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Do you want to spread the word about your ministry through digital discipleship, but don’t know how? Or are you making videos, but feel like you are stuck in a rut? Check out UMC Support’s handy guide offering tips, tricks, and a place to start to put you on the road to dynamic video content that tells your authentic story.

Taking an objective look at your ministry’s digital presence is essential to developing your digital media strategy. Answering these questions will help you identify key strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results for your digital media. Asking other key people in your ministry for their opinion on these questions will help you gain a full perspective.

REEF Technology Added as Newest GCFA Ministry Partner Nashville, Tennessee – The Connectional Relations Team of the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) has added Reef Technology as the newest ministry partner. Reef, the largest provider of re-purposing parking real estate in North America, can work with local United Methodist churches to make good use of vacant parking spaces by working with local organizations needing space. This collaboration also allows the church, or other United Methodist related group, to work within their respective communities. Parking lot spaces can be located at churches in rural, suburban or urban locations and churches have the option to select which organization will use the location. “At REEF, our mission is to transform open spaces into thriving multi-purpose locations that connect the world to your block,” said Andrea Borel, REEF’s Regional Vice President. “Through our partnership with GCFA, we can activate spaces such as parking lots in a way that will bring new opportunities and experiences to more communities throughout the country.” Kellie Schmeal, Relationship Director at GCFA said, “The GCFA Ministry Partner Program coordinates the offerings of businesses that can provide discounted products and services and find unique ways to generate donations to local churches and congregations. The Ministry Partner program is our way of vetting and coordinating organizations who are honored to work with local churches and other United Methodist entities to raise funds for ministry.” To learn more about the Ministry Partner program, visit the GCFA Partner page: https://www.gcfa.org/partners/, or contact the Connectional Relations team at ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org or 615-369-3393.

Having a good onboarding process is crucial to making sure your new hire can hit the ground running. For your new employee to be successful, there are many things that need to happen during the first few days. This checklist is designed to help guide you through the onboarding process, so that you can build an efficient, productive, and Christ-like work environment!

