2. Prior Claims. Prior claims in any of the general funds shall be paid as expended within the limits of the approved budgets.
3. On-Ratio Allocations. All allocations from the general funds of The United Methodist Church shall be paid on ratio of net receipts after payment of prior claims.
4. Validity of Claims. The General Council on Finance and Administration shall be authorized to determine the validity of claims in all matters involving the World Service Fund, the Episcopal Fund, the General Administration Fund, the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund, the Africa University Fund, World Service Special gifts, the Advance, the Special Sundays offerings, or any other general fund, where these are not specifically set forth or determined by the General Conference.
5. Conformity With Other General Conference Actions. The General Council on Finance and Administration is granted authority to make such editorial changes in its reports as may be needed to bring them into conformity with the approved general fund budget amounts and totals and any other applicable actions of the 1996 General Conference.
6. General Council on Finance and Administration Expenses. General fund allocations to the General Council on Finance and Administration fall into two categories, as provided in ¶906.1d) of The Book of Discipline: 1) an on-ratio line item in the General Administration Fund budget; and 2) prior claim amounts in each of the other funds, proportionate to their estimated receipts. The budget of the council is presented in its Report No. 12.
7. Travel Expense and Meeting Policy for Special Committees Responsible Directly to General Conference. Any special committee, study group, special commission, or any other group created by the General Conference with direct responsibility to General Conference (rather than to a general agency [¶801.2] of The United Methodist Church) shall be subject to the internal travel and expense reporting requirements of GCFA. If the committee, study group, special commission or other group is not directly responsible to a general agency, it shall consult with GCFA before planning or arranging any meeting.
8. United Methodist Communications. UMCom, through its Division of Program and Benevolence Interpretation, provides resources to promote and interpret the general church funds. For the coming quadrennium UMCom has developed a new strategy which differentiates between "promotion" and "interpretation."
Promotion is aimed at individual United Methodists and seeks to foster an understanding of how giving of one's financial resources is an integral part of the Christian life. It will focus on shared ministries that change lives. Print, video, and computer-delivered resources will help United Methodists see their mission outreach, understand how their diverse ministries make a difference in human lives, and see how the local church benefits from their shared outreach.
Interpretation will be aimed at the leadership of local congregations, will provide specific information about church funds, and will encourage leaders to be faithful in remitting funds to conference and general church benevolent causes. UMCom will provide resources in a variety of media to be used by pastors and local church volunteers, conference staff, their own field staff, and staff of other general church agencies.
Resources and support for both the "promotion" and the "interpretation" function are funded from receipts on an on-ratio line item in the World Service Fund budget entitled "Interpretation Services." This includes the cost of promotional staff, services, general resources such as Interpreter, and administration and overhead.
The cost of promotional resources related to a particular fund or group of funds is covered by a prior claim line item in the budget of the respective funds. The prior claim amounts budgeted in each fund are recommended following consultation between UMCom and those general agencies responsible for administering the receipts of the respective general funds. For 1997-2000, the proposed prior claim line items total $6,105,000, a 2% quadrennium to quadrennium increase.
The prior claims for promotion shown in the various fund budgets are estimated amounts. The actual amounts to be budgeted in each fund are recommended annually by UMCom after agreement by the agency responsible for administering the fund receipts. This recommendation is then subject to annual approval by GCFA. In 1997-2000, as in past quadrennia, one resource item may interpret or promote several funds. In such cases, UMCom is authorized to allocate costs for such items among the funds included in particular resources.
The schedule of amounts authorized for program and benevolence interpretation resources for the 1997-2000 quadrennium is shown in the table below.
No promotional funds are taken from General Advance Special gifts or World Service Special gifts. The cost of promoting these funds is borne entirely by the administering agencies or from other funds approved by the General Conference.
Program and Benevolence Interpretation Budget
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Prior claims for interpretation resources:
World Service $391,000 $415,000 $377,000 $377,000 $375,000 Ministerial Education 77,000 66,000 65,000 77,000 63,000
Black College 86,000 72,000 73,000 91,000 77,000
Africa University 84,000 96,000 96,000 121,000 102,000 Episcopal 7,000 11,000 11,000 11,000 11,000
General Administration 15,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 15,000
Interdenominational Cooperation 47,000 46,000 47,000 49,000 51,000
Human Relations Day 130,000 135,000 135,000 135,000 135,000
One Great Hour of Sharing 273,000 238,000 238,000 238,000 237,000
Native American Awareness Sunday 102,000 103,000 103,000 102,000 102,000
Peace with Justice Sunday 97,000 96,000 96,000 96,000 96,000
World Communion Sunday 140,000 140,000 140,000 140,000 140,000
United Methodist Student Day 86,000 105,000 105,000 105,000 105,000
Total Prior Claims 1,535,000 1,538,000 1,501,000 1,557,000 1,509,000
Allocation for interpretation resources
for Special Gifts:
The Advance (paid by
participating agencies) 410,000 457,000 388,000 407,000 338,000
Interpretation services:
World Service (on-ratio) 2,760,000 2,760,000 2,760,000 2,782,000 2,810,000
Total $4,705,000 $4,755,000 $4,649,000 $4,746,000 $4,657,000
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
Petition Text: 21120-FA-NonDis-O
1996 United Methodist General Conference