2024 FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

In 2024, we practiced faithful stewardship, nurturing God’s gifts with care and integrity. We are grateful to our Board Members, staff, and volunteers for their commitment to financial integrity, with special thanks to our Finance Committee, led by His Grace, Bishop Timothy of Hexamilion.

Financial Highlights for 2024:

• Clean Audit: For the fifth consecutive year, we received a clean audit from the independent accounting firm of Miller-Cooper & Co., earning an unmodified opinion on our financial statements and practices.
• Growth of Burton Place Funds: Our Burton Place Funds grew by 4.5% to 4.75% through short-term insured certificates of deposit, adding $140,000 to savings, now totaling approximately $3,250,000. As directed by the 2019 and 2023 Clergy-Laity Assemblies, these funds, including earned interest, are reserved exclusively for acquiring a permanent Metropolis Home and cannot be used for programs or operations.
• Strategic Staffing Additions: To support the Five-Year Vision, we enhanced our team with three key hires:
  • We engaged Advantage Accounting Services, strengthening financial management with expert oversight.
  • Jayne McGrath joined as Director of Institutional Advancement, driving growth, donor engagement, and fundraising.
  • Fr. Patrick O’Rourke was appointed Director of Programs and Operations, optimizing efficiency and aligning day-to-day activities with the Vision.
• A Year-End Deficit: Despite record fundraising in 2024, we ended the year with a deficit of nearly 6.5%—our first under Metropolitan Nathanael. This was due to unplanned operational expenditures, including costs related to His Eminence’s tenure on the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate, and key investments in Metropolis staffing and the clergy development.

These outcomes reflect the careful decisions of the Metropolis Council and staff, ensuring accountability to both clergy and laity. Clear delegation of authority, transparent budgeting, and annual audits have reinforced our financial stewardship, nurturing a community that continues to bear fruit in Christ.

2024 SACRAMENTAL SNAPSHOT

In 2024, the sacramental life of our Metropolis bore witness to a vine once again bearing abundant fruit, now several years removed from the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The year brought record-setting joy in many areas of sacramental life:

• Holy Baptisms reached their highest level since 2016, growing by nearly 10% over 2023.
• Chrismations soared to their highest total since 2009—an increase of 50% over the prior year.
• Weddings outpaced every year since 2018 (with the exception of 2021, which was elevated by ceremonies delayed during the pandemic).

Especially encouraging was the remarkable 70% increase in adult baptisms over the prior year. This growth reflects the quiet, steady work of the Metropolis’s Five-Year Vision taking root in hearts across our six-state region—drawing new souls to the life-giving embrace of the Orthodox Church.

In earlier years, we have noted the difference between baptisms and funerals as a simple way to glimpse the health of parish life. Before the pandemic, baptisms regularly outnumbered funerals. That balance shifted in 2020 and held through 2022. But in 2023, green shoots reappeared. And in 2024, the vine grew stronger still: the number of baptisms exceeded funerals by 28%—a flourishing far greater than the 10% margin of the year prior.

This increase is not merely statistical. It reveals that the Church is once again blossoming, drawing its strength from Christ the true Vine, and bearing fruit for the life of the world.