Analysing 2011

The end of year report can be something that you dread doing. It's a long process of analysing what has been achieved (and not achieved) over the year and being upfront and honest with those that engage with you. We're in the process of completing our first annual report, as we were officially commissioned to 'go' into longterm missions in December 2010 (even though we'd been in missions since January of that year. So, 2011 was our first year of the commitment of many churches and individuals who engage with us for our missionary journey. Therefore we want to show them what has been done with their support over this time. One of our learning curves, doing this report, has been remembering the details of what exactly we did each month. Sometimes, so much goes on, that after a year it's hard to pin down what we did when. Therefore, as a learning outcome, we have pledged to write a paragraph summary for the report each month, so that it's not this mammoth document to complete at the end of the year. Finances too were a lot more tricky that I anticipated. As our bank changed from paper statement to electronic format, I thought it would be really straightforward to analyse our financial status/money use. However, it was much much more tricky than that, as the bank in question (not naming it here) does not support Excel/Money/Quicken or anything - just viewing on screen. Added to that, any transactions older than three months are archived, where you have to literally click on each transaction to view the details. This was a very labour-intensive task! So, now, with the end of month summary, I'm going to be doing an end of month draw down from the bank for easier analysis. Yay!

Having said all that, it has been a great process. It has been really encouraging to see just how much we do and how much can be done in 12 months! It was hard in the end to limit each quarter to just three pages of text. We can see God's glory and how He has enabled us to achieve what we've been able to do in this time.

Our annual report is available from 10th April 2012 for anyone who wants it - please email report@ywamafricom.org to get your copy.