Contracts, negotiations, legal language – any of it intimidate you? If so, you are not alone. Contract negotiations are an area where the UMC Support Travel and Meeting Planning Team are asked for help the most. For good reason—an excellent contract can leave you legally and financially protected, provide you with many discounts and concessions, and establish a positive base for your relationship with the hotel/ convention center/ retreat center/ caterer/ etc. Here are 5 tips to consider the next time you need to negotiate a contract: 1. Everything is negotiable! From what meeting room the hotel has a specific breakout session in, the cost for shipping boxes to the hotel, the legal language in the contract, and even what font is used in the contract – everything in a contract is negotiable. A contract after all is an agreement between two parties, so do not be afraid to ask for what you need. The old saying goes “if you never ask, the answer is always no,” so what is the harm in asking for edits to the cancellation fees to match up your cancellation dates with when registration closes or when the executive committee will set the agenda of the meeting? Might as well ask for gratuity and tax rates to be locked in when signing a contract for 2 years down the road. Negotiate what you want, but also know when it is wise to walk away. There are always going to be those non-negotiables that you should know for your specific group and specific meeting; know those and be ready to take your business elsewhere. 2. You can ask for more than you think. Similarly, to the fact that everything is negotiable, you can ask for whatever you want in terms of concessions. It does not mean you will get them, but you can always ask. Concessions are things that you would like the vendor to provide for you, either at a discount, for free, or provide where they usually would not. It cannot hurt to ask for more than you think you will be granted. Always suggest a request like one free room per 50 room nights (staff must go somewhere, right?), free Wi-Fi in sleeping rooms and meeting space, discounts on A/V, discounts on catering menus, free parking, in-house restaurant discounts, a specific room rate you desire, and complimentary meeting space. Hotels are looking at the full revenue your group will bring in when giving your group a response to your Request for Proposal (RFP) – they very well might be willing to give a free room night for each 50 rooms sold and free meeting space when you are bringing them $10,000 in revenue in food and beverage costs or waive all parking fees knowing that you are bringing them 100 sleeping room nights. Throw it out there and see what is agreed to! 3. Identify your non-negotiables and be flexible on other things. We are lucky to live in a world full of choice, which allows us to have things that are negotiable and non-negotiable. Identify your non-negotiables early on and be ready to walk away if they are not met. Can your group not afford to pay more than $150 a night for a sleeping room? Then you should not consider a hotel who is not going lower than a $210 room rate. Do you have to have the location offer a free airport shuttle because the transportation company quotes are more than you can budget for transport? Then do not pick the downtown convention center property even if the meeting space rate is better. Do you have to be able to bring in your own outside Audio/Visual? Then do not settle for a hotel that requires you to use their overpriced AV team. There are always going to be those non-negotiables that you should know for your specific group and specific meeting, identify them and be ready to take your business elsewhere if the vendor does not agree to them. But be flexible on all the other things! Sure, free parking would be nice, but if you know you only have 4 guests driving in, it is not worth arguing about; instead, focus your time on getting the free hardline internet you will need for your 20 individuals who are zooming in to your meeting. 4. Always get multiple quotes. If you were selling your house or buying a new car, would you just look at one of the 10 offers that are presented to you or just ask one person what they would offer? No. You shop around. So why would you do the same with a vendor contract that could be more expensive than either of those items? Simply put, ask around and see who is willing to make an offer on your event. Even if you have always gone to the same convention center for a specific meeting or event, shop around! You may know you intend to go back to the same convention center for your next event, but without a competing offer, you may never know you have been overcharged for electricity fees or internet for years. Consider all your options in each location, over your given dates, and that can work for your meeting. And then make those offers work against each other! Let hotel A know you really want to bring your meeting to them but that hotel B offered you a $55 less a night room rate with free breakfast. Consider what it would mean to move your meeting to better fit your meeting and budget. A risk that can occur with this strategy is not knowing your meeting specifics and looking at the proposals holistically. Make certain when comparing multiple offers that you conduct a full cost analysis of hosting your meeting with that vendor, as it does not matter if your room rate is $15 less per night if you are paying $25 more per meal per person and serving 3 meals a day. 5. Read everything! One of the biggest mistakes you can make when negotiating a contract is not knowing everything that is in your contract. Read, reread, and when you do not know what something means, search for it or get professional help in that area. We all look at things from our lens of expertise. As a travel and meeting planner, I look at contracts from a logistical and technical side, whereas a lawyer might look at it from a legal protection side, an accountant may look at it from a budgetary perspective, and the meeting owner may look at it from a programmatic side. Use your resources, the people around you and your best judgement when reading and reviewing a contract. Never allow the first draft of the contract sent your way to be the one you sign. Comb through everything and find at least one thing that needs editing. After 12 years of contract negations, I have never found something that did not need editing, extra clarification, or an addition in a contract. So read and reread with your editing red pen ready! Ask for updates from the vendor before you sign the contract. Is all this still sounding like too much to tackle? UMC Support has a Licensed Attorney and Certified Meeting Planner ready to source, review and suggest edits to your contracts for any of your upcoming meetings.

The General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) recently held its annual Christmas party, where they made this time of year shine a little brighter for one local family. GCFA staff “adopted” this local family and made sure there will be plenty of presents under the tree this year. “Originally, we were working with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville (HFHGN) in conjunction with other local Methodists to help build a home for a local family,” said Jodi Chadwell, Chief Relationship Officer for GCFA. “Unfortunately, the build couldn’t proceed before the year’s end due to supply chain issues, so we reached out to the family to see how we could help them celebrate Christmas.” “Habitat is able to build homes for our future homeowners because of partnerships with groups like GCFA,” said Kevin Roberts, Director of Faith Relations for HFHGN. “One of the most important building materials used to construct a Habitat home is love, and when that love extends beyond the build site, like it has here, the blessing of that partnership is doubled.” With their own personal funds, GCFA staff members purchased the entire wish list for the Middle Tennessee family, including a much-needed heater and every item on the three children’s wish lists. GCFA’s staff also contributed $400 in gift cards for groceries and other needed items. “I want to thank all of our staff for giving so generously. Spreading the love of Christ is what Christmas is all about, and taking care of our neighbors is one of the best ways we can do that,” GCFA General Secretary Moses Kumar said.

