Congregational Stewardship

As we approach the completion of the FORTH stewardship development demonstration project, several elements of success have been discerned. Among the findings, we have determined that the chances of successfully implementing a stewardship development program are improved when there is one committed lay leader with a big picture understanding of stewardship development. The successful lay leader has an understanding that raising money for the annual operating budget is but one of at least five stewardship components; stewardship education, joyful giving, ministry and good works, the annual budget drive, and planned giving.

Further, we have learned that chances of success are improved when the lay leader receives consistent guidance from an external coach. The role of this coach is different from the traditional consulting arrangement in which a consultant uses her expertise to tell a congregation how to “do it right.”

A coach, on the other hand, works collaboratively with a client (a Champion of Change lay leader in this case) as a partner to define the lay leader’s goals. Through the coaching alliance the coach and the leader discover appropriate actions, compatible with each lay leader’s values and desires for their particular congregation. In this partnership, the coach and the lay leader work together to find each lay leader’s own answers, to facilitate personal growth, and to help move their congregation forward.

Five lay leaders from the Beyond Fundraising course at the recent Southwestern District Conference have been selected to become champions of change. Each leader is teaming with Wayne to create and implement an 18-month personal plan for leading change in their congregation. Wayne’s role is to guide and coach. The five leaders are doing the heavy lifting. Each has committed to twice monthly phone conversations with Wayne.   The five participants have each identified their individual growth goals, indicated below:

April Chase: A member of First UU Church of San Antonio, TX (382 members), April chairs the stewardship campaign. Her goal is to get congregational approval to move their annual campaign from early fall to late winter. She plans to recruit a stewardship co-chair and additional committee members, host their first lead givers’ reception and conduct an every member canvass.

Kimberlyn Crowe: A member of the UU Church of Oak Cliff in Dallas, TX (77 members) since 2003, Kimberlyn serves as treasurer and annual budget drive chair. Redefining vision and mission statements are key to her goals of a fully funded program budget and a stewardship level of generosity resulting in the donation of weekly cash collections to local charities.

Eric Gribble: Eric is a member of the UU Church of Little Rock, AR (213 members). He sings in the choir and is the annual budget drive chair.  By the end of this pilot program, he wants to incorporate an appreciative annual budget drive as one integral part of a larger stewardship program.

Rob Sartin: Rob is the vice president and stewardship co-chair at Live Oak UU Church in Cedar Park, TX (164 members). His stewardship goals for the next 18 months are to have Live Oak grow its membership, engage in year-round stewardship, fund all programs, and build capital replacement/expense reserves.

Gaye Webb: Gaye is a member of the UU Church of the Brazos Valley in College Station, Texas (93 members). She is currently the treasurer of the congregation and member of the finance committee.  Her goal is to successfully complete the annual budget drive for FY12, receiving financial commitments from 98% of the pledging units and reaching their financial goal.

The Future of Congregational Stewardship Services

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Perspective of Wayne B. Clark, Director

January 28, 2010

As congregational lay leaders become more knowledgeable about stewardship and generosity, we continue to move toward a more collaborative model. We take our services to a higher level as we acknowledge the importance of spiritual generosity in a consumer centric world.

We provide a more flexible template of services by partnering with professional and lay leaders to promote healthy congregational growth. We emphasize the stewardship of shared ministry and fair share giving. We introduce resources (web sites, communication forums, blogs, workshops, articles, books) while not necessarily delivering these resources.

We provide guidance through conference calls, video conferencing and webinars. We continue to decrease our travel to congregations. However, we are still on site to share our wisdom and experience through assessment visits, strategic planning weekends, orientation workshops, annual budget drives, financial feasibility studies and capital campaigns.

We continue to expand the Green Sanctuary program, supporting an ever-increasing number of congregations that are intentionally pursuing stewardship efforts to protect the Earth. We provide a green sanctuary manual and offer workshops for lay leaders. For the past 20 years, we have provided financial support to qualifying congregations. We continue to offer building loans, loan guarantees, grants, and awards to facilitate the growth of our congregations.

