Table of Contents
Section
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4.0 Revisions
Appendix 1: The SCM Fund Policy at CBCGB
CBCGB Social Concerns Ministry Charter
The purpose of this charter is to:
1.0 What is the Social Concerns Ministry?
1.1 God's Call
God calls his church to two principles: Mercy and Justice, which form the bedrock of the Social Concerns Ministry. This is summed up by His prophet Micah: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6: 8)
To explain further what this charter means by Mercy and Justice, we refer to His scriptures to us.
Mercy - God calls Christians to serve those who are in physical and material need, regardless of cause. We draw on the following New Testament scriptures as justification for our calling:
We also see this principle in the Old Testament when:
Justice - God calls Christians to correct social and economic injustices in the societies in which we live. In the Old Testament we see God's concern for social and economic justice highlighted by:
Through these passages we see God's call for Christians to fight injustice and to correct social and economic sins.
Ultimately, our actions are a part of the Christian calling to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:28-34).
1.2 The Purpose of the CBCGB SCM
With this dual calling in mind, the purpose of the CBCGB Social Concerns Ministry is two-fold:
We do this work in conjunction with other ministries within CBCGB, so that we address both the physical and spiritual needs of people, mirroring Christ’s earthly ministry.
2.0 The SCM Committee
CBCGB formally establishes the SCM Committee, which is responsible for:
Committee Composition:
The CBCGB Board of Elders will designate a SCM Committee chair. The committee chair will designate 4 other committee members, so that there are at least 2 members from the Chinese Congregation and 2 from the English Congregation, and submit the names for approval by the Board of Elders. This forms a 5 person committee.
Committee Member Requirements:
Committee Special Cases:
3.0 The SCM Fund
3.1 The Purpose of the SCM Fund
CBCGB recognizes that financial resources are needed to fulfill the goals of the ministry, so the Board of Elders authorizes the Social Concerns Ministry to establish a SCM Fund and grants the ministry permission to solicit funds from the general CBCGB congregation.
The fund will be used for the following two purposes, listed in order of priority:
3.2 The SCM Fund Rules and Governance
Fundraising and prioritizing of financial needs will be governed by the SCM Committee. The SCM Committee will establish a SCM Fund Policy (See Appendix 1) that gives guidelines and principles for the collection and use of funds. In addition, each year the Committee must establish an annual budget proposal for the next fiscal year that includes a funding target and itemizes specific projected expenditures.
A few basic rules regarding the SCM Fund:
These rules are not meant to be comprehensive. Additional details are laid out in the SCM Fund Policy.
4.0 Revision
Any revision to this charter must be listed below with a summary of the revision. The revised charter must be approved by a majority vote from the SCM Committee, and then submitted to Board of Elders for approval.
Revision Number | Summary | SCM Chair Signature | BOE Chair Signature | Date |
0.0 | Initial Version | Joseph Chiu | Ming Tsai | 03/18/2010 |
1.0 | Insert policy on default Fund governance voting requirements [3.2] Update policy on charter revisions [4.0] | Joseph Chiu | 01/05/2011 | |
2.0 | Revise SCM Committee member qualifications [2.1] Eliminate definition of the SCM Team [2.2] and associated roles regarding funds management [3.2] and charter revision [4.0] | Yang-Sheng Tzeng | K. C Chu | 8/11/2012 |
Appendix 1: The CGCGB SCM Fund Policy
3.1 Disaster Relief
6.0 Revisions
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The SCM Fund Policy describes the principles and processes that the Social Concerns Ministry will use to administer the SCM Fund.
1.0 The Purpose of the SCM Fund
CBCGB recognizes that financial resources are needed to fulfill the goals of the ministry, so the BOE authorizes the Social Concerns Ministry to establish a SCM Fund and grants the ministry permission to solicit funds from the general CBCGB congregation.
As the SCM Charter has already explained, the fund will be used for the following two purposes, listed in order of priority:
2.0 SCM Fund Priorities
Within the general goal of furthering God's mercy and justice, there are many specific causes SCM could support. It is extremely difficult to determine a priority among these many causes, since many poverty and justice issues are interconnected in complex ways.
SCM will aim to support a diverse range of issues relating to poverty and injustice. However, this diversity is not a hard requirement. Logistical limitations and limited resources may restrict the number and types of organizations SCM is able to research and support.
Any organization supported by the SCM Fund must:
2.1 Activity Support
Priority for Activity Support will be given to organizations from which congregation members can better learn about and interact with the people whom they are serving.
2.2.1 Official SCM Projects
For projects or trips organized by CBCGB members with a social concerns focus, a CBCGB member can submit a funding request for that project. The funding request form will also act as the review process for official SCM endorsement as an SCM Project. The SCM Committee can endorse a project with a majority vote. Please note that endorsement and project funding are two separate votes, and a vote to endorse a project does NOT denote funding for that project. Funding for the SCM Project will be determined by a separate SCM Committee vote, subject to the same rules as the Charitable Giving fund requests.