Everything you need to know about finding the right fit for your organization Have you ever been tasked with hiring a new employee, but didn’t know where to start? Increasingly, tasks that were originally thought to fall under the responsibility of the human resources department have become a part of many managers job descriptions. Finding the right fit for your church or organization can be an overwhelming process, and making the wrong hiring decision can cost you both time and money! The General Council on Finance and Administration’s team of Human Resources professionals is here to help. During this self-paced online course, we’ll walk you through the entire recruiting process from crafting job descriptions to extending offer letters. This training will provide you with employee selection best practices and useful resources to make sure your next hire is the right one for your church. During this course, you’ll learn how to: Improve your overall employee selection approach Attract talent through innovative employee recruitment sources Learn how to effectively use telephone screening and other methods to filter out the wrong applicants Practice interviewing techniques to refine and develop your skills as an interviewer—including how to open and close the meeting Understand how to ask the right questions to find out the information you need to know Avoid interview “traps”—EEO and affirmative action Who Should Attend? Individuals with five years or less of experience in hiring, including newly hired HR professionals, HR practitioners who lack formal training, non-HR specialists who recruit, interview and/or hire as part of their jobs, and long-time HR practitioners who want to reinforce or update their skills.

2020 taught us many things. Chief among them is that many of the jobs we once thought could only be done in office can be done successfully in a virtual setting. Many organizations have been able to allow most, if not all, employees to work from home for the past year. During this time, organizations have begun working through many of the challenges that come with such a sudden and abrupt shift in daily routines. One thing learned is while parts of our daily lives seemed to be put on hold, so many work-related things carried on as usual. While our ministries may look different than they did a year ago, we still find ourselves dealing with the realities of running an organization. One of these realities is the ongoing need to hire new staff. Working from home created a new set of issues for hiring employees. How do you onboard a new employee and help them feel part of your community when they are working from home? There are several ways you can help a virtual new hire feel connected to your ministry and get them set up for success right from the start. Here are a few things to include when virtually onboarding a new hire: Make sure new hires have all the IT equipment they need and are familiar with the programs they’ll be using. This includes company email, video conferencing, VPN logins, etc. Be able to fill out HR paperwork digitally. A lot of an employee’s first day is filling out paperwork for HR. E-signature tools allow for many of these documents to be completed electronically. Don’t forget to send new hires a digital copy of your employee handbook as well. Bring them in to your ministry. Look for ways to help new hires understand and feel part of your workplace culture. Set up meetings with key employees. Provide them with literature and brochures on your mission and vision. Make sure they’re invited to any virtual team-building activities. People still rely on our ministries for the help and comfort they provide, perhaps now more than ever. In order to continue to provide these services, we need to ensure that our employees, especially our new hires, are engaged and connected to the community in which they work. Our Human Resources team can help United Methodist agency’s annual conferences, and large organizations find qualified applicants for your vacant positions. Contact our Connectional Relations team today to get a free Staff Recruiting Consultation with our experienced professionals.

Organizational efficiency equals greater impact. You can prepare your ministry and leadership to expand its current capabilities. As the administrative processes of your ministry improve, you will have more time and resources for missional work. Take this quiz to see where you can grow.

Watch this webinar by our HR team and learn the Do's and Don'ts when it comes to managing performance.

