As of this writing, we have received 154 Parochial Reports, providing insight about parish life and financials in 2016. Your efforts in collecting the needed information and filling out the form are greatly appreciated. It occurs to us that you might want to see how your parish compares to others that have reported. Grab a copy of your parish's 2016 Parochial Report and follow along.
As a starter, find line 6 on page 2, which is the Average Sunday Attendance (or "ASA" in Episcospeak). Here is the distribution of 154 ECCT parishes based on their 2016 Parochial Report submissions:
There's more! One thing that might interest you is how your congregation compares to others in terms of stewardship. In 2016, ECCT parishes received a little less than 1 pledge for every "Average Sunday Attendee" (0.85 pledges/ASA was the actual average). Divide line 1 from page 3 (number of pledge cards received) by Average Sunday Attendance (again, line 6 from page 2) to see how your parish compared.
The actual results for ECCT parishes vary considerably, as shown in the exhibit below. Using the ratio you calculated above (Line 1 from page 3 divided by line 6 from page 2), you can see where your parish compared to others based on 2016 submission.
Want to learn about average pledge amounts (line 2 of page 3 divided by line 1 of page3)? The ECCT average for 2015 was just over $2,100, but ECCT parishes are located in towns whose residents have very different financial circumstances. As a result, it makes sense for you to compare the average pledge amount for your parish with the averages for parishes serving communities with similar financial circumstances.
The table below uses Median Household Income (as estimated by City-data.com) to reflect differences in financial circumstances for the communities served by our parishes. [You can get on the same page with the information in the table below by Googling "[your town name] CT city data" - the estimated Median HH Income for your town is presented about seven lines down, below population, gender distribution, median age and zip code data]. How does the average pledge amount for your parish compare to those of parishes serving communities with similar household incomes?
All good things must come to an end, and it is possible to have too much fun with Parochial Report data, but since you've gone to the trouble to find out the Median Household Income for the town your parish serves, here's one last fun comparison you can make.
Divide the Pledge, Plate and Regular Support amount in line 3 of page 3 by our old friend Average Sunday Attendance (line 6 from page 2) to get a ratio we can call Contributions/ASA. As we have seen, parishes differ in terms of pledge participation, but Pledge, Plate and Regular support is meant to capture all contributions to support parish operations (pledged and un-pledged), so this is an important measure. Contributions/ASA
varies depending to some degree on the financial circumstances of the towns served by ECCT parishes, as shown below.
Given the considerable scatter in pledge participation, average pledge amounts and contributions/ASA (even after correcting the last two measures for community income differences), it sure would be good to know why outcomes among parishes serving communities with similar financial circumstances vary so greatly...
...but that is a tale for a different day!
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