The 2015 proposed budget for the operation of Z88.3
Prepared by James S. Hoge, President, for Z88.3‘s board of directors, staff, listeners and supporters.
This coming year marks 20 years of service for Z88.3 to the Body of Christ in Central Florida and I have been publishing this budget as long as we have had a website to put it on in an effort of transparency. We were new then and now we have a long solid history of our faithfulness and God’s blessing and provision.
That story of transparency and accountability is accurately and independently shown in our audits and the results in the ratings. The budget is the starting point, but the audits and the ratings show how we spent and accounted for your gifts and the wonderful life-changing impact that they have had to present Christ and serve in His wonderful name.
Our goal is to accomplish the mission of Kingdom building with three different radio stations on multiple transmitters all over central Florida plus streaming on the Internet and Smartphones all over the world. In addition to Z88.3 found multiple places on the dial in the region, there are HOT 95.9 our Christian Hip-Hop and R&B offering on HD radio and simulcasted on the Orlando 95.9 FM translator, G106.3 our Urban Gospel offering on HD radio and simulcasted on the Orlando 106.3 FM translator and 103.7 The ROCK our Christian rock and alternative offering on HD radio and simulcasted on the Clermont 103.7 FM translator.
All this impact on a budget of just over 4.4 million dollars a year of which we only need to raise $1,728,000 or $144,000 a month in this campaign. The rest, almost 61%, is already raised or accounted for– The hand of God at work!
If one sees God at work in any ministry, one can safely assume it is a great place to invest your family’s treasure. And with that said and with much gratitude, it is my pledge to always be the good steward with your gifts for God’s ultimate glory alone and to build His Kingdom until He comes. Below, is our best evidence of the faithfulness of the gifts that have been entrusted to us to run this ministry:
Nielsen Audio Ratings (formally Arbitron Ratings)
Currently, your Z88.3 is the most listened to radio station in Orlando! The Z Ratings Page
The Last Four Years of Independent Financial Audits
Z88.3 is a wonderful place to invest your family’s treasure in the Kingdom of God. A gift of any size either ongoing or one time will help us reach the goal. However, I would like to ask if you would prayerfully consider making a $30 monthly ongoing gift to the ministry as a dollar a day is our backbone. To make your gift, please click here to begin. If you have any comments regarding the audits, ratings, this proposed 2014 budget or the operation of the stations, please feel free to contact me or simply pick up the phone during business hours and give me a call at (407) 869-8000.
The question that I receive most often is how the one-time gifts are accounted for- Six years ago, we switched to a single goal system to simplify the need. Therefore, a one-time gift is divided by twelve and added to the total. One-time gifts are nice as they save on accounting and processing costs. We deeply appreciate any gift regardless of how you choose to bless us and you have my promise that we will use it for what it was intended and account for it properly. (See “The Legal Stuff” at the bottom of the page.)
Beyond this point in the discussion, things begin to get technical as we look at the specifics. If you have seen or heard enough and would like to make a secure gift, again, please click here to open our secure server and may God richly bless you! For those who revel in numbers, read on–
Revenue Overview
We do not get our funds from foundations, public funds, large corporate donors, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, etc., like some other listener supported stations. We derive about 82% of station operations from our listeners’ generous donations (for which we are most thankful). However, there is about 18% of the organization’s annual gross income from primarily two other sources: Rental income and the sale of paid public service announcements (“PPSA” or “spots”) to fellow non-profits and churches and limited corporate underwriting.
The rental income is from leases of both real property in the Z complex, and on owned broadcast towers. The spots are sold to fellow non-profit corporations so they can promote their events and services. We do charge a fee for this service. (For more information see On-Air Announcements). Since revenue from rent and spots are not publicly donated money, we can use these proceeds for a non-operations budget to provide some extras such as employee benefits (health insurance etc.) and training, plus sow into other Kingdom work we feel are making an impact for the Cause of Christ around the world. But starting in 2013, we combined the budgets when the revenue from non-donated money approached a million dollars a year. With an amount that large we felt that it was more than prudent to “donate to ourselves” by putting a portion of those funds into operating.
