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SHARED MINISTRY/STEWARDSHIP

2024 Apportionments Must Be Received by January 6, 2025

If you plan to send your church apportionment payment through the U.S. Postal Service, you will want to get it in the mail ASAP. It always takes longer for mail to arrive during the Christmas season and that delay in delivery could impact your apportionment payment counting for 2024.

For shared ministry apportionment payments to be applied for 2024, our outside audit firm requires that checks be in our lockbox on or before Monday, January 6, 2025. The lockbox address is P.O. Box 76019, Cleveland, OH  44101-4755).

Please note:

• the postmark on a mailed payment is not a factor in determining timeliness; only whether it arrived in the lockbox on or before January 6.
• if you use a credit card in the VANCO system – or if you use the Ministry Financials system – for a year-end shared ministry payment before the last business day of 2024, the transaction will be counted as a 2024 receipt.
• if you use a credit card and make the transaction in 2025, it will be counted as a 2025 item. Please be aware of these distinctions.

We appreciate all you do! We also must abide by the rules of the audit firm that conducts our annual GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) audit.

Shared Ministry Apportionment Statements

Shared Ministry Apportionments for 2025 have been finalized. By action of Conference Council on Finance & Administration, 2025 Shared Ministry Apportionments are 20% lower than 2024 apportionments for all churches.

Shared Ministry Apportionments are typically calculated by formula, which is set forth in The Conference Journal. CCF&A made the decision to not use the formula for 2025 because if the formula had been used, most churches would have seen an increase in their apportionments, which CCF&A found unacceptable. The reason the formula would have shown an increase is because there are currently 400 churches in East Ohio, but the approved apportioned budget was based on the 600+ churches in the Conference when the 2025 budget was approved in 2023.

Your Conference leaders continue to work hard to reduce financial impact to local churches. CCF&A is researching a possible change to the Shared Ministry Apportionment formula for 2026 and beyond. These changes are challenging and difficult for all of us, but necessary to free up resources for vital ministry.

To access your 2025 Shared Ministry Apportionment statement:

• visit https://umcdata.net/MissionConnect/Public/RcvWeb/#/login?conf=FalconEoh,
• enter username and password,
• locate the Monthly Statement box on the right side of the page,
• find the 2025 apportionment statement that contains your GCFA# and Church Name.

To log in, your username is your church’s six-digit General Church (GCFA) number. This can be located on the bottom right of your apportionment statements, and your temporary password is EOC2024. You will be prompted to create a unique password after you log in the first time. You should be sure to change the password any time the church changes its treasurer or financial secretary.

Thank you for your faithfulness and for your ministry,

Vera Milanovic, CPA
Executive Director, Financial & Administrative Services