People sometimes find it curious that at NEHBC we run our year from
July-June. We didn't used to. When we started NEHBC, since we were relying
on the business office personnel of our mother church so much at first, we
just adopted their fiscal year of April-March. Our leadership found
ourselves planning fiscally from April to March and ministry calendars from
Jan-Dec while the congregation we were trying to lead was planning their
lives around the public school calendar of August-July. It made no sense and
leading the church was frustrating. I decided all three areas should run
simultaneously. So, I asked our finance people to move our fiscal year to
Aug-July and our leadership to plan their annual ministry calendars from
Aug-July. But, as it turns out, the CPA firm with whom we consult wanted us
to start our fiscal year at the start of a quarter (Jan 1, April 1, July 1,
or October 1). That was close enough for me, so one year (2006 if I remember
correctly) we made all the changes and now the business office, ministry
departments, and our members' personal lives generally all run around the
same calendar. It's a beautiful thing.
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