Here is how the Z88.3 2015 proposed operating budget breaks down as illustrated by a pie chart. Simply mouse over the “slices” to see each item and then click to be taken directly to the discussion of that particular line item.
| Accounting, Legal Fees & Professional Services | $10,500 | 2.8% |
|---|---|---|
| Conference and Meals | $2,200 | 0.6% |
| Vehicle Expense | $1,100 | 0.3% |
| Equipment Rental & Maintenance | $8,000 | 2.2% |
| Occupancy | $16,000 | 4.3% |
| Salaries & Wages | $203,500 | 55.2% |
| Postage & Shipping | $2,600 | 0.7% |
| Printing, Publications & Supplies | $3,300 | 0.9% |
| Telephone & Internet | $8,000 | 2.2% |
| Advertising & Promotions | $43,000 | 11.7% |
| Business Insurance | $15,000 | 4.1% |
| On-Air Programming Expense | $18,000 | 4.9% |
| Taxes, Fees & Business Expense | $13,000 | 3.5% |
| Capital, Depreciation & Contingency | $24,500 | 6.6% |
| TOTAL Monthly Budget | $368,700 | 100% |
| Already On-hand from Generous On-going Giving and Other: | – $224,700 | – 60.9% |
| GIFTS needed for 2015: | $144,000 | 39.1% |
The Goal
The goal of this campaign is to raise the balance or just $144,000 a month. This is not as easy as it seems as ongoing giving has been already accounted for, and therefore, new one time gifts and new monthly ongoing giving will be needed to hit the goal. God is faithful and will move in the hearts of who He wants to give. Last year, it took almost two weeks, but the fulfillment rate was 98% on one time gifts and 92% on monthly gifts. This is almost unheard of– God not only moved on the right people, He also provided by His hand what they had pledged!
Did you notice that we didn’t do a special projects fundraiser in May? There was no need this year as we have all we need to complete the projects we had raised money for in past years. The biggest one is the Strong Tower initiative, a 3.8 million dollar capital campaign which should be finally completed early next year. When finished, your Z88.3 will have a “Class C” designation. Class C is the most powerful class of radio station authorized in the United States. This is an exclusive designation only for those stations with the maximum effective radiated power of 100,000 watts and with an antenna over 1,500 feet above average terrain. To think that over twenty-five years ago, we went through the FCC hearings with an application for just 950 watts, certainly God has brought us a long, long way!
The 2015 Budget – the Specifics…
This is how we propose to spend your gifts that you have entrusted us with. The budget is $368,700 monthly or 4.4 million dollars annually or about the sames as a medium size church or parish.
Accounting, Legal Fees & Professional Services
This category accounts for $10,500 or 2.8%, up slightly from $10,000 in 2014.
Our professional help involves using three different law firms on an ongoing basis plus an excellent non-profit accounting firm which just happens to be located here in Orlando, Batts, Morrison, Wales and Lee, P.A.. They have helped our board install strong accounting systems and controls in order to keep the integrity of the ministry beyond reproach. The last four years of their independent audit reports of the ministry are listed at the top of this page.
The professional services portion of this category is generally for consulting engineers who prepare the technical portions of FCC applications and reports.
Conference and Meals
This item accounts for $2,200 or 0.6% of the need and covers business travel, meals, tuition and travel to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, Neilson (Arbitron) fly-in conferences and other. We also host an industry conference, the Christian Music Broadcasters (CMB) conference is at Disney in September each year. Over 700 fellow broadcasters and artist are always very complimentary of waking up to your radio station every morning in their hotel rooms.
Vehicle Expense
This accounts for $1,100 or less than 0.3% of our proposed monthly budget – an addition of $100/month from last year. This maintains and fuels four (4) station vehicles.
Equipment Rental & Maintenance
This line item accounts for $8,000 or 2.2% of our proposed monthly budget, the same as 2014. Most of this budget is for electrical and electronic parts, service and component repair used in broadcasting. Any items that cost $1000 or more are normally capitalized and not in this budget item but in the Capital, Depreciation & Contingency category (click here to be taken directly to that discussion).
This includes maintenance contracts on those items that we cannot repair in-house as well as items such as thousands of gallons of diesel fuel for the emergency generators.
