Southern Light Community Church
Annual Report of Trustees 2022 Financial Year
The challenging season of the 2020s globally continued this year and continued to affect the lives of ordinary people in the Woodhouse district. Once again, our Church had to step up and play its part in addressing this need. And although our accounts for this year show a small deficit, because of a fall in income and small rise in expenditure. The fall in income is easily explained:
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a) The previous accounts featured a gift aid repayment of £16,391.21, and no claim has been made this year.
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b) The Church did not hold a gift day in 2022 (and the 2021 gift day resulted in additional giving of some £2,765).
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c) Designated giving to the Foodbank, Building Fund and Global Missions fell quite significantly.
Despite these factors, regular, non-designated giving increased by approximately £5,000 or almost 15%, so there is no cause for concern in the underlying trend, and as always, we are immensely grateful to God and our congregation for the generous giving, dedication and commitment of our members.
Expenditure also increased by around £2,500 to £54,833.62, an increase of just under 5%. There were a few different reasons for this but the two most important were an increase in ministry costs and additional expenditure on the building to ensure the ongoing building project will be delivered effectively, efficiently and economically whilst adding as much additional value as possible. As with last year, over 1/3rd of our expenditure now supports international missions and our support for the local community. We are, therefore, genuinely demonstrating our commitment to being a community church and are incredibly grateful to all our members (and indeed external donors beyond the church too) for their generosity and support.
Though it is no longer separately identified in the income and expenditure sheet, the vast majority of our regular giving continues to be Gift Aided. The gift aid tax refund claimed from HMRC added substantially to our income in the 2021 financial year, as noted above. This is likely to be the last full year’s report from the trustees of SLCC, giving our impending merger with Now Church into the new CIO, and as Chair I wish to express my immense gratitude to my co-Trustees for their dedicated and committed service, as we hand over those responsibilities to the new organisation.
In all, we believe these accounts show the Trustee’s ongoing commitment to managing the church effectively and supporting its activities astutely, and we are grateful to you all for your generosity, commitment and support and to God for his blessing.
Respectfully submitted,
Professor Andrew Davies, Chairman of Trustees, Southern Light Community Church 31 October 2023
Southern Li ht Communit Church g y
Income and Expenditure by Category, 2022
INCOME
| 2022 2021 |
2022 2021 |
|---|---|
| Regular giving | £ 38,324.65 £ 33,456.40 |
| Building Fund (Restricted) | £ 3,680.00 £ 7,479.00 |
| Gift Aid repayment | £ 0.00 £ 16,391.21 |
| Gift Day | £ 0.00 £ 2,765.00 |
| Food Bank (Restricted) | £ 6,539.46 £ 8,978.06 |
| Community (Restricted) incl. café | £ 1,014.42 £ 1,775.12 |
| Missions (Restricted) | £ 2,576.86 £ 3,948.50 |
| Miscellaneous | £ 1,424.89 £ 681.83 |
| TOTAL INCOME £ 53,560.28 £ 75,475.12 |
EXPENDITURE
| 2022 2021 |
2022 2021 |
|---|---|
| Church Ministry | £ 24,129.53 £ 21,579.28 |
| Foodbank | £ 8,253.68 £ 9,000.08 |
| Community | £ 371.55 £ 1,359.76 |
| Global Missions | £ 6,300.00 £ 9,515.90 |
| Administration | £ 6,698.02 £ 7,268.76 |
| Building and Maintenance | £ 8,936.84 £ 3,640.38 |
| Miscellaneous | £ 144.00 £ 0.00 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE £ 54,833.62 £ 52,364.16 |
BALANCES
| 2022 2021 |
2022 2021 |
|---|---|
| Year Start Current Account Balance | £ 15,842.91 £ 5,733.78 |
| Year Start Savings Balance | £ 24,032.94 £ 10,761.11 |
| Year Start Cash Balance | £ 473.28 £ 743.28 |
| Year End Current Account Balance | £ 9,816.69 £ 15,842.91 |
| Year End Savings Balance | £ 29,086.82 £ 24,032.94 |
| Year End Cash Balance | £ 629.60 £ 473.28 |
| EXCESS OF INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE £ (1,273.34) £ 23,110.96 |
1
31 October 2023
To Whom It May Concern:
I certify that I have examined the accounts for Southern Light Community Church for the financial year ending 31 December 2022 and that they have been completed to my satisfaction.
Yours sincerely,
Revd Marcus Wichmann MA