Just when you thought I’d run out of ideas to save money and free up the church budget, here’s even more.   I managed to slash $4700 out of the 09 budget without dropping any staff positions [in fact adding another 2 day internship position] and I’ve avoided upsetting or disenfranchising anyone either.  I may yet be able to pull off another $1000 yet if I can finesse the budget according to my schemes.

Freeing up dead money or misdirected money is crucial.  Often this year I’ve listened to the worship leader pray after the offering asking God to “bless those who will handle this money that will be able to spend it wisely”.  Well once the budget is set all you do really is spend it responsibly. Now is when I seek to cash in on all those prayers for wisdom, for it is in the setting of the budget where you need it in spadefuls.

Hence my long term money saver.  This one requires a little bit of bravery and a little bit of trust:

We have already made the move to being a paperless church [by and large], but now the next frontier awaits us. The next frontier in saving money and in our IT strategy is to make the move from Microsoft operating systems and office suites to Open Source.  Imagine never having to spend money upgrading to the latest Microsoft OS?  Imagine not having to buy a licence for each workstation for the latest version of Microsoft Office?  Imagine the savings that can come from that and what else that money would be used for?

Linux operating systems are now well advanced and closely resemble even Vista.  The Open Office suite can do everything Office can do, and you can also utilise Google Docs for collaborative documents.  Your church website can be hosted on a Linux server and you can use Open Source web platforms like WordPress or Joomla or Drupal, plus a range of other options that won’t cost you a dime.

It will take time to get used to it, and older members of staff [digital immigrants] may struggle, younger members will be cool with it.  Open Office is compataible with Office documents line Excel, Powerpoint and Word. Calculate just how much money you could save not just in 09 but in the years to come by cutting the chains that Microsoft have around you.  If your internet connection is fast and reliable you may even want to think about using online office suite applications like Google Docs. Take a tour of Google Docs here.