United Church plans $2 million in cuts as it moves to triennial budgeting

The United Church of Canada plans to basically balance its books over the next three years, aiming to cut $2 million in salaries or grants.

It has also moved to budgeting three years at a time rather than annually, a shift it says will increase predictability in planning and spending and help programs line up better with the denomination’s long-term goals.

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Executive officer of finance Harry Li says triennial budgets are common for non-profit organizations. He offers the example of a General Council meeting, which only happens every three years and incurs significant costs, as a limitation of an annual budget. “So looking at a three-year budget really help us to see the full cycle of the budget planning and strat[egic] plan exercise,” he says.

The 2026-2028 budget anticipates a slight decrease in Mission and Service contributions but reflects higher revenue from congregational assessments, which commissioners at General Council 45 voted to increase over the next two years. Anticipated revenues from Mission and Service are set at $19.5 million for each of the three years, and the denomination expects to receive an additional $2.4 million in assessments in 2026 as compared to 2025.

The General Council office is also expecting to use surpluses from its annuity fund to support the budget, withdrawing $500,000 each year.

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On expenses, the church plans to cut $2 million from salaries and benefits or Mission and Service grants. Li says the General Council office has not decided which category the savings will come from, although the version of the budget shared with Broadview includes a planned $1-million grant cut from 2026 to 2028 and a slow increase in salary and benefit costs from $15.5 million in 2026 to $17.1 million in 2028.

Li says the bump is coming from planned cost-of-living increases and annual salary hikes granted upon satisfactory annual performance reviews. He says there are no layoffs planned.

Also included in the triennial budget is funding for strategic growth initiatives, which GC45 commissioners voted to support with gradual increases over the next three years. Nearly $1 million is budgeted for 2026, rising by nearly another million in 2028.

The new triennial budget means the denomination is calculating its deficit as a total over three years. For example, the church anticipates a $1.67-million surplus in 2026 and a $920,000 surplus in 2027, but a $2.57-million deficit in 2028, totalling a surplus of just over $20,000 for the triennium.

Planning three years at a time also helps support the United Church’s decade-long Toward 2035 vision, says Li, which is broken down into three-year objectives.

Toward 2035 envisions “inspired, resilient, and diverse” communities in the next decade. The strategic objectives for 2026 to 2028 are to embolden justice, invigorate leadership and strengthen invitation (growth).

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Emma Prestwich is Broadview’s digital and United Church in Focus editor.

This article first appeared in Broadview’s March/April 2026 issue with the title “New Approach to Church’s 2026 Budget.”

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