From the 2010 Members Muse

Long-time Members of Four Quarters will remember the fund-raising drive launched in early 2004, driven by our awareness of Peak Oil, and with the goal of purchasing the Land of Four Quarters by the predicted economic downturn of 2008. How together we raised $25,000 in direct gifts from the Membership, and used those gifts in 2005 to secure a $145,000 commercial bank loan allowing the Church to finally purchase the Land and The Stone Circle.

At that time two promises were made; that the Live-In Staff would cut their costs to the bone, and that those savings plus funds from the then new e-Pledge Program would be used for early prepayment of the mortgage principle.

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A substantial discussion of the effects of The Great Recession on Four Quarters,
from the 2010 Members Muse

Previously, I have presented the years financial report as dollars and cents numbers shown in comparison to previous years, and with brief commentary on the various financial categories.

But finances touch upon so many areas of Four Quarters, compounded by the Great Recession we are experiencing, that they serve as a lens through which to view a larger picture. And as I thought this through I found myself wanting to touch upon many subjects that are important to us as Members, and to the health and future direction of Four Quarters.

I would like to share with you my personal thinking on both short term and longer term issues, so this will be a long article of many little parts, with our finances as the theme.

But in short, it has been both a hard year, and a good year.

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A Snapshot of the 2009 Financial Year

Orren Sez...
Please do see my much longer article on finances (and much else besides), but I think a few things should be pointed out about the raw numbers.

Church Ward Income is basically income from my consulting business and holiday gifts from my family. It grew quite a bit this past year, as I allotted more of my time to building little widget boxes, anticipating a downturn in Church revenues. On the expense side, most of the costs of this business (and they are considerable with machine tools, raw materials and electronic parts) are lumped into “Other Expenses. Total “put in the Church bank account” profit amounted to about $20,000 for the year.

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We bought our first property titled to the Church back in 1999, The Members Village. At the time it seemed a huge step for us. Then in 2005 we made the big step of purchasing the two tracts of Land that constitute the camp and the Stone Circle, all owned by the Church. The question then arises, as a Church, how much of this land should be taxable? In 2009 Bedford County began its first county wide property reassessment since 1955. And the BoD determined it was finally time to appeal our property taxation and seek an exemption.

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