Reduced Budget Passed

By Heather Hahn

General Conference delegates on May 3 approved a denominational budget with a bottom line that will vary by about $20 million, depending on giving collection rates over the next two years.

But no matter what happens, the total budget will be significantly smaller than what General Conference approved in 2016, and annual conferences will be asked to pay less to support denomination-wide ministries.

By a vote of 647 to 31 (a 95% majority), this year’s delegates approved a 2025-2028 denominational budget of $373.4 million. That total is contingent on collection rates being at 90% or more for the next two years. If giving is below that percentage, the budget bottom line will be $353.6 million.

What that means is that the budget will be between 38% and 41% lower compared to the $604 million budget the 2016 General Conference approved.

Why budget varies

The variation in budget is due to action General Conference took on April 30. That day, delegates voted to reduce the base rate — a key component of calculating annual conference apportionments.

The current base rate is 3.29 percent. Delegates voted for that base rate to go down to 2.6 percent in 2025 and 2026. They also voted to potentially raise the base rate to 2.9 percent in 2027 and 2028 if apportionment giving rates are at 90 percent or above. No matter what, annual conferences will be asked to pay lower apportionments than under the 2016 budget. Here’s what General Conference approved:

•  $167.5 million or $158.5 million for the World Service Fund that supports most of the denomination’s 13 general agencies (including United Methodist Communications, which encompasses United Methodist News)

•  $87.4 million or $82.8 million for the Episcopal Fund, which supports active bishops, their support staff, retired bishops, surviving spouses and minor children of deceased bishops

•  $57.9 million or $54.8 million for the Ministerial Education Fund that supports United Methodist seminaries and provides financial aid for UM seminary students

•  $23.1 million or $21.8 million for the Black College Fund that supports 11 United Methodist-related historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S.

•  $30 million or $28.4 million f or the General Administration Fund, which supports General Conference, Judicial Council, the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, and the General Council on Finance and Administration

•  $5.2 million or $4.9 million for Africa University, a pan-African United Methodist university in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

•  $2.4 million or $2.3 million for the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund, which supports the church’s ecumenical work.

Heather Hahn is the assistant news editor for UM News. Image: Moses Kumar reports on the work of the General Council on Finance and Administration.