WELL, we made it through the Spring Feast! Now what? That is a very good question. First, the combined Spring Holy Day offerings were up 3.4% over last year. This is a dollar per person more than last year in spite of the fact that members have responded with almost one million dollars in special offerings since January.
The regular income is continuing to come in at an increased rate over last year, so our income picture is indeed looking rather favorable.
NOW, we must look at the expenditures. We have lost and never will receive the monies taken from our bank to pay back loans, but with few exceptions, EVERYONE is under budget!! The combination of good income and underspent budgets has allowed, us to squeak by the annual cash flow crunch with only a few scratches. Now we hope we are clear to sail ahead at a more normal speed until the fall. We are now looking DOWN STREAM at our next cash flow problem and can see that it will occur during August and September. We are presently negotiating with four different banks in hopes that we will be able to have cash flow lines available for that period. At present, the prospects LOCK GOOD! We'll keep you posted on our progress on that.
Recommendations We would like to suggest that you think through your MAY BUDGET and begin to get your departments back to a more NORMAL operation. HOWEVER, we would like to ask that you NOT play CATCH UP with your budget. That is, please don't SPEND all the money you just saved or we will create a cash crisis all over again. If at all possible, please JUST SPEND the remaining portion of your budget for the year. I realize that this may be impossible, but if we can all do this we will make it through the rest of the year without another budget cut (at least we THINK we can!).