We ask more questions, searching for congregational success stories to build upon. We take an appreciative approach, helping congregations identify their strengths, rather than looking for problems to solve. Our assessment visits continue to evolve from the medical model of diagnosis and treatment to an exploration of what’s already working well. We encourage leaders to become experts on the root causes of success while we guide them away from cycles of blame and defensiveness.

We build upon what has been learned during the three-year FORTH stewardship development project; a stewardship development program is most successfully implemented when there is at least one leader with an understanding of, and passion for generosity and spiritual stewardship development. This is especially true when that leader receives guidance from an external coach.

We launch Champions of Change, an 18-month lay leader development pilot program. The program offers a way to help build congregational stewardship. It is not offered as a “silver bullet” solution to all congregational ills. Five lay leaders have begun a coaching alliance with Wayne Clark. These leaders are being encouraged to discover meaningful actions that are compatible with their spiritual values. Wayne coaches them to find their own answers, to focus on personal growth, and to help move their congregations forward.

We add outcomes based evaluation to our well-documented outputs analyses. We begin each congregational relationship by gathering baseline data. We look for our impact upon congregations.  We measure growth and progress that occurs during and after our consultation. We measure specific outcome indicators; what is seen, heard, read, enhanced, increased, altered, begun.  From this data, we continue to tweak our services to help create healthy, vibrant and growing congregations.

The members of Unitarian Church of Hinsdale understand that environmental justice and environmental actions are directly related not only to the Seventh Principle – the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part – but also to the First Principle – the inherent worth and dignity of every person.  Recently, Unitarian Church of Hinsdale has begun working on electronic waste (e-waste) issues.  E-waste that is not disposed of in local landfills but collected in “recycling” efforts is transported to China or developing nations in Asia or Africa.  This e-waste is then processed in primitive conditions, with plastic insulation burned to get at copper wiring, lead-based solder melted over hot plates, and poisonous residue washed into drinking water.  Congregants at the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale felt that they needed to help break this cycle to help heal these environmental injustices. 

After hosting the films The Digital Dump and Exporting Harm to educate the congregation and community about e-waste by, members of UCH found a local responsible electronics recycler through the Basel Action Network (BAN).  The company accepts electronics of all kinds and removes the most valuable copper wiring, pulverizes lead-containing monitor glass for transport to a smelter in Canada, and crushes and sorts the remaining plastic, ferrous, and non-ferrous metal parts.  None of the material is sent overseas and all waste is disposed of in accordance with the BAN recycler’s pledge.  Recently, thirty members of the congregation toured their responsible electronics recycler, Sims Recycling, to see how the electronic devices are dismantled, shredded, and the pieces are separated for recycling.  After this, the UCH Green Sanctuary committee scheduled two electronic recycling events at the church: one in the fall of 2007 and one in the spring of 2009.  The first event brought in 1,800 pounds of electronic devices.  The second event, after being publicized to the wider community, led to the collection of over one ton of material.  Each person dropping off an electronic item paid a fee (as much as $10), to promote the idea that responsible recycling is not free, and received printed materials about the need to recycle e-waste locally and responsibly. 

In the last year, the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale educated the their congregation as well as the larger community about the need to avoid sending e-waste overseas and diverted over two tons of e-waste from less-prosperous countries.  By doing this, the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale demonstrated that our actions (or inactions) have direct and present effects on the conditions in which other people live.  Their efforts help to ensure that the e-waste is recycled and disposed of in responsible and safe ways; this affirms the inherent worth and dignity of those people who could have been affected by irresponsible “recycling.” 

e-Stewards (Sims Recycling is one) are North America’s most responsible recyclers, who uphold the Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship – the most rigorous criteria for environmentally and socially responsible electronics recycling based on the existing international laws and the principle of global environmental justice.  E-Stewards recyclers have pledged not to send hazardous e-waste to developing countries, landfills, incinerators, or prison recycling operations, among other things.