It is normal operating policy to switch to the generators during thunderstorms or high wind events to protect sensitive electronic equipment from power line surges. This has resulted in burning a lot of diesel fuel but has made both the generators and the on-air broadcast much more reliable. And reliable is what we need in order to get you the emergency information you need to help you protect your family in a storm!
By the way, and thanks to your generosity, we have installed large industrial uninteruptable power supplies (UPS’s) to carry the load in case of a sudden power failure or surge at all of our sites. These huge units not only keep us on the air until the generators have time to start and come on-line, but they also condition the power protecting sensitive electronic equipment from sudden and adverse conditions.
Occupancy
This item accounts has dropped significantly from $19,000 a month spent before the purchase of our main 1,600 foot transmitting tower for WPOZ near Lake Pickett in east Orange county and the WMYZ site in Clermont for the Strong Tower project. For 2015, this will now account for $16,000 in expenditures or approximately 4.3% of the monthly need. This balance of this item is primarily for rent for the other tower sites for WHYZ and WDOZ and translators.
Utilities such as electric, water, trash service and lawn maintenance are included in this item, along with tree trimming, janitorial services, pest services, etc.
Salaries & Wages
This accounts for 55.2% or $203,500 of the budget each month, up from 54.4% of the year before, and is our largest single budget item. Included in this category are payroll taxes, salaries and wages for 31 employees.
Postage & Shipping
This line accounts for $2,600 (barely 0.7%) and is unchanged from 2014 but down significantly from years before. The decrease is due to you. Normally, we mail out statements and receipts to everyone giving a donation. The past few years, if you autodraft through your checking or credit card, you have the option to receive your receipts via email. Many of you have switched to paperless and we thank you! (To change your preference on receipts/statements, click here. Log in with your user name and password. Once in, look on the right side-bar click “Change Statement Preferences,” which is the last item under “My Profile”.)
For the receipts and statements we do mail, we are now using volunteers and staff to assemble and process non-profit “bulk” mailings, which has saved a boatload of money over individual first class postage. The balance of the category covers mailing of prizes and the shipping of equipment purchased or sent off to be calibrated or repaired. The slight increase deals with the proposed postal rate increase for next year.
Printing, Publications & Supplies
This accounts for $3,300 or 9/10th of one percent of our proposed monthly budget and is down $200 from last years. Stationery, envelopes, receipts and printing costs are the printing portion. Supplies are mainly office supplies and other consumables.
Telephone & Internet
A better name for this category would be “connectivity” for in this modern age, data and voice are now the same. Connectivity accounts for $8,000 or just 2.3% of our proposed monthly budget and is unchanged from 2014.
This category covers dedicated connections from our studios in Altamonte Springs out to distant transmitter sites. Also included are special circuits for remote broadcasts, dial tone circuits (most VoIP and but some copper), and one HUGE fiber “pipe” to the internet for audio streaming to the world. Also, there are two dedicated fiber connections but most of the heavy lifting is done by our owned private microwave network that circles Orlando, starting from the Altamonte Studios out to Lake Pickett to downtown Orlando to the WMYZ site in Clermont and back again to the studios. That investment has saved us thousands in the category, and because of the loop, is inherently redundant should a link fail.
Because of the nature of the business and our commitment to keep your family safe in an emergency, we have built many redundancies into all our connectivity infrastructure. Our technical director, Randy Woods, has carefully researched workarounds for virtually any failure. This complex connectivity stretches over 150 miles across the state to distant transmitter sites from The Villages, to Melbourne to Palm Coast. This redundancy can save lives during severe weather outbreaks. Multiple systems are absolutely crucial to keep us operating during an emergency to provide the information needed to help you keep your family safe!
Advertising & Promotions
This is the second largest expenditure behind salaries and wages. It accounts for $43,000 or 11.7% of our proposed monthly budget and has decreased $2,000 from last year. Advertising and Promotions covers a major billboard presence, extensive Z bumper sticker coverage, pens, shirts, prizes and other branding items and promotional boggles that help promote Z88.3 and our youth oriented outreaches, HOT 95.9, 103.7 The ROCK and G106.3. All three stations are available over-the-air, in HD or on the web.