For SCM Projects which are run through an external organization, funds requested for the project will be provided to the external organization only, not to any church members. Individual congregant donations must be made to the external organization, CBCGB and SCM will NOT act as an intermediary for any donations. The external organization will issue tax-deduction receipts.
For SCM Projects which are not run with another organization, the project must be approved by the Board of Deacons as official church projects in order to obtain tax-exempt status. Individual congregant donations to SCM projects will be handled like any other church project, subject to Finance Committee policy. These donations will not go into the SCM Fund. The church will issue tax-deduction receipts
2.2 Charitable Giving
The SCM Committee will use a fund request process for Charitable Giving funds: the committee will accept and evaluate requests from CBCGB members to give money to organizations working in the areas of justice or mercy.
How SCM will evaluate Charitable Giving requests
A request must:
A request will be given higher priority if the organization has one or more of these traits:
3.0 Fundraising
A faith pledge will be collected once a year. The pledges will be collected during the SCM fundraising period, which will begin during the annual Social Concerns Conference (SOCCON) and end 4 weeks later. There will be a fundraising goal that is based on the proposed Activity Support and Charitable Giving budgets.
Based on the pledges, the SCM Committee will finalize the budget for the coming fiscal year and submit it for approval to the Church Council.
Fundraising for the SCM Fund is subject to the CBCGB fundraising policy.
3.1 Disaster Relief
Disaster relief funds will not be part of the SCM annual budget due to the complexities of managing money for an unforeseeable event.
The SCM Committee will determine by a majority vote if the ministry will take action on any specific disaster. If so, the SCM Committee will:
Additionally, if it deems necessary, the SCM Committee can:
* requires the explicit approval of the Board of Elders to solicit funds.
The SCM Committee will NOT accept money written out to CBCGB for the explicit use of funding disaster relief at an endorsed external organization. Any collection efforts must comply with the church’s policy on the solicitation of funds.
4.0 Budget
The Activity Support budget and Charitable Giving budget comprise the final budget that the SCM Committee will create and submit for approval to the BOE.
4.1 Activity Support Budget
The SCM Committee will determine the Activity Support budget every year using the following process:
4.2 Charitable Giving Budget
The SCM Committee will determine the Charitable Giving budget every year using the following process:
The SCM Committee will make the final decision on which Charitable Giving requests to approve with a simple majority vote.
4.2.1 Mid-Year Charitable Giving Requests
Mid-year Charitable Giving requests are requests for funds submitted outside of the budgeting process for the current budget cycle. The SCM Committee may approve mid-year Charitable Giving requests immediately with a unanimous vote. The initial payment for mid-year requests will be capped at $1,000. The mid-year request can be revisited at the SCM Committee’s discretion later on to provide additional funding.
4.3 Reserve Funds
There will be reserve funds set aside in case of fluctuations in the amount of giving, as part of both the Activity Support budget and Charitable Giving budget.
The minimum reserve amounts will be the sum of the following:
At maximum, the reserve funds should not exceed 1 year of budget. The SCM Committee will ensure that the reserve funds are maintained at an appropriate level.
Excess funds
If the amount collected from the congregation exceeds the combined budget for Activity Support and Charitable Giving (including their reserve funds), the SCM Committee must find a way to use the money that satisfies the requirements in this policy. That is, the money should be used to fund or expand an activity through the Activity Support funds, or fund or expand giving to a Charitable Giving organization.
Insufficient funds
If there are fewer funds pledged by the congregation than is in the proposed Activity Support budget, the SCM Committee will decide how to reduce the budget.
If there are sufficient funds for the Activity Support budget, but not enough for the Charitable Giving budget, the SCM Committee will decide how to reduce the Charitable Giving budget.
4.4 Budget Approval
The final budget must be approved by a majority vote from the SCM Committee.
5.0 Annual Report
The SCM Committee will publish an annual report that describes how the SCM Fund was used during the most recent fiscal year. This report will be available to any CBCGB member.
6.0 Revision
Any revision to this policy must be listed below with a summary of the revision. The revision must be approved by a majority vote from the SCM Committee.
Revision Number | Summary | SCM Chair Signature | Date |
0.0 | Initial Version | Joseph Chiu | 03/18/2010 |
1.0 | Insert policy on SCM Projects. [2.2.1] Update policy on Disaster Response [3.1] Insert policy on Budget Approval [4.4] Insert policy on Fund Policy revisions [ 6.0] | Joseph Chiu | 01/05/2011 |
2.0 | Eliminate SCM Team role on budgetting [4.1 and 4.3] | Tzeng Yang Sheng | |
波 士 頓 郊 區 華 人 聖 經 教 會
Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston
149 Spring Street, Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
Tel: (781) 863-1755 | Fax: (781) 674-2312 | E-mail:cbcgb@cbcgb.org | Web: www.cbcgb.org