Are you looking for a way to fund an external ministry? Maybe raise some money to support your partner church in Transylvania? Or money for earthquake-ravaged Haiti? Rose Hanig, our UUA bookstore manager, wrote the following article. You can contact her directly at rhanig@uua.org if you have any questions.

 Help…

I just volunteered to run my church book table

A number of UU congregations have books available for sale before and after Sunday services.  Some use the bookstore as a way of raising funds for church programs and others simply to make members aware of the resources that are available.  The UUA Bookstore is always happy to help churches start their own bookstores (also known as book tables and bookstalls).  It is a great way to get our books distributed to people who are not familiar with the UUA Bookstore and to people who prefer to see books before they purchase.

 The following are some of the most commonly asked questions about running a UU church bookstore (A.K.A. a book table or bookstall).  We hope this information will be a handy reference for both novices and experienced church bookstore managers.

 1.)    What kinds of discounts are offered to church bookstores?

We offer Skinner House and Beacon Press books for re-sale at the following discounts:

• 1-9 books (assorted titles published by Skinner House or Beacon Press) = 20% discount
• 10 or more books (assorted titles published by Skinner House or Beacon Press) = 40% discount.

 2.)    Can I get discounts on books that are not published by Skinner House or Beacon?

You will notice in the UUA Bookstore catalog that there are a number of books by other publishers.  The only discounts offered on those titles are quantity discounts: 5-9 copies of the same title qualify for a 10% discount.  10 or more of the same title qualifies for a 20% discount.  There are no re-sale discounts offered on hymnals, pamphlets, or curricula. These discounts do not apply to any edition of Singing the Living Tradition, the Meditation Manual Sampler to any of the sets (Storybook Set, etc). 

 3.)    How do I find out who publishes a book?

In all of our catalogs, the publisher of each book is listed in parentheses after the book description.  The publisher is also listed on our web site.

 4.)    How do I order from the UUA Bookstore?

There are five ways to order from the bookstore:

1. You can call us at 1-800-215-9076
2. You can order on line at www.uua.org/bookstore.  If you have any problem, give us a call at 1-800-215-9076 and we’ll be happy to help you.
3. Mail us your order to: UUA Bookstore, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108.
4. Fax us at 617-723-4805.
5. E-mail us at bookstore@uua.org (all small letters).

 5.) How can I be sure that I get the discount my bookstore is entitled to?

It is extremely important that you let us know that you’re ordering for a church bookstore.  If you tell us that you are ordering for a church rather than a church bookstore, we won’t know to give you the discounts.  Remember the church bookstore account is separate from your church account.  It is helpful if you have your account number available when ordering.

 6.) Since I’m making a big order, is it okay if I throw in items for other people in my church such as pamphlets and curricula?

Because there is a separate account for your church bookstore, this account should only be used for books that are going to be sold at your bookstore.  It will make billing and bookkeeping concerns clearer.

 7.) What are the terms for payment?

You may pre-pay your order with a check or a Visa or MasterCard.  We will also gladly bill your church bookstore account.  Payment for billed orders is due 30 days from the day you order.  When making a payment, please send your check and a copy of the invoice to UUA Bookstore, Lockbox #843151, Boston, MA 02284-3151.

8.) Can I return books that nobody buys?

Books that do not sell may be returned at any time for credit on your account, as long as the book is still in print.  Books that are returned must be in new condition; we also need a copy of the original invoice or packing slip.  If you have any questions, please call us.  Returns should be sent to: UUA Bookstore, c/o PSSC, 46 Development Rd., Fitchburg, MA 01420.

9.) How much time should I allow for shipping?

