The Geneva Church is running out of money : ref.ch
The finding is clear and irreversible. “The donations have fallen by forty percent compared to the average of the last six years,” says Joël Rochat, treasurer of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Geneva (EPG). “And the decline continues,” said the head of the financial diktat of the consistory council.
This is relevant because there is no church tax in Geneva, but the EPG manage themselves through donations from their members and contributions from foundations. The EPG spent around nine million francs on its payroll alone last year, which corresponds to three quarters of the budget. However, the donations brought in only 8.7 million Swiss francs.
The cause of the problem: “Our community members are getting older and fewer and fewer,” says General Secretary Stefan Keller. This means that the Church is more dependent on major donors. These are mostly private donations of at least CHF 10,000.
These contributions make a significant contribution to the budget. Is the EPG also in a crisis? “The problem or opportunity of this steady decline is that it will force us to rethink the structure of our church,” says EPG President Eva Di Fortunato.
Search for sources of income
Since the drop in donations is threateningly frequent, the EPG consistory council is considering alternative permanent solutions to remedy the loss of income. Eva Di Fortunato assures: “Approvals are out of the question”. In any case, this applies more than the wave of retirements among pastors could lead to a possible shortage of staff, which can currently hardly be compensated for by the next generation of young people.
In search of solutions, the President of the EPG undertook an information tour of the approximately 30 parishes in the canton to propose new financing of the church’s wage bill, in which the parishes are currently only participating to a modest extent. In plain language: the possibility of introducing a mechanism through which the parishes could contribute. So far, the municipalities have granted loans, but this is not enough. “Real solidarity does not consist of loans,” commented the President.
On the expenditure side, the EPG also examines the “subsidies and endowments to associations that are part of the church network and the contributions made within the framework of coordination between the churches”, as Stefan Keller explains. “It’s not about stopping our own donations. But there is an urgent need to adjust some of these amounts, which have never been questioned,” adds Eva Di Fortunato.
Manage real estate lucratively
Another solution is to make EPG’s real estate portfolio more profitable. “Currently, real estate income finances ten percent of our budget,” explains Joël Rochat. “We have set ourselves the goal of doubling this probability in the next five to six years. That’s ambitious, but achievable,” he says.
Rochat explains two current projects: “In Veyrier, a residential building is to be erected on one of our properties. In Champel it is a larger project that includes a building and a new place of worship.” Stefan Keller adds: “The EPG has already converted and rented out its rectory, which used to serve as official housing”. Is selling also an option? “The EPG will remain the owner of its goods,” says Rochat.
When asked about the possibility of gaining new members and thus new contributors, Pastor Emmanuel Rolland, who is responsible for the mission within the EPG, qualifies: “Before we have asked external people to finance our church, we have to go to a Set awareness-raising pages for Geneva’s Protestants. There is no church tax in Geneva; unlike other cantons in western Switzerland. The EPG is therefore based on donations and foundation contributions.
Eva Di Fortunato believed that society urgently needs to be reminded that the Church is recognized as a non-profit organization, particularly through its work in hospital chaplaincy, funeral services and the upkeep of historic buildings such as Saint-Pierre Cathedral. The ball is now in the hands of the members.
This article is based on the original protestinfo.ch appeared, the western Swiss counterpart of the reformed media.