We give as a response to the gift of mercy we've received from God through Jesus. We don’t give out of obligation or to earn God’s favor—we give as an outpouring of a heart that worships Jesus. Giving is an act of worship that pleases God and increases our faith. As we give generously, our lives are transformed to look more like Jesus. It teaches us to trust God and submit everything to Him because everything we have comes from Him. When we give generously, God is glorified, our hearts are transformed, and lives are changed in Austin and around the world.
As a church, we deeply value the ways in which we steward our finances. Every dollar spent is done for the flourishing of God’s kingdom and the mission He’s called us to. Sometimes that means spending money to keep the lights on in our office and other times it means sending financial support to our goers overseas. We care deeply about the “why” behind every dollar we spend because we want to steward each dollar in a way that advances God’s kingdom.
We recommend setting up recurring gifts through one of the ways below! These recurring gifts help our church wisely plan for the use of resources and manage cash balances. If you set up recurring giving, you’ll receive an email confirmation for each gift that helps you keep track of your gifts and will serve as a reminder of a worshipful and faithful act!
This is the church’s preferred method for giving large, one-time gifts because it eliminates transaction fees.
Checks can be made payable to “The Austin Stone Community Church” and dropped off at any campus during service or mailed to:
The Austin Stone Community Church
ATTN: Finance
104 E Highland Mall Blvd, Suite 110
Austin, TX 78752
Giving appreciated securities like stock or mutual funds often allows you to maximize your giving!
While selling a security could result in a capital gains tax liability, giving appreciated stock directly to the church could help you avoid that tax.**
If you'd like more information about giving stock or mutual funds, please email finance@austinstone.org.
**As always, please consult with a tax professional or financial advisor to see if this could be a good way to give for you.
IRA Distributions
Giving from your IRA is a great way to support the church, especially to satisfy a required minimum distribution.** Please refer to the IRS website for more information.
Estate Planning
The Austin Stone Community Church can be listed as a beneficiary in a will, trust, or life insurance policy.
If you'd like more information about IRA distributions or estate planning, please email finance@austinstone.org.
**As always, please consult with a tax professional and financial advisor to see if this could be a good way to give for you.
Your giving supports the mission of our church to love God, the church, the city, and the nations. To understand how your giving impacts this mission, please view our audited financials.
The Austin Stone is a certified member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. To learn more about financial accountability at The Austin Stone, click the "Learn More" button.
To cancel a recurring gift, go to The Austin Stone Give Page and navigate to “Your Account” in the top-right corner and select “Manage my Account.” Log in with your phone number. On the home page of Pushpay, navigate to your recurring gift and select “Edit.” From here, you may pause or cancel your gift.
To change your payment method, go to The Austin Stone Give Page and navigate to “Your Account” in the top-right corner and select “Manage my Account.” Log in with your phone number. On the home page of Pushpay, navigate to your recurring gift and select “Edit.” From here, select “Edit Recurring” and then “Change payment method.” Update your method and then you’re all set!
To comply with the IRS’s charitable contribution requirements, the church does not refund charitable contributions. For an individual’s gift to be considered a charitable contribution, the gift must be irrevocably made without any encumbrances to its use. Because of this, the church is not required to refund charitable contributions.
Exceptions to this policy may be made at the discretion of the Finance Team and church elders for accidental and/or duplicate gifts.
You can view your giving history by logging into your Pushpay account from The Austin Stone Give Page or through CCB. Through Pushpay, after logging in with your phone number, navigate to “Transactions” to see your past gifts. Through CCB, navigate to “Involvement” and then “Financial” followed by “...” then “Giving Statement.” After selecting your desired date range, you can see your giving history in that timeframe.
Yes, we send out giving statements each year by January 31. If you have a login to CCB, you can generate your own giving statement anytime during the year.
As a church, the budget is managed by fiscal year. Every spring, the church initiates a budget process to create the budget that will take effect the following August. The first step in the budget creation process is prayer and planning by the church’s elders, which helps align ministry needs with the anticipated resources in the coming year. Practically, this planning process starts with the church’s elders setting vision and church-wide initiatives in plurality.
Based on the provided direction, the church’s executive team begins to allocate available resources to accommodate future needs. While this part of the budget process is done from the “top down”, our ministry leaders also pray and plan for the upcoming year based on the elders’ direction. They are given opportunities to request additional or reallocated resources from the “bottom up” (and, when appropriate, are asked to take a zero-based budget approach). Additional requests are escalated to the executive team, and all budget changes are agreed upon in plurality by the church’s executive team. Throughout this process, the church’s Operational Elder team is informed of all budget increases and any major reallocation of existing resources.
Once planning is complete, every church ministry submits its budget to a system that allows the church to monitor and manage the budget. This budget is then presented to the Operational Elder team and the greater elder body for approval, then to our partners for affirmation.
Throughout the year, executive pastors and ministry leaders monitor their ministry’s spending against the approved budget, with support from the executive team and financial team. Frequent monitoring and financial management by our ministry leaders ensures accountability and faithful stewardship of the approved plans and finances of the church. The church’s executive team reviews spending against budget and financial trends monthly, and the Operational Elder Team reviews the church’s financial health at least quarterly.
While the church tries to plan and budget with much prayer and wisdom, we know from Proverbs 16 that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Over the year, if the church needs to revise, adjust, or reallocate budget resources, the executive team makes decisions in plurality, and significant changes are reviewed and approved by the church’s Operational elders.
Lastly, an independent external CPA firm audits the church’s financial statements to ensure accuracy and accountability. Financial statements are made available at austinstone.org/give.
Feel free to contact our Finance Team with any questions at finance@austinstone.org.