Books are shipped via UPS Ground service unless otherwise requested.  Shipping takes approximately 5 to 12 business days. Please allow an extra two weeks for order that are sent through the mail.  Rush services are available for additional costs.

 10.) How much does shipping cost?

Shipping charges are based on the total value of your order.   To view the shipping fees on line click on http://www.uua.org/bookstore  or call us.

 11.) Why don’t you ship via U.S. Postal Service Book rate to save money?

While Book rate is less expensive than UPS, it isn’t a bargain.  Book rate can take two to three times longer than UPS.  Packages shipped by Book rate cannot be traced.  UPS always pays for lost or damaged goods.

 12.) What is a backorder?

Occasionally a book may be out of stock.  We will happily put an order for these books into our computer and ship them out to you as soon as they arrive in our warehouse (this is called a backorder).  If part of your order is backordered and part is fulfilled, you will immediately be charged a shipping fee based on the portion of the order that is fulfilled.  When your back ordered item is shipped, a separate shipping fee for the backordered item will be charged.

 13.) What if I have to backorder a Beacon Press book?

Beacon Press titles that are backordered are called Beacon Special Orders. Special Orders are created on separate invoices from your general order. If you have any questions regarding how to place a Beacon Special Order, please call the bookstore.

14.) Where do I turn if this didn’t answer all of my questions?

If you have any questions please feel free to call, write, fax, or e-mail (see question 4) the UUA Bookstore and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

For a child to understand their own connections to the Earth as well as the commonalities between themselves and other children around the world is a priceless gift. This can help children to understand the importance of Earth, its care, and can have a lasting effect on any child. The tradition of oral storytelling, which has been practiced for thousands of years, can act as a connection between children all around the world and their Earth. The tradition continues to grow and change and the book, The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales written by Dawn Casey and Anne Wilson, commits these traditional oral stories to print. Each story is connected in some way and all celebrate the beauty of nature and remind us of the importance of Earth.

There are also some unique characteristics to this book that make it special. Prior to each folk tale, there is a brief history of where the story originated from, and how it has sustained its popularity. Additionally, after each folk tale there is an activity that has some sort of connection to the story or the history of the region from which the story came from. Some examples of activities are how to build a willow den, how to make a pinecone birdfeeder, how to make a song-line painting, and how to make a cornhusk doll. Directions for all activities are simple, materials are inexpensive, and all can be completed in less than an hour.

 The book is compiled of seven separate stories that have come from many different parts of the world; the story of “The Sun Mother” originated in Australia, “Why the Sky is Far Away” came from Nigeria, “She Who is Alone” was born in the American Southwest, “Grumpy Gecko” started in Bali, “The Magic Garden” originated in Kazakhstan, “Amrita’s Tree” began in India, and lastly “Stink Water” was came from Wales. Each story, while unique in its own right, really illustrates the common theme of each individual’s connection to Earth. The stories are creative and can be interesting to both children and adults.

Without giving any content of the stories away, I must say that, after reviewing hundreds of books for the Green Sanctuary Program in the past few months, this is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable “green” books I have read. In fact, as I continue to review new books and gain a deeper understanding of what it is to be “green” in today’s world, I often find myself referring back to this book in conversation with family and friends. This book has helped me to form my own personal concept and understanding of what being connected to Earth means and has helped me to understand the real importance of and beauty of the Earth.

In this tight economy, it has become increasingly difficult for congregations to finance needed building improvements. Are you considering external financing from a local lender or from the UUA to help finance a building project? Because financing can be fraught with peril, I offer the following guidance.

Each congregation has its level of financial comfort. Some are comfortable with a relatively high amount of debt, while others are comfortable only if they are debt-free.

