Church Tech budget/plan

[warcher1]

I've been tasked with producing a technology plan for my church. Like most churches we have been using office computers, projectors, website services...etc. And we're also expanding into video and audio production.

Up to this point our technology has been purchased or donated on an as needed basis. There has been no planning for upgrades nor budgeting for funding allocated for future projects. As a result some of the computers we have are 7-8 years old... and I can tell stories about lack of other equipment but I think you get the picture.

I'm proposing to our board that we create an item in the next budget so that we can plan for and control the costs associated with the technology we use. Of course, I will also need to produce a plan that lists proposed turnover rates for equipment and acquisitions so that I could ballpark an appropriate number for the budget committee.

I was wondering if anyone else here has gone through this process and could offer any advice? I'd love to see copies of any technology plans that were drawn up as well.

[boltd]

I don't have a written plan in place, but here are some elements we have used.

1) Try to replace each PC roughly every three to four years. Budget to replace before you have a problem.
2) Take advantage of charity licensing programs from companies like Microsoft. You can save significant $ on Windows and MS Office licenses over what you would get elsewhere.
3) Consider standardizing equipment if possible. We've bought our PCs lately from a local computer shop and it has worked out well for us.
4) Examine bundling of you church's internet access with your phone service. We just switched our business internet from the cable provider to DSL from our phone provider and could save the church over $150/month. Get yourself wired into the process of making these types of decisions.
5) Consider one shared printer vs. a bunch of individual printers. Could lead to cost savings on ink/toner.
6) Tie your technology budget requests to actual ministry needs. Explain why and how you plan to use these pieces of gear. It then become not just an IT and budget decision but a ministry decision.

[Gracetech]

Every time i go into a new job the first thing i do is put together a 5 year game plan. This is basically a priority list to best move ministry forward while keeping as balanced a budget from year to year as possible. Alot of times you just have to simply give your pastors a list of "Capital" projects that are too large to work into a normal budget. You'll have to talk to your financial department to sort all of that out.

What you need to do is put an End Of Life date on all of the equipment at the church. You can get approximate life spans of equipment all over the web. So setup your budget based on that.

crt

[Brad Weber]

I agree that it is often important to relate things to the church's mission and vision rather than just to the technology. A plan that is presented in the context of how it fits into and supports the church's goals and vision is often better received than one that simply addresses the technology and not the purpose for it. The reality is that not only may you struggle with developing a technology plan is there is not also some overall vision or plan for the church in general, but that larger vision will also likely impact the technology plan.

You may have to deal with ongoing operations budgets (recording media, ink and toner, paper, maintenance items, ISP services, etc.), regular recurring costs (annual copyright licenses, scheduled equipment replacement and so on) and specific capital expenditures (new systems or system upgrades/expansion). Not knowing how you operate, you may also have to address human resources budgets such as paid staff, training, volunteer drives and so forth. You might even need to consider aspects such as getting more people involved or significant changes/additions to equipment may affect things like insurance.