Washington National Cathedral will eliminate 30 jobs, drastically scale back the Cathedral College of Preachers and cut US$8 million from its current budget because of the global financial downturn.
In a November 19 news release, Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III said the cuts are "financially prudent" and are "necessary to protect our important work in the city and the nation.
"Like many other institutions around the world, Washington National Cathedral has been affected by the current downturn in the financial market," said Dean Lloyd. "And this is having a serious impact on invested funds that we have used to support our mission."
The cuts include:
• outsourcing retail operations in the cathedral's Museum Store to Event Network, Inc., a third-party vendor, to save on operating costs and guarantee "income significantly greater than [has] been earned in recent years." Half of the store's employees will be able to stay on with Event Network, the release predicted;

• eliminating another 30 staff positions and all vacant positions, including several senior administrative positions, to put the total staff at 94. No clergy will be let go;

• discontinuing the Cathedral College residential course offerings (formerly known as the College of Preachers) from March 31 and scaling back other college programs;

• establishing an Office for Cathedral Volunteers.
This is the second round of budget cuts this year, the cathedral's centennial. In May the cathedral took US$3.5m out of its budget, laid off 33 people – including clergy – and closed its popular greenhouse.
More than 700,000 people visit the cathedral or worship there each year. It is the seat of the Diocese of Washington and has been used for three presidential funerals and numerous national prayer services.
It does not receive any funding from the diocese or the wider Episcopal Church. Nearly two-thirds of its annual budget comes from contributions, according to the cathedral's annual stewardship report for fiscal year 2008. Its donors range from businesses, foundations to individuals.