Churches & ministries
Your church is a mission.
It's also a business.
Most financial help understands one or the other.
The convergence
Why we're the ones who get this.
A church has a calling. It also has payroll, a mortgage, a facility, insurance, and staff who need to be paid whether giving was strong last month or not.
Ben came from the mission world. He built an international anti-trafficking organization to 45 locations across 12 countries.
James came from Big Four corporate finance. Former Director at PwC Turnaround & Restructuring. He's led a $2 billion manufacturer through Chapter 11.
A nonprofit accountant doesn't understand your operating business. A business CFO doesn't understand your mission.
We've run both.
The problem
What we hear from church leadership.
“Staff costs and giving are out of balance — and I don't know when that became true.”
“Giving is unpredictable. I can't plan against it.”
“I don't know what we should be paying our pastor. Nobody does.”
“The building is eating everything else.”
None of these are bookkeeping problems. Every one is a decision someone has to be in the room to make.
Pastor compensation
How much should we pay our pastor?
It's the most avoided question in church finance.
Elders guess. Boards defer. Nobody wants to say a number out loud — so it never gets set, or it gets set once and never revisited. Meanwhile the pastor can't ask; asking looks like self-interest.
We make it a process instead of a feeling.
We answer three questions, in this order:
What can the church actually sustain?
Not what it gave last year. What it can carry if giving softens.
What do comparable churches actually pay?
Your size, your region, your staffing model. Real comparisons, not anecdotes from the district.
Does the number hold under pressure?
If giving drops 15% for two quarters, does this compensation still work — or does it force a decision nobody wants to make in a hurry?
Then somebody who isn't on your board says the number out loud. That's most of the value. It's not that the math is hard. It's that the conversation is.
The full pastor compensation framework →You're not being asked to choose between stewardship and strategy.
Services for churches
Questions people ask
Frequently asked questions
- How much should a church pay its pastor?
- There's no universal number. It depends on what the church can sustain, what comparable churches pay, and whether it survives a downturn.
- What's the difference between a church bookkeeper and a church CFO?
- A bookkeeper records what happened. A CFO decides what happens next.
- Our giving is unpredictable. Can we even budget?
- Yes. Unpredictable giving is a forecasting problem, not a reason to stop forecasting.
- Do we need a CFO if we already have a treasurer?
- Often no. A treasurer with real financial training and time is a strong position. Call us when the questions outgrow the hours.
- Should we take on debt for the building?
- It depends on whether the giving that services the debt is durable, not just current. We model the repayment against your realistic giving base, stress-test it against a downturn and a leadership transition, and show you what the payment does to your operating margin before you commit. Plenty of churches can carry building debt well — the ones that get hurt are the ones who sized it off a good year.
- Is a fractional CFO a good use of ministry money?
- If a wrong financial decision would cost more than $2,500 a month, yes.
- Who is MyGoodCFO not a good fit for?
- Businesses looking only for basic bookkeeping, tax filing, or the lowest-cost option. We're also not a fit if you want reports without engagement, or advice without accountability. We work best with owners and leadership teams who care about clarity, integrity, and building something they're proud of.