The Olympia Presbytery Newsletter

February 1st, 2024

Full Presbytery Calendar available on olypres.org

Olympia Presbyter Announcements

Regional Resources

National Resources

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Poverty, by America” will take part in the kickoff of a four-week book study being held next month by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Registration is open now for the free online study, which will feature Matthew Desmond in the February 5th session. Discussions will continue each Monday in February to help give participants a heightened understanding of the insidious nature of systemic poverty.

1. Sign up for the Presbyterian Foundation’s online giving system, Vanco.

2. Sign up for TechSoup — for free tech stuff like software & hardware.

3. Use Mailchimp for your church emailer. It's free!

4. Sign up for Google Workspace for Nonprofits for email, file storage, and unlimited online meetings. Also free!

5. Sign up for a Canva Pro for Nonprofits account for online graphic editing. FREE!!!

   Article from Presbyterian Outlook. Click the button below to learn more!

Funding for Church Energy Efficiency or Renewable Energy

For congregations, there are many great webinars and websites out there about how to fund and pursue energy efficiency and renewable energy with financial resources, tax incentives, and pathways provided by this year’s legislation passed through the U.S. Congress. In addition to the curated list below, you can find other great webinars from Interfaith Power and Light as well as Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC).

• Holy Heat Pumps! explains how heat pumps work and how to lower the costs for installation at your churches with the new government funds available to congregations for the first time.

• The Tools & Resources to Green Congregations webinar covers the ways houses of worship and religious institutions can update their facilities to become more energy efficient and save on their energy bills. It also offers important information regarding first-time federal funding available to nonprofits to support investment in energy efficiency and renewables.

• In the Summer Solstice Webinar on Solar Financing, learn about the different ways congregations can finance solar from Jerry Bernstein, author of IPL’s Solar Financing for Congregations. Then take a deeper look at power purchase agreements, one of the options allowing a congregation to install solar with no up-front costs.

• Presbyterians for Earth Care offers a webinar on Federal Funding Resources for Houses of Worship with Tiffany Hartung.

• PEC has tips to save money on church energy bills.

• A follow-up webpage from Interfaith Power and Light has a lot of content; the spreadsheet might be particularly helpful to you, as it has things broken down by types of work.

• This website deals with what is covered by “direct pay.”

• This FAQ may also be useful.

In addition to these webinars and web sites about public funding and tips for saving energy and money, a reminder about the Restoring Creation Loan from the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program. Many congregations have made use of this great resource as a way to get started.

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