2024 Year in Review
financial overviewAs we entered into the final year of our “establishing” phase as a church, we recognized that being firmly rooted required more than just a presence in our city or a physical space – it meant being rooted and established in love. In 2024, our focus was on God’s love for us, knowing and experiencing it, and centering ourselves around it, so that we would be equipped to pour out His love generously to those around us.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
– Prayer for the Church in Ephesus, Ephesians 3:17-21
Knowing God’s Love
This year, our church remained committed to teaching and equipping God’s people, recognizing that knowing God’s love goes beyond head knowledge – it requires communion and unity with one another.
Sunday Teachings
This year, we focused on God’s love through the lens of identity, desire, healthy attachment, and more.
Community Groups
Over 61 Community Groups practiced the way of Jesus together, diving into the spiritual disciplines of fasting, generosity, and hospitality. This year, CG’s launched more spaces for families and children, including Tuesday night Children’s Small Groups so that both kids and parents can learn, grow, and find depth of community at our church.
Essentials Course
As a part of our commitment to creating more opportunities and clear next steps for spiritual growth, we introduced our Essentials Course: a four-week course designed for anyone looking to explore or rediscover the foundations of Christian faith. Through personal reflections and group discussions, over 50 attendees engaged with topics such as Christian identity, sustainable spiritual growth, and living out God’s mission in the world.
Experiencing God’s Love
Worship Through Music
As a church, we created space to linger in God’s presence, learning to open our hearts to His love and experience it in deeper and more transformative ways. We hosted several new spaces of musical worship for our church to meet with God, both individually and communally.
We hosted Dwell Nights, a monthly rhythm of pausing to pray, worship, and experience God’s love and presence together. We also held Sacred Space: Harp & Prayer Hour, a dedicated time for individual contemplation, meditation, prayer, and stillness, where harpist Kristin Lloyd played over the space.
Encountering God
This year’s conference focused on learning to be more in tune with God’s Spirit in our daily lives while encountering His presence together as a church. Our friend Mark Sayers spoke on the importance of both form and fire in seeking God’s presence, while other contributors explored how we can encounter God in everyday moments—through work, suffering, parenting, dating, and more.
Sharing God’s Love
Drop-in Center
This year, we launched our Thursday morning Drop-in Center, a space dedicated to serving the families of the Stay Over Program at Buena Vista Horace Mann School. We have been blessed to serve these families, providing a safe and hospitable environment for them to rest and enjoy a warm meal before work and school begin.
Alongside our Drop-in Center, we continued loving our neighbors through the weekly Food Pantry, which served 260 households per week. Additionally, we brought back (by popular demand!) our Senior Summer Brunches, where older folks from our church and neighborhood gathered three times throughout the season for a meal and connection with one another.
The Year at a Glance
1,557 Attendees Worshiped with Us Every Sunday in Person & Online
35 Members of our Community were Baptized
Over 700 People from our Church & Neighborhood Attended our Harvest Festival
235 Newcomers Joined Welcome to Reality
111 Kids Learned & Played at Vacation Bible School
3,301 People Celebrated Easter with Us in Person & Online
209 New Volunteers Stepped into Serving
32 Children were Dedicated to the Lord
More than 735 Congregants Practiced in Community Groups
Sharing Our Resources
2024 Financial Overview
Our church remains a community devoted to reflecting God’s radical generosity! We are deeply honored and blessed by the sacrificial giving of our church, which has enabled us to pour into our neighborhood and city in meaningful ways.
Thank you for your dedication to Reality’s mission and vision through your financial support. Because of your remarkable generosity, thousands of lives—both within our church family and beyond—have been impacted. Your giving supports our benevolence and church revitalization initiatives, as well as our Justice & Outreach Ministry. This year alone, we provided $800K towards these endeavors, equating to 13% of our total 2024 giving. Your thoughtfulness and sacrifice allow our church to flourish, bringing light and hope to our community.
This year was especially remarkable as congregational giving exceeded our planned expenses by $550K, providing additional resources to support our ongoing ministry efforts. Additionally, we successfully raised the full $750K for our Year-End Initiative, which allowed us to fund local partner gifts, invest in 2025 facility improvement projects, and replenish our debt paydown reserve. Finally, we made significant progress in financial stewardship by paying down $1.2M in principal mortgage and debt obligations.
We’re incredibly grateful for the progress made in reducing our initial $14 million mortgage over the past three years. As of December 31, 2024, our loan balance stands at $10,782,843. We look forward to the day we can pay it off entirely and invest even more in ministry, care, and compassion.
Your generosity enables us to live out our mission daily. Through God’s provision and your faithful giving, we are laying the foundation for new initiatives and expanding our impact in our neighborhood and across the city. We eagerly anticipate how God will continue using this community to bring His kingdom to San Francisco as it is in heaven.
2024 Congregational Giving: $7,045,630
Grants: $661,690
Total Giving: $7,707,590
Ministry Expenses: -$1,027,944
Justice & Outreach, Benevolence & Church Planting/Revitalization: -$801,639
Facilities & Operating Expenses: -$884,676
Personnel Expenses: -$3,557,373
Ministry Expenses include, but are not limited to: Children, Youth, Care, Creative & Music, Community & Formation, Outreach.
Justice & Outreach, Benevolence, & Church Planting: 13% of our budget was invested in justice, care for those in need and church planting and revitalization.
Facilities & Operating Expenses include, but are not limited to: Mortgage, building and property maintenance, utilities, insurance, office equipment, supplies, etc.
Personnel Expenses include, but are not limited to: Wages, salaries, and payroll taxes for all staff and benefits.
Reserves: +$554,014
*This surplus will be reserved for future ministry development including but not limited to: Expanding programs such as Alpha, various facility upgrades, repairs, and improvements, mortgage pay down and new ministry initiatives in the coming years.
Last year, forty exceptionally talented congregants dedicated their time to serving on committees focused on finance, organizational health, architecture, and stewardship. These committees have faithfully provided guidance and recommendations to our elders, board, and executive leadership team on the allocation of initiative funds, including those raised during our 2024 Year-End Initiative, ensuring distribution based on ministry needs and strategic impact.
Mortgage Balance: $10,782,843*
1st Mortgage Cass Bank: $8,782,843
2nd Mortgage Northgate: $2M
*2024 Debt Paydown: ($1,283,571)
2025 Board Approved Budget: $6.8M
Reality SF is a certified member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). ECFA certification is based on Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship, including financial accountability, transparency, sound board governance, and ethical fundraising. When an organization is certified by ECFA, it demonstrates its willingness to follow the model of biblical accountability. View our ECFA press release.
If you’d like to receive a Monthly Financial Reports email about our giving and how it’s lining up with our annual budget and monthly giving goals, subscribe to this list.
To learn more about our ECFA certification, 2021 CPA-audited financial statements, and our approach to generosity and financial accountability, please visit our giving page.
If you have any other questions, please email give@realitysf.com.
