May / June 2010 Newsletter 

Finance & Stewardship

The Grace of Giving

“Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth May / June 2010 Newsletter."   (Deuteronomy 8:18)

ICC's accounts for the first four months of the fiscal year show a £ 26,139 surplus thanks to strong giving in March/April and accelerated receipts of Gift Aid. Income for the period reached £ 160,401 thanks to your donations of £ 129,443, Gift Aid at £ 27,672 and other income at £ 3,286. Expenses over these four months were £ 124,263. Our bank balances are now close to £ 200,000, which represents about 6 months of our operating budget for 2010. We hope to end the fiscal year at a break-even given the significant reductions in our spending for the balance of the year.

While this is good news, we should not forget that a large part of these "savings" will result from the departure of Chris York and Michelle Loubser leaving us in June. Their contributions to ICC will be very much missed  and we can not afford any replacements given the shortfall in our Stewardship Goal. We also had to reduce our support for Young Life, are moving out of the offices in Oxshott into much smaller, but more accessible premises in Addlestone and have no reserves left in our operating budgets.

The "old-timers" among you will recall that ICC has run significant deficits for the previous three fiscal years, which have reduced our bank balances significantly. We clearly have to learn to live more frugally in the future.

For the "new-comers", ICC relies entirely on the giving of our members to fund our staff, ministries and church activities. ICCF can claim an additional 28 pence/cent from the UK government on every £/$ you give if you are a UK tax-payer and have signed a Gift Aid declaration. Please sign one if you have not done so already. Please also use the cash envelopes attached to the blue attendance pads so we can attribute your donation and claim the related Gift Aid!

For those of you who give to ICCF in US-$ we have recently opened an account in the USA which allows donations via bank transfers, deposit of US-$ cheques and gifts of shares, while still qualifying for UK Gift Aid (except for share donations). Please contact Vicky ) for details!

May God bless you for your grace of giving and your support to HIS kingdom!

Martin J. Nuechtern

Treasurer