Over the last ten years, we have provided consulting services to several international orders of nuns and monks. This work includes the creation of long-term financial and demographic projections.
The context for this work is the decline, in the West, in the number of new professions (life commitment into a religious order) and the resultant decline in the size of the Orders. For most religious congregations, this reduction is significant and points to a potential lack of viability over the next twenty or so years.
The international religious congregations we are working with are exploring the logistics around transferring their mission and education work and underlying assets to lay charities and other Christian organisations who are sympathetic with their mission – so that the work of the order can continue into the future.
Our consulting services include:
- Determining the worth of the order’s assets (largely comprises properties and investments).
- Demographic projections. We have developed a life expectancy simulation model based on mortality rates.
- Long-term financial modelling – usually a 15-year integrated financial model (‘a budget’).
- Presentation of our findings at the Chapter and General Council meetings and other meetings of the leadership.
- Facilitation of meetings with the leadership teams and treasurers as they make plans for the future.