2021 Donor Report
Table of contents
1. YEAR in Review
2. Where We Invested
3. LOOKING FORWARD
As we close in on the end of another year, many of us consider our capacity for year-end charitable donations. Each year, we want to make sure that we communicate how your contributions have been used by Commons Church and provide insight into how the church is doing financially. We have also launched our annual Advent campaign and you can read more about our efforts here.
2021 was another challenging year with a mixture of in-person, online-only, and hybrid services at different times throughout the year. While we were better prepared to adapt to the changing realities, instability has taken a toll on the community and staff. That said, we remain incredibly grateful for all those who have continued to support and volunteer and roll with us through all of the changes. You mean the world to us.
This year another million minutes were watched on our YouTube channel even as many of us returned to in-person services and our podcast has now surpassed 100,000 sermon downloads. We are grateful for the way the story of Jesus has continued to inspire people near us in 2021.
This year we continued to see a downturn in our finances with donations decreasing 8% from 2020. While we have made budget adjustments to compensate we also made the decision to use the downtime in 2021 to make some facility upgrades that will serve us over the long term. Refinishing the gym floors is a once in a decade expense but made sense this year since the work takes over a week to complete. New tempered glass windows in the gym and north side of the building will stop current water leaks and improve our thermal efficiency significantly. We also upgraded our main floor bathroom with accessibility features.
So far donations in 2021 have totalled $859,992. With total expenses, including capital expenses reaching $963,199. These figures as of Nov 15, 2021. Final audited financial statements will be available at our AGM in March.
At the same time, we have met ALL of our Local and Global Development commitments for the year adding a new ongoing commitment to Indigenous reconciliation as part of our budget permanently. We believe this is part of the responsibility that comes with the blessing of worshipping on Treaty 7 lands. We are also excited to move forward with an ambitious Advent Campaign through which we hope to raise an additional $50,000 for those we can help this Christmas.
We look forward to a new year which will (hopefully) see a return to regular in-person services and gathering points. But we also trust that these past two years will only make us more grateful for God’s goodness that surrounds us.
Below you will find some highlights of the year and a breakdown of how your donations have been used in 2021. Thank you for being part of the Commons story, and please consider how you might contribute before year-end.
2021 Expenses
Investments
PERSONNEL
We are blessed with a remarkable staff team at Commons, and we count it as a priority to invest in those who help to guide us. This year we have seen some short term transitions with Ryan Petkau heading onto a maternity leave in the summer and Yelena Pakhomova preparing for a maternity leave at the end of the year. Ashley Hill has stepped in to lead our Kids Department and Larissa Amour has joined the team permanently after finishing her internship.
In 2021 we held all salaries steady from 2020.
In 2022 we expect salaries to be a smaller percentage of our budget with two staff on maternity leaves but we are looking to hire a new Operations Director to oversee facility and finance with Colette set to retire in the new year.
In 2021, our staffing cost, including salaries, benefits, pension and employer costs have taken up 48.9% of our expenses.
Highlight: Celebrating with Ryan and Yelena.
Local and Global Development
While 2021 saw a further reduction in our donations your continued generosity has enabled us to ensure that ALL our partner commitments have been maintained 100%. While we continue to partner with local agencies in Inglewood and Kensington, this year we have added an ongoing commitment to ensure that a percentage of our budget is dedicated to Indigenous Reconciliation efforts. We believe this is part of the responsibility that comes with the blessing of worshipping on Treaty 7 lands.
We have maintained 100 children sponsorships in Kalende Zambia through our partner Hands at Work, and including one-time donations, we will support 125 children for the year. We also continue to support the work of IJM internationally. And we welcomed two more sponsored refugee families to Calgary in 2021. These were sponsored by their existing families in Calgary and our role will be limited this year but we continue to support as needed.
In addition to all of the work we have done throughout the year already, you can read more about the Advent Campaign and our focus on local food security here.
In 2021, 13.4% of our resources have been directed into these projects so far.
Highlight: We are hoping to raise an additional $50,000 for local projects this Advent.
MINISTRY
For another year, ministry at Commons was reimagined to focus on facilitating small groups online, shifting to online learning environments and moving to a hybrid online/in-person church experience. This has been a challenge to make and foster connections but we have been grateful for the willingness to adapt this community has shown.
In the midst of it all, we still put together our yearly Journal Project and loved seeing everyone who came to pick one up this fall. We also expanded our four-week classes library. For 2022 we will continue to support online as well as introduce more and more in-person events and gathering points. Due to the constrained nature of this year, this portion of our budget used far less resources than in the past.
In 2021, 7.1% of our resources have been spent on these ministries.
Highlight: The prayer books that Bobbi led the team in creating for the community were a beautiful gift.
Facility AND CAPITAL
While our facility in Kensington was used far less in 2021 than in recent years, we took the opportunity to make some new investments. This year, we had the gym floors completely refinished, replaced the exterior windows on the north side of the building, added an accessible bathroom on the main floor and updated the ceilings in the basement. We also continued to invest in our technology infrastructure with new sound and networking equipment this year.
In 2022 we expect to see a pause on large facility investments with 2023 planned for the south side window replacement.
In 2021, 22.0% of expenses were related to our facilities and capital expenses.
Highlight: Expanded ability to offer ministry in hybrid form both for Sundays and mid-week events.
ADMINISTRATION
It might not be the most exciting category, but there are genuine administrative costs required to keep the church moving forward. While we endeavour to keep administrative costs low, we also want to make sure that we operate in ways that ensure our sustained viability and operational excellence. We remain on a yearly third party audit schedule.
In 2021, 7.7% of our costs were deemed administrative.
Highlight: Automatic recurring donations continue to climb (over 60% of budget now) which helps us reduce administrative overhead and budget more predictably particularly during a challenging year like 2021. You can update and manage your recurring giving and check your donation totals online anytime.
Looking Toward 2022
As unpredictable as these past two years have been, we have learned a lot about our resiliency as a church. Our staff team is healthy and eager to get back to the work we have known and loved. Our board team has guided us with clear-headed, realistic, decision making. Our community has been encouraging and supportive and we are thankful that so many have found ways to stay connected.
With both Ryan Petkau and Yelena Pakhomova on maternity leaves for 2022 we will have some significant short-term gaps to fill. But with Larissa Amour joining the staff full-time in the new year and Ashley Hill’s creativity on full display in our Kids department we are ready for an exciting year.
We are however losing Colette Dejordy, who is preparing to retire following the close of our fiscal 2021. Colette has filled so many different roles with such passion and compassion that she will be irreplaceable. We could not have grown Commons into the neighbourhood presence we are today without Colette’s guidance. We are hard at work already imagining what our staffing needs will be in the new year, looking for the right additions to our team.
We are hoping that 2022 will bring an emergence from the COVID pandemic that has disrupted and changed so much for all of us and we are preparing now to continue expanding services and capacity as AHS guidelines allow. Our commitment to online remains strong however, as we recognize that the smooth movement between online and in-person is a feature of our lives now.
After using the year of in-person shutdowns to make some significant long-term upgrades to our facility we are planning to see facility spending decrease significantly in 2022 particularly as we prepare for ministries across the community to ramp back up. Maybe we’ll even see the return of our Stampede Breakfast!
It’s going to be an exciting year. The best is still ahead.