Church Finances
You can have confidence in The Urban Refuge’s financial management
God requires that money be handled in a faithful manner (Luke 16:10, 11). Our goal is to manage all financial gifts given to The Urban Refuge with integrity. Our financial system is designed to provide appropriate accountability, authority, and responsibility to trustworthy people in handling and spending the gifts entrusted to The Urban Refuge.
The board of trustees
Final responsibility and authority for financial management at The Urban Refuge rests with the Board of Trustees. The Board is made up of one pastor, the Finance Director, the Operations Manager and a lay person from each of our five locations. The Board carries out their responsibility in a number of ways:
- Approving the annual operating budget.
- Monitoring the budget and the financial health of the church on a quarterly basis.
- Approving all major church financial transactions.
- Developing financial, legal, and employment policies.
- Determining the employee compensation and benefits plans.
The finance director
In addition, the Board, through audits and quarterly updates, monitors the performance of the Finance Director. The Finance Director carries out the day-to-day activities of managing the money. He cannot, by himself, approve any budget, authorize any expenditure, or spend any money.
He fulfills his responsibilities by:
- Leading the Finance Department
- Enforcing policies enacted by the Board
- Ensuring that controls, division of authority, and other safeguards are followed by all people who handle money
- Overseeing a number of volunteers and staff who do various finance related tasks
- Coordinating staff in putting together budgets and long range financial plans
- Making sure that The Urban Refuge is complying with tax and other legal matters
ministry & budget leaders
Each ministry at The Urban Refuge is lead by a Ministry Leader. These people are responsible for putting together a budget and then spending that budget wisely to meet the needs of their ministry. Ministry Leaders approve all expenditures. If the expenditure is over $1,000 then that location’s Budget Leader must also authorize the expenditure. As a safe guard, Ministry Leaders cannot write out The Urban Refuge checks and those who can write out checks cannot authorize expenditures.
Ministry Leaders work with a Budget Leader in developing the budget. The Budget Leader is a Pastor who coordinates the budget for a location and helps see that money is spent wisely. The Budget Leader’s main responsibility is to see that the budget and spending at a location is done in a manner that supports the goals and vision for that location. Budget Leaders can authorize expenditures but they cannot write out checks.
Over all, the financial system at The Urban Refuge is designed to give Ministry and Budget Leaders authority and responsibility to spend money to accomplish the ministry that God has entrusted to them. The Finance Department handles the money, writing out checks as directed by appropriate Ministry and Budget Leaders. The Finance Director oversees all day-to-day activities related to money management, while the Board of Trustees has final authority and decision making over all financial issues and policies.
Independent Auditor Gives Church a Clean Audit Report
The Urban Refuge’s goal is to handle all financial gifts with integrity and to spend them wisely. On an annual basis, the financial records for all five of our church locations are audited by an independent auditor in order to verify that financial gifts are being handled with integrity, that the financial reporting is accurate, and that the financial system is sound. The Board of Trustees hired the accounting firm of LarsonAllen LLP to perform the annual audit. The auditor has repeatedly found the church’s financial statements to be complete and accurate. He has also been greatly impressed with the efficiency of our administrative operations and has high praise for our staff and financial management systems.
A complete copy of the most recent auditor's report is available here: Audit Report
If you have any questions regarding the management of The Urban Refuge’s finances, please contact Jim Bird, Finance Director at 952-564-3771.
