Stronger Together: It Takes a Village!
In her column, Rev. Fabiola Grandon-Mayer reflects on the spirit of unity and collaboration that made the 2025 Annual Conference a meaningful and inspiring gathering. From worship to legi…
Apportionments allow us to do together what no church, district, or annual conference could do alone.
Watch the 2024 Apportionment Video Message from Bishop Dan Schwerin
What is Connectional Giving?
Connectional Giving is one of the founding ideas that the United Methodist Church was built upon.
Participating in connectional giving helps us to be in mission with people and congregations around the world - giving every church, regardless of size, a larger mission footprint.
Connectional giving includes Apportionment giving (Northern Illinois Conference Fund and General Church Apportioned Funds) as well as Mission Link (The Advance) giving.
Connectional Giving demonstrates our connectedness to one another, to God and to the body of Christ.
Why Give to Apportionments?
Apportionment giving is based upon the desire to meet the needs of God’s family NOT just in our neighborhoods, but around the world. Apportionments are also based on our need to give in order to be spiritually healthy, complete children of God.
We send the Apportionment funds out of our blessing that Christ might be known in transformative ways. Apportionments provide avenues for giving so that we can be strong local churches & annual conferences and a strong connection throughout the world as we seek to be in mission and ministry together. The funds demonstrate our connectedness to one another, to God and to the body of Christ.
What are Apportionments?
Apportionments are the way that congregations are connected to the conference and the world. Apportionments are used to fund the global mission and witness of our church, to help provide the necessary structure to respond in moments of crisis locally, nationally, internationally, and to develop and nurture the leaders we need today and tomorrow.
The basic idea behind apportionments is that local congregations send some of the money they collect to accomplish things that are either beyond their ability to do as individual congregations or that can be done more effectively or efficiently together. Apportionments allow the church to produce goods and services funded by all for the benefit of all – collective goods.
The connections of the church are more than institutions; the connections are the means God uses to convey grace to the world.
Are These "Special Gifts”?
Apportionments are not to be considered “special gifts,” but rather, they are similar to our tithes that we give to our local church. These funds are to be set aside and given first priority in our church budgets.
Apportionments are our first-mile of mission giving. They form the framework for the rest of our connectional ministry and mission. First-mile giving ensures 100 percent of gifts to Advance Specials, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Imagine No Malaria, Love Offerings, Special Sundays and many others that benefit the desired mission or ministry.
We encourage all churches to go the second mile to become a Mission Links church by participating in The Advance mission giving and continuing to support the good work across the connection.
How are Apportionments Calculated?
NIC 's new, simple, equitable apportionment formula, passed at the 2025 Annual Conference:
- churches with income under $250,000 will be apportioned 8 percent of their income
- churches with income between $250,000 and $750,000 will be apportioned 10 percent of their income
- churches with income over $750,001 will be apportioned 12 percent of their income.
The new formula comes with these rules:
- Income shall be defined according to each church’s statistical report.
- It shall be computed by subtracting the amounts on lines 53 and 54b from line 55 on the apportionment remittance form. (Line 53 reports capital campaigns amounts and other designated projects, and line 54b reports the Advance Special, Apportioned, and Connectional Funds the church received.)
- A church’s apportionment will be figured on the most recent income information that it has submitted.
- There will be no appeal process.
- Previous appeal and adjustment limitations will no longer be in effect.
Apportionments denote an understanding that the purpose of the church is not just to care for its own members but also to reach out beyond itself to engage with the world, to minister to the world, to be in mission to the world.
