Chardon United Methodist Church

In difficult economic times, people tend to tighten their financial belts, cut back, decrease in areas of spending that are deemed “discretionary”. In the fall of 2008, the individual savings rate increased to its highest level since 2002 in response to the bad economic news. Today, a sense of thrift and sacrifice has become paramount in personal financial planning.

Lower personal spending and reduced household budgets have had an impact on individual charitable giving as determined by a study published by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University published its Briefing  on the Economy and Charitable Giving in December 2008. Chardon United Methodist Church is not immune to this current condition that grips our country. Our Church to date has not cut back on its services to its congregation, missions, educational programs, and other programs.

The authors of this study did note that most households continue to give during times of financial insecurity. The desire to help and support favorite charities remains strong we see that alive in our church on a weekly basis, but we continue to fall short to meet monthly budgets.

If you planned to give throughout the year there are different options for planned giving in difficult economic times that may produce a net benefit to you. There are two types of giving that fits that description:

• Giving at little or no present cost, and
• Giving that could be advantages in the present down market.

One (or more) of these options may provide a way to continue to give through lean years. These methods do carry some expertise to determine what is suitable for you specifically, but that expertise lies within our church family. Each one of us continues on our faith journey and in last year’s 2009 Stewardship Campaign we all prayerfully made our commitments. In difficult economic times we have to rely on our own judgment, prayer and a faith that the Lord has a plan for each one of us. I have found this to be true in my personal life. If you have any questions regarding charitable giving in lean economic times, please contact Cathy in the Church office. She will confidentially link the correct resources to get your questions answered. Blessing to all.

Keven Prather
Stewardship Committee Chair