Learn how to avoid surprises, save money and protect your property and ministry.
One of the most important things churches and nonprofits can do to stabilize their insurance rates is to take care of their buildings.
Property insurance rates are impacted by the condition of your facilities. If they’re poorly maintained, you become a higher risk to the insurer. That means your premiums may increase or you could even be dropped.
Insurers are attracted to well-maintained properties. This has become increasingly important as church insurers have faced financial belt-tightening. Your investment in the upkeep of your facility can help keep premiums level and make it likely your coverage will be renewed.
An awareness of the need to maintain your church or nonprofit property is a start. But budget know-how is necessary. How do you plan to budget for replacing an air conditioner that seems to be working fine? What’s the easiest and most effective way to budget for this eventual need? And when?
Enter “reserve studies.” This academic sounding phrase describes the process we just detailed with the church air conditioner. Reserve studies answer the question, “How much will I need and when will I need it?” Without a guide, churches and nonprofits are left to guesstimate. Delayed repairs can result in costly emergencies that could have been prevented.
Most churches have not discovered the benefits of reserve studies, but our guest in this webinar is out to change that. Matthew Swain, of Association Reserves, oversees the company’s camps and worship facilities division.
Matthew will explain how reserve studies help organizations:
Avoid surprises
Make informed decisions
Save money by preventing crises
Protect property values
Protect the true mission of ministry
In brief, these studies:
Identify, quantify and evaluate all of the big, predictable projects at your facility
Report how often each project should be completed, how many years of useful life remain and what today’s cost is for each project.
Compare funds already designated for capital reserve to the amount of deterioration that has occurred
Provide a range of funding plans to ensure you understand the true cost of your facilities
“This planning plays a significant role in providing an inspiring and distraction-free worship environment.”
“Regardless of the property type, it’s a fact of life that the very moment construction is completed, every major building component begins a predictable process of physical deterioration. The operative word is ‘predictable’ because planning for the inevitable is what a Reserve Study by Association Reserves is all about.”
OUR EXPERT: MATTHEW SWAIN
Matthew Swain is president of the San Diego County office of Association Reserves and oversees its national portfolio of camps and worship facilities. He joined Association Reserves in 2005, just prior to completing his Bachelor’s of Science in Physics at California Lutheran University. He launched the San Diego office in 2008. Matthew’s background, which gave him a wide range of knowledge in mathematics, statistics, electronics, and fluid dynamics, has been a benefit to clients as he models complex physical and financial change at a wide range of properties.
Association Reserves has been around for nearly 40 years and is the nation’s leading provider of Reserve Studies with a network of 16 offices nationwide. The firm has prepared over 90,000 Reserve Studies for clients across the United States as well as internationally from Australia to Dubai and Thailand to France. The firm has been instrumental in defining and advocating the National Reserve Study Standards endorsed by the Community Associations Institute (CAI).