This category is pure and simple evangelism. The goal is if you point an individual to Z88.3 or Hot 95.9, 103.7 The ROCK and G106.3, the stations point the way to Christ! Jesus Christ said “I am the resurrection and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me.” and “If I (Christ) am lifted up, I will draw all men unto Myself…”
Therefore, this item is critical to the mission of the ministry. Imagine the effect for the Kingdom if we could double or even triple this category!
Business Insurance
Broadcast and general liability, hazard and loss, and worker’s compensation insurance all account for $15,000 or about 4.1% of our proposed monthly budget and is up $2,000 from last year’s budget and $4,000 the year before that just to cover increased costs.
On-Air Programming
This accounts for $18,000 or 4.9% of our proposed monthly budget and is up $3,000 from 2014. The item includes research in the listening habits of Central Floridians and the costs of Nielsen Audio, formally Arbitron, the service that measures radio listening.
This category also provides talent coaches and program consultants …and we have really “interesting” ones! Check out the bios of consultants John Frost, Alan Mason and talent coach Tommy Kramer!
Voice over work, promos, features, station imaging, traffic reports, news wire and the huge research budget are in this category. Included are a brand new Z88.3 jingles that every four-year-old can sing! (Coming this Christmas and New Year!)
Taxes, Fees & Business Expense
This item is $13,000 or 3.5% of our proposed monthly budget – the same as last year. This category contains the music licensing fees or the “performance rights” we have to pay for the music played on the air and the internet. Also, a chunk is for credit card and bank fees.
Dues, subscriptions and miscellaneous charges are also lumped into this item. We subscribe to non-profit guides, trade journals, newspaper and magazines. Dues are paid annually to trade associations such as the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) and the Christian Music Broadcasters (CMB). Memberships in these organizations often pay for themselves in what we save in insurance pools, supplies and training costs that are benefits with these groups.
Capital, Depreciation & Contingency
This item accounts for $24,500 or 6.6%. This covers capital or “big ticket” purchases for the ministry. The massive shift is due to an increase in non-operating revenue which has help to fund this category.
The term “Depreciation” was added to this line item years back to accurately describe the part of this category that is used to save for the replacement of these capital items as they wear out. Many business budget for this, but very few ministries.
We always squirrel away at least 90 days worth of operating for contingencies. These funds will carry us through a hurricane or other disasters.
Thank you for taking the time to read this! May God move on your heart to stand with us. To make your secure gift, please click here to open our secure server. If you have any comments regarding the budget or the operation of the stations, please feel free to contact me or simply pick up the phone during business hours and give me a call at (407) 869-8000.
Your partnership is vital to our mission! Soli Deo Gloria! (To God alone be all the Glory!)
Respectfully Submitted,
Jim
James S. Hoge,
Z’s Founder and President
The Legal Stuff …or the really technical things the auditors would like me to remind you:
Contained herein is the proposed budget for the operation of non-commercial radio stations WPOZ, WMYZ, WHYZ, WDOZ and associated HD offerings and translator stations collectively known doing business as (DBA) Z88.3.
Z88.3 is owned by Central Florida Educational Foundation, Inc., and is operated by Z Ministries, Inc. Both organizations have the same board of directors and are local Florida not for profit corporations, which are recognized by the IRS as charitable under §501(c)(3) of the tax code. Therefore, all donations to Z88.3, a registered DBA of Z Ministries, is tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed under law.
We assume the solicited and collected are for the general ministry activity of Central Florida Educational Foundation, Inc., and Z Ministries, Inc., conforming to IRS rules for unrestricted use of these monies in station operations unless we hear differently from you.
We have had funds donated for specific projects, i.e., we had a very large donation that went towards the purchase of the 1,600 foot tower for the upgrade for WPOZ. If the Lord is telling you to do something specific, we want to accommodate your desire. Rather than use the regular donor route, please call the office at (407) 869-8000 and ask for Judy Wise, Cathy Ligato or myself and we will manually setup your gift so that it will be accounted for properly and your desires carried out.
Also, we have some who like to make their donation with stock for the tax benefit, see this page for instructions and contact Judy Wise in the office at (407) 869-8000 and she can quickly and easily accommodate your gift.
Bless you!