Most lenders, including the Unitarian Universalist Association, consider that some level of debt is healthy and can help a congregation to fulfill its mission. Here are three guidelines for determining an appropriate amount of debt:

• Be sure that annual debt service does not exceed 25 percent of the congregation’s annual operating budget. The Unitarian Universalist Association does not even consider a loan or loan guarantee request if the annual debt service exceeds this level. The concern is not whether the congregation can service its debt; the concern is that the congregation may focus too much attention on making loan payments rather than on fulfilling its mission.
• Keep the total project cost within two to three times the annual budget total.
• Keep the total project cost to a maximum of 50 percent of the total property appraisal (when the project has been completed).

read more »

Port Clyde, home to he fleet of the Midcoast Fishermen's Association, credit Peter Ralston

When First Universalist Church of Rockland, ME (UU Rockland), with other local churches, founded the Area Interfaith Outreach Food Bank, the seeds were planted for a thriving ministry of local foods.  In addition to regularly collecting food for the Food Bank, the congregation participates in the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen where they prepare, serve, pack-up left-overs, and clean-up a meal on the fifth Sunday of the month at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Rockland.

In November 2004 the congregation teamed up with the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Maine Council of Churches Environmental Justice Program to co-sponsor a Harvest Supper potluck with the theme “Thinking Globally/Eating Locally” , featuring locally produced foods,  followed by a program inviting conversation on how food choices impact the environment.  In November 2005 the congregation again participated in the Harvest Supper featuring Russell Libby, Director of the Maine Organic and Gardeners Association speaking on “Who Is Your Farmer?” read more »

Are you frustrated that your fixed costs and employee salary packages represent the bulk of your line item budget? Can you imagine your annual budget development process devoid of drama, line-by-line contentious arguments, and anxiety about which line items to decrease or eliminate? Because this scenario is so prevalent and fraught with negativity, I want to share this information with you.

When congregants are asked to make a financial commitment to the annual operating budget, most want to know where their money is going and how it will make a difference. At the same time, they don’t want to be overwhelmed with too much financial detail. The best approach is to develop a program budget and to communicate it through pie charts.

Program budgeting is a method designed to clarify and simplify the operating budget. A typical congregational program budget divides annual income into four or five sources and annual expenses into four or five broad categories. Pie charts show the proportion of income from each source and the proportion of expenses in each category.

A program budget does not replace a line-item budget. It serves as an introduction to the proposed budget. The program budget proposal is shared with congregants when they are asked to make their financial commitment. The pie charts make it easy to see where financial resources come from and how the congregation chooses to allocate them, including the relative significance of various programs and ministries. These priorities may be altered if the congregation chooses. After the annual budget drive, the pie charts are converted into a line-item budget and presented to the congregation for adoption.

In a program budget, sources of income typically include annual financial commitments, rental income, program fees, and donations. A healthy annual income distribution requires that at least 80 percent of income is derived from annual financial commitments.

A healthy congregation does not use money from the endowment fund to balance an annual operating budget. As explained in Chapter 8 of Beyond Fundraising: A Complete Guide to Congregational Stewardship, endowment fund income is typically designated for capital projects and “rainy day” surprises. Nor should the congregation rely on income from service auctions, church fairs, yard sales, and similar events. Such events offer wonderful opportunities to build community,  they are not cost-effective ways to balance the operating budget. I do not suggest elinating such events, instead I’m suggested that you give these contributions to a local or global community ministry—a worthwhile project or cause focused beyond the walls of the congregation. A sample program budget income pie chart is found below and on page 50 of Beyond Fundraising.

For expenses, consider the following categories: worship and music, lifespan religious education, community within, outreach (or global ministries), and denominational connection. While many Unitarian Universalist congregations allocate up to 10 percent of their operating budget to outreach, many nondenominational evangelical congregations devote 20 percent of their income—as well as many hours of sweat equity—to global ministry programs. A sample program budget expense pie chart is found below and on page 51 of Beyond Fundraising.

