Managing Your Church

I. Thou shalt not allow the church's intellectual property to be used for personal purposes.

Rule: Under the work for hire doctrine, any property developed within the scope of the job duties of an employee is the property of the employer.

Practice Tip: An intellectual property ...

Image: Lukas Blazek / Unsplash

We recently fielded this question from a church administrator in Virginia:

Is there a minimum gift amount for which a contribution statement must be issued? For instance, if someone visited the church one Sunday and dropped a $10 check in the offering plate, is the church obligated ...

As the current president of the Christian Legal Society (CLS), Attorney Sally Wagenmaker is well-acquainted with myriad potential legal issues facing the church today. With this in mind, she led efforts to add a “Pastors’ Forum” to the CLS national conference ...

A new email scam poses a significant threat to employers including churches, says Batts Morrison Wales & Lee (BMWL). The accounting firm issued this warning on September 13:

BMWL has learned from multiple sources about a new attempted scam related to employee payroll direct ...

One of the most common questions we get when helping churches manage their employee search relates to compensation. While I wish there was a one-size-fits-all answer for this question, the truth is that every church is unique and needs to answer this question for itself.

When ...

Years ago, my firm researched the current tech directions and strategies in play at the time and decided to buy what looked like a very promising technology platform. It meant our computer would cost a bit more than most, but the benefits looked promising.

The newer technology ...

Churches allocate nearly half of their budgets to staff compensation, according to the recently completed 2019 Church Budget Priorities Study from Church Law & Tax.

The finding closely mirrors findings from its predecessor in 2014—but compared to surveys conducted in ...