[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs press release] The Episcopal Church Office of Finance has issued an updated report on budget and investments.

N. Kurt Barnes, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, announced that the nearly all of the dioceses have committed to The Episcopal Church.

“We now have 108 dioceses and regional areas (of 111) which have indicated and signed commitments for 2014 totaling $26.8 million,” Barnes said.  “The revised budget assumed $25,885,000.”

Based on the preliminary Operating results for 2013, he noted:
• Contributions have been received from some diocese that had not indicated commitments.
• The lease of the Second Floor added income not originally budgeted.
• The Refugee Travel Loan Collections staff exceeded expectations.
• Mission expenses were held to about 90% of budget and were further offset by modest income recoveries.
• Governance expenses were similarly about 90% of budget and were further offset by insurance recoveries and by fees from ordination exams.
• Administrative expense exceeded budget due primarily to costs associated with churchwide conflict resolution under legal and relocation analyses in response to directives from Executive Council.

“Overall,” Barnes said, “taking advantage of opportunities for revenue generation plus careful expense control produced a better result than budgeted.  We will continue to emphasize that while we cannot control income, we can control expenses.”

Investment news
Barnes continued that the DFMS has experienced exceptional performance of the Society’s trust funds – 7.5% annual returns since 2003 after all fees and expenses, ranking us in the top 1% of all foundations and endowments with assets greater than $50 million.

He pointed out that any Episcopal parish, diocese or other Episcopal-affiliated organization is welcome to co-invest in the DFMS trust portfolio, as do more than 50 participants in 75 funds.

Summary information is available on the Finance Office website here.

Budgetary information is here.