Learn More About Pledging and Giving
November 20, 2024
Thank you to all those who pledged their time, talent, and treasure to St. Andrew's in 2025!
We are excited to share that we have received 50 pledges totaling $142,000. Many hearts and hands came together to increase our pledges this year—thank you!!
It is not too late to make a pledge for 2025. Our hope is that each member of our St. Andrew's community will pledge time, talent, and/or treasure to support our ministries in the new year. To pledge now, please click here.
November 13, 2024
Thank you for being part of our St. Andrew’s Community. We are glad you are here and sharing in spreading God’s love in the world.
November 6, 2024
St. Andrew’s Home on the Hill Pledging FAQs
-Conor Salter, Senior Warden
Why should I pledge?
There are many reasons, theological and practical, why it is important to pledge. One way to view pledging is we are taking care of ourselves when we take care of God’s kingdom. Contributing our time, talent, and treasure is our gift to God which can multiply in ways we cannot even imagine. You have already heard and will continue to hear St. Andreans share their reasons for pledging, and I encourage you to speak to other members of the congregation to see why pledging is important to them as well.
Why are we doing this right now? Everything seems to work out with our deficit.
It’s true that St. Andrew’s is in a financially unique situation. St. Andrew’s is blessed with an endowment from our founder Grace Arents that produces a $30-$35,000 dividend at the end of each year. A few other bequests help to cover certain areas of ministry, like our organ fund. However, even after we accounted for our endowment dividends, our budgeted income was still $140,000 short of our expenses in 2024. We were only able to close that gap because of the help of two one-time grants.
St. Andrew’s has run a significant budget deficit for years now, and while our expenses continue to increase due to cost of living, our pledges have unfortunately fallen in both number and dollars. If we continue the practice of drawing from the principal of our endowment funds, we will struggle to reach a place of financial stability.
Conor has answered some the most common questions we've heard regarding stewardship. To read the rest of this FAQ, please click here.
October 30, 2024
Annual Giving – A Challenge and a Chance
Dear St. Andrew's,
We’ve certainly talked and heard a lot about money in this last month! Folks who played the Jeopardy game after church a few weeks ago had some fun and learned more about where St. Andrew’s stands financially. We are in both a good and growing place, with new members and increased attendance, and still in a financially challenging place at the same time.
Here are a few of the Jeopardy questions and answers for those who weren’t there:
What is 38 percent? The percentage of the 2024 expense budget covered by pledge, plate, and other offerings.
What is $284,000? Total expenses in St. Andrew’s 2024 budget.
What is 50 percent? The goal of expenses to be covered by pledges in 2025. All that to say, the Annual Giving campaign that is underway seeks to cover half of anticipated 2025 expenses with pledges. That would mean pledges of about $145,000, an increase of some $37,000 from our 2024 pledge levels.
The charts below help visualize that 2025 aspirational goal (in gold), as well as show recent trends in the number and dollar amount of pledges received (in blue):
You can see the downward trend in recent years. Many churches are experiencing this. Yet as the graphs indicate, we’re looking to turn a corner this year. It will take a full congregational effort and we may fall short of the goal. That’s okay. At the moment what’s important is that we all understand the challenge and agree on our “why.” And our why always comes back to our mission. We give so that we can continue to build a community in Christ that gathers to worship joyfully, love abundantly, and serve wholeheartedly. And to give thanks to God. Let’s do it together.
Conor Salter, Senior Warden
Steve Salter, Treasurer
October 23, 2024
Did You Know: Why Pledging Matters
You might be wondering: Why should I pledge? Why not just put my gift in the offering plate or sign up to give my time & talent whenever I am able? These are great questions! While St. Andrew's benefits from any gift you can give at any time, pledging matters because it allows us to plan for ministry in the year ahead and to discern where God is calling our community with the resources we share.
While most non-profits draft their budgets based on the previous year's income, the church drafts its budget based on the pledges that its community members make for the year to come. Pledging, while never a requirement, is an incredible gift to the mission of St. Andrew's. Your pledge, no matter the amount or form, really does matter!
In financially stable congregations, every member is counted upon to pledge and those pledges add up to sustain every ministry of the church. Congregations are often considered financially stable when their pledges cover at least 80% of their expenses; at St. Andrew's, pledging currently covers less than 40% of our expenses. And that's why your pledge matters this year, especially. We are hoping that everyone will pledge whatever they can give in time, talent, or treasure so that we can sustain our amazing ministries, worship, and staff here at St. Andrew's while we continue to care for our beautiful building. Pledging matters. With each pledge, we celebrate that we are one step closer not just to stability, but to vitality.
