About our “Gift”

The UUFM Board, anticipating that we would call a settled full-time minister, began to build up our Reserve Fund back when Rev. Don Cameron served us as Interim Minister.  Bequests from past presidents Cheryl Lee and Lisa Cook provided the Board with $200,000 in one-time funds. When we were between minister, members maintained their pledges even though we did not have the ministerial expense, and the Board reserved almost $50,000 from that.  Through the generosity of the congregation, careful budgeting, and those bequests we were able to build a fund to $250,000 by the time we were ready to call Rev. Rita as our minister.  While our annual operating income was too low to fully support all of our expenses, we could show her a plan that would draw down that Reserve in gradual steps over 7 years, at which time our annual income would balance our expenses and we would still maintain a prudent operating reserve of 10%.  Without those donations we would not have a minister now!

To accomplish this, we need to grow our annual pledges by 8-10% a year for the remaining six years.  Not all of this growth need come from existing pledges—new members and new pledges from current members will also be part of the solution.  Last year we took only $14,486 from the gift (compared to $46,726 budgeted) due to a combination of the Federal Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and a large unexpected gift. This year we have received $12,000 more in PPP than budgeted which will reduce the draw on the gift to $38,000 if everything else meets budget.

This year, we will be asking everyone to pledge their support in March for the coming year.  If you are already a pledging member, please consider increasing your pledge by 10%.  If you are not a pledging member, please consider making this the year that you commit to supporting our liberal religious community.  And know that a pledge of $0 is always an option—we value your membership more than your money and know that you support us in whatever way you can.