Nashville, Tennessee – The Board of Directors of the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) held its monthly board call on October 28, 2022 and heard an update from the Committee on General Agency and Episcopal Matters (GAEM) on general Church apportionment trends and projections. The latest Economic Advisory Committee projections of a 23% decline in local church net expenditures were presented. Those projections result primarily from a 21.3% impact due to disaffiliation as reflected in the latest survey of annual conference leadership. The Board also heard that the Apportionment Sustainability Taskforce continues to support their original recommendation in 2018 of a 25% reduction to the base percentage. The Taskforce believes this change ‘creates a more flexible and nimble system and usher in a new paradigm. It recalibrates the connection and encourages collaboration at the general Church level.’ The Board then reviewed apportionment modeling with reductions in the base percentage ranging from 18%-25%. The modeling showed that without a reduction to funding of the Episcopal Fund, the other six general Church funds would experience a 45% reduction during the 2025-2028 quadrennium. This impact would increase to 50% by 2027. The Board also heard an Episcopal Fund financial update. The analysis shows declining reserves beginning in 2023 as episcopal area vacancies are filled. Annual deficits for the Episcopal Fund could range from $4 to $6 million depending on funding reductions next quadrennium to the Episcopal Fund. Due to the projected depletion of reserves and the impending episcopal elections in November, GCFA Board President Bishop Michael McKee sent a letter to the Chair of Jurisdictional Committees on Episcopacy depicting the possible implications those elections may have on the Episcopal Fund. That letter can be viewed here. The attachments mentioned in the letter may be viewed here. The GCFA Board will meet November 19 to determine a recommended base percentage for the 2025-2028 quadrennium, along with the applicable allocation to the Episcopal and General Administration Funds.

As United Methodists, we hold meetings and events to support our ministries and to fellowship with one another. In attempts to hold down the administrative costs of these meetings, we often rely on faithful volunteers or add these additional responsibilities to our staff. For meetings of forty or less, this arrangement may be the right course of action. However, for larger events, GCFA’s Director of Travel and Meeting Planning Melanie Payne recommends hiring a meeting planning professional to save money and time. Below are six things to look for in any meeting planning professional. Knowledge. An experienced meeting and event planner has worked with clients on different types of meetings and events. In addition to helping you budget accordingly for your meeting, they can act as a sounding board about what has worked in their experience. They will present you with the best choices that keep the event on budget. Vendor Relationships. Your planner should have a stable of caterers, venues, and event-related vendors they can call on to fit your meeting needs. Professional advice on prices and quality of services are invaluable and are another way they can save you money. Negotiation Skills. With plenty of contacts, an experienced planner can negotiate the best deal for you. They know which vendors would be willing to work with you on prices and discounts. You are paying for the planner’s contacts and relationships within the industry. Contract monitoring. A planner makes sure vendors are living up to their contracts. The planner will also review all the bills to make sure your event is on, or under, budget. They can handle emergencies that may arise and troubleshoot to prevent disruptions of service. Time Savings. Time is one resource we can never get back. Hiring a planner will save you time and energy. They can handle major details like rooming charts, and minor details like floral arrangements. When you leave the administrative tasks to the planner, you can channel your energy into the work God has called you to do. Being sure that your planner has the knowledge and relationships can assure you of time savings. Creativity. A great event looks and feels effortless. To make that happen, it takes a lot of planning and attention to details: picking the right place to hold the event, making sure the empty venue is transformed to meet the meeting’s goals, and making attendee logistics as simple as possible. Planners can advise staff working at the event on proper protocol and etiquette for the meeting. These steps will assure your attendees are cared for, you are able to concentrate on the work of the meeting or event, and staff will be able to conduct their work. GCFA’s Travel and Meeting Planning Department can help you to focus your time and energy on doing God’s ministry by taking care of the administration of your meeting, event, conference, or assembly. From pre-conference planning to post-conference billing and invoicing we make event planning easy for you. Contact us for more information at connectionalrelations@gcfa.org.