Some time ago, I posted an example of a transparent church budget developed by a parish not too far from Grace. Included in the budget were line items for the compensation of each member of the clergy and staff, as well as sufficient detail to allow anyone who’s curious to learn more. Indeed, the church’s budget is published on the parish website for all the world to see.
This contrasts sharply with Grace Church, where former senior warden Lisa Medley shrilly proclaims there’s “total financial transparency.” (That’s in addition to her various lies about me.) That’s a remarkable claim, since:
- The church is not audited (contrary to her claims).
- Vestry members do not see the accounting firm’s engagement letter when it does its Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) review, which has no attestation value. In other words, it is not intended, nor is it likely to, uncover any sort of major issue.
- Vestry members, contrary to law and church policy, do not see financials for the school, which constitutes 2/3 of the total annual budget.
- There have been major payroll errors in the past that went undetected for months.
- Thousands of dollars in unaccounted-for loose cash and stale checks were found in a former parish administrator’s office, with no explanation.
- The church does not publicly release its vestry minutes, its financial reports, its budget, or its annual report.
- The loan to Bob Malm was carried off the books for years, contrary to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
- When factoring in depreciation, the parish has been running a deficit for many years.
- There have been multiple illegal misuses of restricted solicitations.
- Even the AUP was not completed in a timely manner in 2015–a fact not shared with the vestry.
In other words, if there indeed is total transparency at Grace church, then it follows that the Princess Porcine and other vestry members willfully turned a blind eye to the misuse of funds, the stale checks in the church office, the major payroll errors, and more.
So which is it?
Speaking of, below is a good example of financial transparency from the Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna.
When was the last time Grace Church members saw data of this sort?
Answer: NEVER.
Oh, and this was sent to the entire parish email list.
So much for “complete financial transparency” at Grace.
And while we’re on the topic, Lisa Medley publishes details of people’s giving in cyberspace. How did she get that access? What kind of imbecile posts confidential giving information publicly? Did it not occur to the Princess Porcine that publicly showing that giving is NOT confidential is a powerful disincentive to further giving?
Yet another reason to avoid Grace Church, and to refrain from pledging.
