After struggling unsuccessfully most of the year to meet our income budget projections of 12 percent increase, December ended considerably above budget. We had a low in April of only a 3 percent increase, and for eight months of the year, we were below the income budget. Two months ago it looked improbable that we would meet the budget by the end of the year. Conditions improved; so a month ago there was a glimmer of hope that we might possibly meet it. December removed all doubt with an incredible 41.8 percent increase over December 1984. That ended the year with a 13.1 percent increase over last year.
There were several factors involved. we were comparing this December with a comparatively low December last year, which was only 1.4 percent more than the previous year. The major factor which gave such an excellent percentage increase this year was the response to Mr. Armstrong's recent co-worker and member letters. The members' and co workers' response was the best we have seen in many years. There was an urgent need, Mr. Armstrong explained, and the response was incredible!
We here at Pasadena wish to thank all of you for your generosity and sacrifice in this time of need.
In spite of such a fine increase, the expenses outpaced the income. As mentioned in my previous reports, we exceeded the expense budget in order to take advantage of new and unexpected television station offerings. This cost a lot of extra money for station time and produced unprecedented requests for literature. This caused over-budget expenses in the Mail Processing Department. At the time of this writing, it appears that expenses will exceed the income by almost 1 percent for the year. We hope to recover that and add much more to needed reserves in 1986. This should be possible as a result of a very stringent no-increase budget for most departments.
When we have a very good increase in income, there often is a marked decrease over the next month or two. If this happens in January and February, we could be back to the same difficult condition we were in. Please pray with us that this will not happen, and that we will have an excellent year financially. If so, the pace of God's work will be increased.
REPORT FROM THE TREASURER' S OFFICE
Worldwide Church of God