Executive Council passes $45 million churchwide budget for 2026
Timothy Gee, an Executive Council member from the Diocese of El Camino Real and chair of the council’s Finance Committee, begins the council’s budget discussion Dec. 11 in an online meeting.
[Episcopal News Service] Executive Council, The Episcopal Church’s governing body between meetings of General Convention, met online Dec. 11 and adopted a $45 million budget for 2026 that includes about $3.5 million in personnel savings compared to previous years while spending about $1.5 million on new initiatives led by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, mostly to support dioceses.
Those new initiatives were possible “without making any cuts to any of the programs that were funded in the triennial budget,” Chief Financial Officer Chris Lacovara said in presenting the 2026 budget. It represents a single year of churchwide revenues and expenses as part of the 2025-207 budget plan adopted by the 81st General Convention in 2024.
Most of the church’s revenue comes from the payments it collects in assessments on diocesan income, or an estimated $30 million in 2026, according to Lacovara’s presentation. He also noted that the total budget figures for 2026 are mostly unchanged from the 2025 totals.
A public link to the detailed budget was not available before the council’s vote or by the time of this story’s publication, but it will be added to the story once it is posted by church leaders.
Before the council’s vote, members posed numerous questions on a wide range of topics, including a pending shift to more online meetings, assessment waivers granted to a handful of dioceses, changes to services the church provides to Episcopal Relief & Development, the churchwide response to increased federal immigration enforcement and future spending on creation care initiatives.
The budget also anticipates the closure of Saint Augustine’s University, a historically Black university that has received the church’s financial support in the past but faces the possible loss of its accreditation and dwindling student enrollment. Lacovara said if the university remains open this year, the church will find a way to maintain existing financial support.
The vote occurred despite some members raising concerns that they had not be provided with a complete document with itemized budget lines. The Rev. Molly James, the church’s interim General Convention executive officer, acknowledged there had been “a discrepancy in the files” that, when fixed, produced 60 additional pages for the council to review.
Some called for a postponement of the vote, but House of Deputies President Jullia Ayala Harris warned that doing so could risk missing the church’s deadline for an adopted budget by the end of this year. Rowe echoed that warning.
The budget passed, with 88% in favor. An exact vote total was not provided.
The presiding bishop chairs Executive Council, and the House of Deputies president serves as its vice chair. Its 38 other voting members are a mix of bishops, other clergy and lay leaders. Twenty are elected by General Convention to staggered six-year terms, or 10 new members every three years. The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces elect the other 18 to six-year terms, also staggered.
Executive Council typically meets in person three times a year. No future meeting dates or locations have been posted to the General Convention Office’s website, though Rowe mentioned during the Dec. 11 online meeting he expected council to gather next in February for online sessions, with a longer in-person meeting to follow in June.
