<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Brenda,<BR>
<BR>
We keep normal plate offering and special plate offerings separate from fundraisers by using a large Excel speed sheet. We have used this for the last several years. We are now in the process of moving to Shepherd's Staff software as our church accounting package. Our goal for Shepherd's Staff is to be able to account for theses categories of offering income vs. fundraising income, separately.<BR>
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Our rationale for keeping these categories separate was that we found that our fundraisers generated large contributions but happened only 2 or 3 times a years and could not be held more often. These fundraisers caused average monthly income to swing higher during the month of the fundraiser and gave a different financial trend than during other non-fundraising months. The regular, non-fundraising months are what we use to base our initial budget on. <BR>
<BR>
The fundraiser income gives us the extra income for large projects or unexpected expenses. We add the fundraiser income to the first past of the budget based on our projection as to how often we will be able to do this fundraiser in the next year and what we project to raise from the fundraiser next year.<BR>
<BR>
We, likewise, believe it is important to track these two categories separately (regular income vs. fundraising income) even if you combined them in the end.<BR>
<BR>
Patrice<BR>
<BR>
Finance Chair<BR>
St. Peter's UMC<BR>
Oxford, NC<BR>
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