Financial Oversight Committee
March 21, 2007
Monthly Meeting has asked Financial Oversight to develop a philosophy statement for charitable gifts made by the Meeting to other organizations. Such philosophy falls logically into three components – gifts from the operating budget, gifts from endowment and gifts enabled by the willingness of the Meeting to collect funds for special projects, reflecting individual involvement and commitment of our members.
Philosophy
As a matter of principle, gifts of support from Newtown Monthly Meeting to other organizations should compliment the support of our individual members, rather than represent primary support, or supplant the support of those individuals.
The Meeting should support local and Quaker organizations - groups which are not able to raise funds elsewhere.
Recipients should share in and reflect our values and testimonies.
While the resources of the Meeting, in terms of finance, its committees and officers are limited in time and scope, we wish to reach out primarily to organizations within our own community which share similar circumstances.
Larger and organizations with broader scope should rely entirely on the support of our individual members, based upon their individual interests.
Process
In recent years, the frequency of requests for Meeting support have increased, and given our limited budget and limited attendance at Monthly Meeting, it is difficult to maintain continuity of focus and policy with respect to processing of these requests.
Beginning immediately, all requests for gifts or program support, or other fund-raising, will be referred by Monthly Meeting to Financial Oversight for consideration. This will help in maintaining continuity and additional control to the process, and will allow considered recommendations to come forward for funds to be allocated from budget, from the Meeting’s endowment funds, or the establishment of a “special project”.
Categories of
Giving
Financial Oversight should recommend to Monthly Meeting periodic
changes in what currently are 10 community and Quaker organizations which we
support financially. Our support should
be based on the active involvement of our members, the proximity of those
organizations to the
Gifts from the Meeting’s endowment are generally discouraged, and reserved only for needs such as Newtown Friends School’s capital campaign, or specific capital needs of the Meeting itself.
“Special projects” which are not a part of the operating budget, in support of members leadings and approved by the Meeting for their ministry, should be kept on the Meeting’s books (special accounts) for a period not to exceed four months. Once this fund raising period has ended, no contributions should be accepted or funds paid. Financial Oversight and Monthly Meeting may consider extensions to the four month period, with provision that neither the Controller or Treasurer become unduly burdened with ongoing facilitation of such projects, within the overall perspective of their larger duties on behalf of the Meeting.