Every ministry needs to plan for future growth and ministry enhancement and those plans should include an assessment of grounds and facilities. Ensuring that your ministry is utilizing its space to the fullest and ensuring that optimal square footage is allocated for worship, education, and parking as well as ensuring that your preschool and children’s facilities are secure and bright are critical. Visitors to your ministry make critical first impressions based on their experiences before they ever attend a service or class.
The Foundation staff can assist your church in assisting Long Range Planning teams as they assess future needs. Based on studies and experience from working with a multitude of churches, the Foundation can provide expert advice on such issues as:
- Parking – how many spaces do we need?
- Classroom size – how much square footage should we allocate?
- Preschool and Children – what are parents most concerned about when they drop their children off?
- Worship
- how much space do we need for the pulpit area?
- how many seats do we need for comfort?
- what audio/visual needs should we consider?
How Much Can We Borrow?
Churches also need to consider their potential for borrowing funds to complete major projects. The following calculator is helpful in determining how much a church can borrow. Follow these simple instructions to determine your borrowing capacity:
1. Determine borrowing capacity based on the following suggested parameters:
- A typical church will look at a monthly loan payment between 18% - 22% of their budget receipts. It’s best to base this on actual undesignated receipts. It is recommended to stay on the lower end of this scale and would not recommend going over 22%.
- You should anticipate lending rates between 3.25% - 4.25%. Rates may be edging higher later this year.
- You should not propose a loan for longer than 15 years.
2. Divide your most recent annual undesignated receipts by 12 to determine your current monthly giving.
3. Multiply the figure in Step 2 above by any percentage between 18% and 22%.
EXAMPLE of a church receiving annual undesignated receipts of $250,000:
| Annual Budget Gifts (non-designated) | $ 250,000.00 | |
| Avg Monthly Giving | $ 20,833.33 | (annual divided by 12) |
| 18% of Monthly Giving | $ 3,750.00 | (monthly * .18) |
| 22% of Monthly Giving | $ 4,583.33 | (monthly * .22) |
4. Click “How much can I afford to borrow?” and follow the instructions.
If you need additional information, or if you’d like us to calculate this information for you, just let us know.