October 16, 2024
Hello St. Andrew’s,
This year’s annual giving campaign theme came together very quickly for the Stewardship Committee, encouraging us to believe that the Holy Spirit is with us. Our theme brings the treasure of our past into our future, remembering the years when St. Andrew’s hosted a fall festival entitled Home is the Hill. Well before the 90s, when St. Andrew’s hosted the most recent Home is the Hill, St. Andreans, their families, friends, and new neighbors sat on hay bales listening to live music, remembering or learning the history of our faith community, enjoying good food, crafts, and most of all each other’s company. It was a time when folks who no longer lived on the Hill returned to reconnect with family and friends in the neighborhood, to restore bodies and souls.
This year’s theme also embraces the blessings of home, especially our church home, the place that welcomes, warms, comforts, feeds, and shelters us on our faith journeys. It reminds us that St. Andrew’s gives us all those things and more, whether we are seekers, believers, or doubters, as our new and inspiring mission statement says:
Seekers, believers, and doubters of all ages:
Welcome home to St. Andrew's!
Together we are building a community in Christ that gathers
to worship joyfully, love abundantly, and serve wholeheartedly.
This is why we’re here. This is what we do. Welcome home to St. Andrew’s.
Karen Salter
October 13, 2024
Dear Siblings in Christ,
Greetings from St. Andrew’s, your Home on the Hill. This spring, we asked you to share what St. Andrew’s means to you. You responded that St. Andrew’s is the place where you come to know Christ, to love your neighbors, and to find community and belonging. We learned that whether you are drawn in by liturgy and music, by fellowship and formation or by service and outreach, there is one common thread that tugs at all of our hearts: St. Andrew’s is our home.
What a gift it is to come home to St Andrew’s week after week. On our corner of Laurel and Idlewood, we are sharing in God’s love, learning how best to love the world, and always returning home to the love of one another. Let’s celebrate that good
news! Over the past year, around a thousand people have walked through our doors, while over a thousand neighbors have been served outside of our doors; we have worshiped God and broken bread together dozens of times; and, since 2022, our average Sunday attendance has increased almost twofold. We have shared our building with a variety of neighbors, hosting Lessons & Carols, VCU student concerts, Richmond community groups, voice yoga classes, Diocesan worship services, St. Andrew’s School Graduation, and weekly school chapel. Perhaps most importantly, we have continued to support 15 different ministries here at St. Andrew’s, engaging over 50 volunteers each month; and we have welcomed 20 new members into our St. Andrew’s family since January.
If you have come home to the hill this year, you will have seen that there is energy and enthusiasm bursting through our red doors, and we are excited for the year ahead! While we are thriving spiritually, St. Andrew’s is still catching up financially. In 2024, pledging only covered 38% of our operating expenses, which is simply not sustainable. To continue to support our growing ministries, our fantastic staff, and our historic building, we are hoping to raise pledges to cover 50% of our expenses in 2025. This represents an increase from $108,000 in pledges to $145,000. We are praying that those who are able will increase their household pledges this year so that we can collectively meet this goal. If you have been a long-time member of our St. Andrew’s family, your leadership is needed now more than ever to serve as a bridge to the next generation of St. Andreans.
We understand that this increase will not be feasible for all, so please know this: no gift is too small. Our primary goal is that we all become pledging members of St. Andrew’s, whether we pledge our time, talent, and/or treasure. Some will be able to give more in one category than the other, and that is something worth celebrating. As St. Paul writes:
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone… As it is, there are many members yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 20)
Because we are one body with many members, it will take each of your unique gifts and services to keep our community thriving. We can always use extra hearts and hands in our Home on the Hill, so we’re planning, we’re praying, and we’re asking: Will you join us?
As you discern what pledging will look like for you in 2025, we will be reaching out to join you in conversation and to answer any questions you may have. We will also be hosting a coffee hour chat on stewardship and finances after church on Sunday, October 20. Finally, in the spirit of homecoming, you are invited to join us in church on Sunday, November 17, at 10 a.m. to celebrate our St. Andrew’s family, to give thanks for our 2025 pledges, and to pray for the year ahead.
We are able to call St. Andrew’s home because of the generous spirit of all our members. As we come together at Christ’s table, may we share what the Spirit has given us with open hearts and hands, returning to God and to one another some of the many blessings showered upon us in this place.
In Christ,
The Rev. Peyton Williams Karen Salter, Stewardship Chair Conor Salter, Senior Warden