Making Timely Preparations
Treasurer’s Report – 2024 Annual Meeting
Bruce Richardson, Vice President | Board of Trustees Beacon Haven
In her Board of Trustee’s Report for this Annual Meeting, Judy shared an inspiring insight that I invite you to keep in mind during today’s Treasurer’s report.
CLICK HERE to see the 2024 Annual Meeting Board of Trustees’ Report
Judy’s insight reminded us that ‘Providence’ has two important meanings. The first meaning refers to God’s protective care. The second meaning of ‘Providence’ is the act of making timely preparation. In our stewardship role as Beacon Haven Trustees, we endeavor to reflect both meanings encompassed in the idea of Providence as we make our financial plans to sustain services in our community.
As Vice President of the Board of Trustees, I would like to share three main points that focus on ‘acts of timely preparation’ that are essential to keeping Christian Science nursing care ready today and for the next generation.
(1) The first point is that the priority of our budget at Beacon Haven is to support Christian Science nurses; every expense supports that priority directly or indirectly.
The sustainable living wage increase provided for our Christian Science nurses in 2021 is now starting its fourth year; much of that increased cost is already being funded locally; dedicated funding from our national partner now supports 50% of that cost.
As you heard from Judy, Beacon Haven can continue its Pathways training program for Christian Science nurses thanks to a funding commitment from a local church.
Beyond these two initiatives, every other expense at Beacon Haven is dedicated to supporting the work of our Christian Science nurses. In other words, every other expense is dedicated to keeping ready.
(2) The second point is that gift support from our members and other donors is what sustains the cost of keeping Christian Science nursing ready at Beacon Haven.
This has been true for 100 years; donors have always funded this readiness. In turn, patient fees still pay for the cost of care received. As you will see in a moment, gift support remains strong; however, the number of individual donors has dropped dramatically over the past 10 years.
(3) The third point is that our Endowment continues to grow. Planned gifts to endowment are providing a vital resource to keep Christian Science nursing care available, and ready here.
Keeping Care Ready
As I have shared, keeping care ready includes supporting our Christian Science nurses with a living wage. This remains our largest expense.
Keeping ready also includes preparing and training the next generation of Christian science nurses.
Keeping ready also means we must support the work of the Christian Science nurse by maintaining a facility, providing supplies, and performing the necessary administrative tasks required of any organization.
64cents of every $1
As you can see from this graph, the green sections represent Christian Science nursing direct costs. 64 cents of every dollar we spend at Beacon Haven is for Christian Science nursing.
Maintaining a facility is only 9 cents of every dollar. And interest expenses remain essentially zero.
We spent about 3 and a half cents to raise each dollar of gift support we received last year.
About one fifth of our budget covers the cost of government regulations, billing insurance and Medicare, processing payroll, ordering supplies, hiring and scheduling employees . . . all of the essential support that allow our Christian Science nurses to focus exclusively on their nursing.
Gift Support More Important
Over the past 10 years, 65% of the funds we use have covered Christian Science nursing costs. This has not changed at all. But over this same period, how funds are being provided has changed dramatically.
- Annual gift support and income from gifts to endowment now account for 72% of all funding used to support this Christian Science nursing mission. Medicare and Private fees for care received now provide 28% of funding. 10 years ago that ratio was essentially reversed.
- Income from endowment and reserve funds now provide enough support for more than one full time Christian Science nursing position. This is tremendous progress and is helping to close the funding gap we highlighted last year.
- For patient fees, the biggest change is in the portion provided through Medicare. Last year, Medicare was only 4% of total patient billing; however, private Medicare Advantage plans are increasing.
Beacon Haven Started as a Gift
On Christmas eve 1920, the students of Abigail Dyer Thompson presented their teacher with a gift…their pledge to create a haven where those relying upon Christian Science would find an expectancy of healing.
Over the next 4 years, people pledged monthly gifts to fund the construction of Star of Bethlehem Home in Minnesota.
50 years later, in the 1970s, another generation of Christian Scientists opened Clifton House by adding their gifts to the equity created from the gifts of those first donors. In the 2000s, yet another generation of Christian Scientists added their gifts to that legacy to build the facility in which we are holding our annual meeting today, 100 years later.
Gift support is what created the predecessor to Beacon Haven, and gift support from prior generations is what has sustained Christian Science nursing here in this community for more than 100 years. It is the same for every Christian Science nursing facility; none would be open or ready today without gift support.
The Right Idea About Giving
Miss Thompson spoke about giving at the 1925 Annual Meeting as work was underway to build Star of Bethlehem.
“Miss Thompson brought out very clearly the necessity for obtaining the right idea about giving…
“Contributions are not desired except where they can be the spontaneous offer of those who, as a result of being shown the need, desire to participate in the supply of the same.”
Annual Meeting Minutes | July 25, 1925
As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the groundbreaking that built our first facility in the Midwest, the Board of Trustees invite each of us to add a Centennial Pledge of at least $100 to our current annual giving commitment.
As a part of that invitation, the Board of Trustees has pledged $10,000 to match the first 100 Centennial pledges. And a national foundation will match both your Centennial pledge and our Trustee fund match, creating a 3-to-1 match for the first 100 Centennial pledges of $100 or more.
If you are already making a recuring monthly gift, then adding a $100 Centennial Pledge will increase your monthly pledge by $8.33.
However you make your Centennial pledge, whether monthly or once per year, it will be matched 3:1 to support Christian Science nursing care.
Building Endowment for the Next Generation
Just as we need annual gift support from individuals, we also need to add endowment gift support to meet the needs of being ready.
Every other Christian Science nursing facility in the country already depends on endowment gifts to meet their ready needs. Beacon Haven is now underway with the work of building its endowment. This is what our generation can do to sustain Christian Science nursing in our community.
Some wonderful endowment fund growth is already underway. As you can see in this line graph, our endowment fund has increased over the past few years from just a few thousand dollars to about $2 million as of this month.
That still leaves a considerable amount to raise . . . $3 million . . . to reach the level needed to support the increased cost of providing living wages to our Christian Science nurses. I invite those who desire to participate in the supply of this need to contact us at Beacon Haven.
Just as training the next generation of new Christian Science nurses is an ‘act of timely preparation’ so to is the work donors are doing today to build this permanent endowment through their planned gifts.
Centennial Pledge Matches | $100 = $400
Let me close the treasurer’s report with these two final insights:
First, if we want our Christian Science nursing care to remain ready and available, we need to support it with our annual gifts. If not us, then who?
And second, please know that every gift counts. Every day. When you consider your gift plans this fall, please consider making your gift through an automatic, recurring monthly pledge payment. Every gift counts. And matching gifts will make every $100 centennial pledge a $400 contribution to support our Christian Science nursing mission.
We have an email on its way to you now asking for your renewed support. I hope you will reply. Thank you.
