A Closer Look: Parish Finances

Oct 1

Our Sacred Heart Finance Committee wants to share with you a summary of our financial performance for the year which ended June 30, 2024. In our continued spirit of transparency, we present this detailed review.

We have good news to share in this report. We know the future, like the past, brings challenges, both expected and unforeseen. With your help, Sacred Heart will continue to successfully meet those challenges for the upcoming year.

As the year progressed, we gave quarterly updates in our weekly bulletin. This report serves to reiterate those reports.

Highlights of the 2023-2024 year are:

We work to keep a balanced budget by maximizing revenue sources and minimize spending.
Parish operations showed a positive bottom line for the year. Income exceeded expenses by $117,814.
Collections were $964,738, which is up over last year by $42,900. Thank you for your generosity which allows stability and flexibility to manage unforeseen issues as they arise. Other ordinary income of interest and investment income generated $64,066. While this is out of our control, it exceeded last year by $37,905.
We received memorials and bequests, including an estate, which totaled $130,369 after selling the house. These loving and thoughtful gestures of including Sacred Heart Parish in one's estates is a true blessing to us. We are most grateful.
Birdies for Charity, along with additional fundraising efforts, added $94,064 to our extraordinary income.
The major expense our parish incurs is the $491,934 paid in subsidies to support Seton and Alleman Catholic Schools. This support is vital to ensuring our schools are healthy and continue to provide a quality education program enriched by the teachings of our Catholic faith.
Parish expenses increased $5,550 over last year. Facility expenses increased $10,240 from prior year. Given the price increases of everything, including insurance, utilities, goods, and services, we appreciate the cost-saving efforts of our staff and many volunteers. Your hard work is clear with total expenses under budget by $12,730.
We paid $12,285 to complete the required balance of the Annual Diocesan Appeal due to the 2022-2023 shortfall of our ADA goal. We strive to cut this expense by meeting our current year goal.
Our parish endowment fund grew by $70,900. We are pleased to see this back over a million dollars, as it was prior to the pandemic. The fiscal year ending balance is $1,010,966.
We achieved a milestone this year with the opening of our $2.2 million St. Damien Center (excluding all of the fixtures needed for opening the building), which was made possible by your generosity. We borrowed $475,000 from the Diocese of Peoria related to the project. As of the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2024, our balance was $249,829 and we continue to make payments. Interest expense associated with that debt was $18,747 for the year. Our primary focus now is to pay off the entire loan balance as soon as possible.

To each of you who support our parish - Thank You! We stay strong because of your support. We want to encourage all who may have fallen behind in their donations to resume making their pledged support.

We are grateful for Fr. Mark’s sound fiscal management, steadfast leadership, and the opportunity to serve the parishioners of Sacred Heart. Please continue to pray for God’s blessings on our parish.

Sacred Heart Finance Committee:

Linda Wolbers/Chair
DeAnn Gandia
Dave DeJaegher
Jeffrey Jacobs
Mary Vrombaut
Jim Watson/Trustee

Fr. Mark DeSutter
John DeCock
Aaron Graf
Mary Beth Lagomarcino
Connie Morris/Trustee