Many congregational finance leaders resist program budgeting, saying that congregants want the level of detail provided by a line-item budget. These leaders often believe that the more information people are given, the more money they will commit. On the contrary, line-item budgets confuse many people. At best, most congregants find them too tedious to explore in detail. Many fundraising consultants believe that there is no direct correlation between the amount of detailed financial information provided and the motivation to make a larger financial commitment. Remember: People give to other people, to programs, to ministries, and to worthy causes. People do not give to line item budgets.

So, at the start of your annual budget drive, use pie charts to depict projected income and expenses. Convert the pie chart to line items after you know how much operating income will be available from the financial commitments of your congregants.

On October 4, 2009, the Second Unitarian Church of Omaha hosted a Pumpkin Patch and Fall Festival.  This projected highlighted all four focus areas of the Green Sanctuary program: worship and celebration, religious education, environmental justice, and sustainable living and brought attention to the Congregational Study Action Issue – Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice for 2009-2012.  

Members created a festival plan, designed advertising, built family friendly interactive games, implemented sales of pumpkins, collected and contributed canned donations, sat at booths to run games, prepared food for volunteer workers and interfaced with the public.  The intended scope of the project was to bring membership in alignment with agricultural reality versus the ideal.  Using the religious education curriculum started in January 2009, the children planted seeds and nurtured them into young sprouts.  The teens were introduced to long-term planning and commitments by aiding in the labor to prepare the ground for planting in March 2009 and later to supply the labor to distribute flyers and run the booths at the festival.  Beginning January 2009 church members provided pre- and post- Sunday service commitments by providing the vision, sprouting seeds, transplanting seedlings, watering the patch, consulting and problem solving things like soil balance, predator control, early ripening while reaching out to the church neighborhood and connecting the church to the local community via contact with the Omaha Food bank and surrounding farmers.  

Through the process, the members of Second Unitarian of Omaha learned about the very issues the small organic farmer faces each day, and became more enlightened and compassionate toward the future of food.  They acknowledged the fragile connection we maintain with nature and the intimate pledges we maintain as to how we care for the environment.  Materials for the patch were a collaborative effort of farmer donations, merchant donations, and purchases paid for with money from the sales of Free Trade coffee and teas.  The project yielded sixty-seven pumpkins grown to maturation.  They collected one 55 gallon blue barrel filled with canned food items, and made a $592 monetary contribution from pumpkin sales to the Omaha food bank.   Through the Pumpkin Patch and Fall Festival members celebrated the completion of a multi-faceted, multi-generational educational, environmental justice, and sustainable living agricultural project.  Learn more about the project at Second Unitarian Church of Omaha’s website.

In response to the current economic situation and several requests, with the help of my consultants and support staff, I have compiled best practices that relate to fundraising during difficult economic times.  I especially encourage congregations to remain positive in these difficult times.

Giving During Tough Economic Times

Best Practices

Compiled by UUA Stewardship Consultants

1. Stay positive. Don’t feed the anxiety.
2. Act and lead with confidence.
3. Assume that all will be well . . . Don’t assume the worst.
4. See the recession as an opportunity to revisit your congregational vision and mission.
5. Ask “How important is the congregation to you?”
6. Believe that caring for people always trumps brick and mortar needs.
7. Use pie charts to depict the distribution of the previous year’s spending.
8. Use pie charts to indicate the anticipated distribution of financial commitments when the goal is met.
9. Develop a line-item annual operating budget after completion of stewardship conversations.
10. Do not presume other’s financial situation. Ask everyone for an annual financial commitment.
11. Be pastoral. Focus on “how are you doing” personal conversations.
12. In addition to monetary goals, create a goal for the number of congregants participating in the annual budget drive. Define success more broadly.
13. Sponsor a “turn down the heat” day each week and host a pot luck meal at church.
14. Sponsor a job-seeking club / a referral network / a resume writing workshop.
15. Promote open conversations about “living well in tough times.”  
16. Market a “business is booming” slogan to spread the good news of the congregation.
17. Focus on three key words; help, hope, and home.
18. Emphasize that the faith community is a haven during tough times.