At 7:30 PM on July 21, participants gathered for a Plenary Session on PYM’s FY 2021 budget. Alternate Clerk Jonathan Rhoads opened the meeting with worship. S. Boone O’Scheyichbi offered a land acknowledgement that named the four historical Lenape Nations and spoke to “inclusion in a place of truth with diversity and equity.” General Secretary Christie Duncan-Tessmer briefed the 34 participants on technology.
Treasurer Andrew Anderson launched his slideshow report “Comfort Food — A steady and Familiar Budget for FY 2021.” Using Hershey’s Kisses (1 kiss = $10,000), the budget proposes unrestricted spending of $2.93 million or 293 Hershey’s Kisses, funded equally by contributions and by income from investments and fees. Restricted spending is budgeted at $1.427 million or 143 kisses, funded largely by restricted investment income. Both budgets have a zero balance.
Friends were invited at the close of the PowerPoint to support PYM’s annual fund.
Associate Secretary for Business & Finance, Linell McCurry, described PYM’s use of reserves. Reserves are savings, that is, unrestricted cash set aside for a particular purpose. The budget expects to use money from two reserve funds: 1) the Capital Reserve Fund covers non-routine repairs and maintenance at Arch Street, 2) the Membership Development Fund provides outreach grants to meetings. Restricted “reserves” are simply unspent monies from prior year grants or restricted investment income that have been carried over.
Andrew noted that we are budgeting FY 2021 in an uncertain time of COVID-19, severe unemployment and economic recession. PYM is well positioned to maintain its essential programs and services because it has a cash cushion, carefully rebuilt since the last recession, and a small, flexible, dedicated staff. If coming months turn out better or worse than our expectations, we can adjust.
Andrew also highlighted some current year accomplishments. At Annual Sessions last summer, Friends heard that PYM had joined with Friends Fiduciary to explore community development investing, a first for either organization. Earlier this year, PYM did invest $1,000,000, alongside Friends Fiduciary, in a bridge loan fund sponsored by The Reinvestment fund (TRF). Thanks to the nonprofit investments, TRF could secure additional investment from traditional lenders like commercial banks. The fund is making bridge loans to community development projects such as affordable housing.
While celebrating our partnerships, Andrew was pleased to report that Friends Fiduciary had just announced that all of its investment products would now be fossil fuel free.
Finally, Linell discussed PYM’s Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan of $311,600 under the CARES Act. Proceeds from the loan are in cash on PYM’s balance sheet, while the loan obligation is under liabilities. Although not a certainty, PYM expects the loan will be fully forgiven, probably in this fiscal year. We are not yet certain of the accounting treatment.
Moving to the FY 2021 budget, Linell noted Covenant contributions have been trending down by 1-2% a year as meetings experience the death of older members who were often large donors. Annual fund giving has been stable or trending higher.
Andrew reported that Administrative Council had directed the benchmarking of senior staff salaries to nonprofits of similar size (meaning budgets under $5 million) in the Philadelphia region. Christie said she has already been benchmarking the salaries of staff below the Associate Secretary level every three years to keep them aligned with these scales.
Other expense items discussed were:
- Lower contributions to others in FY 2021, given the timing of some large grants;
- A small reduction in professional service fees after the costs of implementing new accounting requirements and automating much of the process of preparing financial statements;
- More robust spending on repairs and maintenance at Arch Street, now that a new Executive Director is in place.
In the Q&A, a Friend expressed satisfaction with the TRF bridge loan fund investment and its support of worthy community projects. There were thanks for the dedicated and intelligent budget work coming from staff, Finance Committee and Administrative Council. Friends also spoke of their concerns about global risks, the burden of inherited funds, and a wish for humble gratitude. We should not become complacent as we look out at a world with less fortunate communities. An idea about reparations was shared. Christie noted that our call to address racism was a long and deep conversation that PYM is undertaking as an entire yearly meeting. A Friend reminded us that our comfortable position today is the result of years of effort and discipline following the last recession, a time when PYM’s finances were in very poor shape.
Clerk Jonathan Rhoads closed the meeting with a few moments of silent worship at 8:45 PM.
Find the Treasurer Budget Report (.pdf) and 2021 Proposed Budget (.pdf) with the Annual Sessions Advance documents.
