloaded from
the GCFA World Wide Web site at www.gcfa.org or requested from GCFA
Communications, 1200 Davis St., Evanston, IL 60201.

The GCFA's governing members approved the guidelines at their annual meeting
in November. The agency had been seeking a way to help delegates deal with
funding requests that fall outside the years-long process of building a
proposed budget for the church, according to staff leaders. 

The criteria provide for uniform evaluation of all such proposals, said
Robert Fishel, associate general secretary. "They will enable GCFA to advise
and recommend to General Conference in an informed, consistent and credible
manner."

Also in November, GCFA's directors approved a proposed $13.68 million budget
line within the World Service Fund for innovative and emerging ministries.
General Conference may designate the dollars for new projects or use them to
reduce the recommended $526 million total budget.

The line mostly represents the difference between the lesser figure that
churchwide agencies are seeking in apportioned funds for 2001-2004 and the
amount budgeted for the current four-year period. The budget is met through
the church's regional bodies paying their apportioned share of funds. The
agencies also may use other funds, such as reserves, to finance parts of
programs.
# # #

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://www.umc.org/umns