The year we just finished was really an odd one. The economy in Ukraine was actually in worse condition than the US. The “official” inflation rate was over 20%. When you combine this kind of inflation with our growth in ministry, we were forced to increase spending by as much as 65% in some areas. The overall increase was just over 56%.
We had all the elements of a “perfect storm.” The US economy put a strain on our partners. We feel blessed that 2009 giving matched 2008. When you consider we had a capital campaign asking for donations over and above our operating budget and 2009 could have been a disaster.
The strength of the US dollar relative to the Ukrainian currency gave us a very favorable exchange rate. Our dollars went 59% farther in 2009 than they did in 2008! Notice the similarity of those two numbers! We increased ministry costs in local currency by 56% and actually spent 2% fewer dollars.
Did I say this was an odd year? Maybe it was more of a God year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment