Budget and Funding
Budget and Expenditures:
In terms of budget, CAN has grown considerably since 2001, with most of this growth happening since 2008. In 2004 CAN helped 7 clients with total expenses reaching over $ 5,000. In 2007, this amount actually went down to $4,215. But in 2008, CAN served 20 clients with expenses at $8, 534. In 2009, CAN helped 62 clients with expenses reaching over $ 25,000.
This growth in our operations has made it necessary for us to become more deliberate in its fundraising and volunteer appeals. In early 2011, in order to expand our base of volunteers and reach more people in need, CAN created a website, www.christianassistancenetwork.org, and also expanded onto Facebook and Twitter. This will raise our overhead a little, but all of these efforts reflect CAN’s growing desire to connect more volunteers with people in need so that Christ’s love can be shared throughout the Grove City Community. Of every dollar given to CAN, 94% of it goes to helping the clients. The other 6% is spent on administration such as liability insurance and advertising. Here is a chart showing our yearly expenditures. The vast majority of money given to CAN is used to directly help clients.
The largest amount of money goes to help people with rent payments at 36% of expenditures. The next largest percentages are utilities such as Gas and electric at 14% and Vehicle Expenditures at 12%. The remaining 38% is composed of Telephone, Water, Clothing, Food, Heating, Lodging, Medical Expenses, Mortgage Expenses, Scholarships, and Office Expenses. The following graph shows the percentage of money spent by CAN on clients during the 2010 year up to September:
Our Funding:
The Christian Assistance Network is funded through three main sources.
First, CAN yearly receives money from United Way as part of a partnership program. This makes sense for both organizations as CAN is able to help to focus on a specific set of people (those in crisis) while United Way can focus on more long term assistance. In 2010, the money donated through this partnership amounted to $ 20,000, or around 60% of all donations.
Second, CAN also receives monthly donations from various churches in the Grove City Area which amounts to around 35% of funding. Similar to the arrangement with United Way, CAN’s partnership with these churches allows the churches to point people to CAN when CAN can help them the most, when people are in crisis. Eventually, CAN hopes to partner with many churches in the area and become the first stop for people experiencing immediate need in the Grove City Area so that churches and other organizations can stick with what they do best.
Finally, CAN is also funded by individuals who see the need in Grove City and recognize the unique abilities of CAN to meet these needs. As of 2010, this amount was 5% of CAN’s funding. As the other sources of funding are generally fixed, CAN hopes that this area of funding can increase greatly in the future so that more people can be helped. Help support CAN by donating now!
