“As long as there is no supply, there will always be a demand.”
I don’t know if that makes economic sense, but it seems to describe the plight of Church techies: always feeling short on equipment and long on projects.
Church techs are part of a proud fraternity, which boasts MacGyver as our hero. Can you blame us? We, too, must complete daunting tasks with only duct tape and a pocket knife.
Okay, maybe it’s not that intense, but we are often found operating on a shoestring budget.
Right now, my church is working on redoing how we budget for our groups, events, and—I hope—our technology. We usually just wait for something to break. Then, we buy a replacement off of eBay or Craigslist. Of course, doing so often puts us in a place where a lot of different items need to be replaced at the same time. It also creates tough choices, “Is this item ‘broken’ enough to warrant replacement? Or can we squeeze another fiscal year out of it?”
Please don’t take that as a critique of our leadership: they’re trying to be good stewards, and I respect that.
It’s hard to change the way you’ve handled finances when you’ve handled them only one way for almost a hundred years.
How about your church?
Does your church budget for your technology needs?
Where do you look for ways to buy ‘new’ on the cheap?
[Image via r-z]
Ken McIntyre says
http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/ is a place to get tons of software and hardware on the cheap (especially for non-profits).
Phil Schneider says
Thanks, Ken. It looks really sweet. I’ll definitely be spending an hour this afternoon pouring through this. What has your experience been with TechSoup?
Phil Schneider says
Whoops! It looks like you have to be based in Canada to make use of it. Sadly, we’re located smack dab in the middle of the US of A: land of the free, home of the ridiculous mark-up.
Stacy Uden says
Tech Soup is based in California. Try the US site here: http://www.techsoup.org.
While the site and the store appears quite useful, many of the individual products/companies (e.g., donations) have restrictions that prohibit any religious organizations from purchasing their products.
Phil Schneider says
So, it’s still sad news? Awww.
Aaron Busse says
I have found some good deals at local auctions. I purchased many screens and carts for less then $20 (total) from public school system auctions. If you have the time, deals can be found.
Phil Schneider says
I completely agree. Our pastor is an auction hound! He’s always looking for a good deal, and he’s found quite a few. I guess it just sees that we’ve bought a few duds in the past year or two, specifically an amp that went out and took two subs with it. 🙁
Tre Lawrence says
I feel ya, Phil!!!
We do not have a technology budget. We piece things together and acquire stuff when blessed.
Phil Schneider says
It’s a tightrope, but we walk it with a purpose: to be faithful with what God has entrusted to us.
robbie foreman says
We buy all of our equipment new. We have put in place a Fix/Break line item in our budget. This line item allows us to put money aside every year to replace or fix our equipment. The formula looks like this…
(Replacement Cost) / (Remaining Lifetime) = Budget
So if you have $28k worth of equipment, with just rough lifespans, to replace everything when it dies, you would put away about $7500 a year. This method has worked great so far.
Phil Schneider says
Sounds like a pretty good formula. Did you guys create it in-house or are you following a budgeting program/counselor’s advice?
robbie foreman says
Our tech guy that we hired when we planted 5 months ago suggested it to us. He said he used it while on staff at Seacoast Church .