Reaching Out Budget

At the 99th Diocesan Council in 2003, the Bishop of West Texas appointed a Task Force to "examine the current process for creating the annual diocesan operating budget."

Vestry and bishop's committee members find the diocesan Reaching Out Budget in their e-mail each July as they prepare to make decisions about what ministry the diocesan budget will support in the following year. The Reaching Out Budgets are collected by November 1 each year.

The Reaching Out Budget is about one-third of the total diocesan budget and is devoted exclusively to diocesan programs, which carry on the corporate ministry of The Episcopal Church in South Central Texas. Another two-thirds of the budget, the Operating Budget, covers the work of the bishops, support for the ordained ministry, chaplaincies at TMI and military hospitals, administrative expenses at the diocesan office in San Antonio, and diocesan staff salaries. Together the two budgets for 2007 will total about $3,570,538, most of which is funded through congregational apportionments. The diocese's 91 congregations contribute between 10 and 18 percent of their income, based on a sliding-scale formula, to the diocesan budget.

The Task Force conducted surveys, did personal interviews, met regularly, worked with the diocesan staff and the diocesan Executive Board, and visited other dioceses to determine the best ways to fulfill their mandate. They presented their results at the 101st Diocesan Council in February 2005 with resolutions that resulted in:

• Reduction of the apportionments for the 92 churches of the diocese from a range of 12 to 22 percent to a range of 10 to 18 percent of a congregation’s income, and
• Establishment of a method whereby congregations of the diocese have more input into the building of the diocesan budget.

To view this years Reaching Out Budget Ministries.