Generosity

U.S. Giving Rose Overall During 2010

Individuals in the United Stated increased their philanthropic giving in 2010 by 2.1%, despite the pace of economic recovery. While this rate of increase still shows we have not rebounded to pre-recession levels, it is a “remarkable testament to the core values of Americans” says Patrick Rooney of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy in their annual “Giving USA” report.

Giving to religious organizations dropped 0.8% in 2010, much less than the 2.3% drop for environmental and and animal welfare causes, and the 1.5% drop for human services, according to the report.
One piece of advice in the report is that persistence pays off – those who may have decreased or eliminated their giving during the recession are now slowly “regrowing their philanthropy.”
As we rebuild and reshape the economy for this next decade and beyond, our presence and our action as UU communities can ensure that giving to our UU churches remains an important piece of who we are and all that we represent.
For a more detailed summary of the report, please see the following article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which also contains a link to the entire report.

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Appreciative Inquiry, Art of Thriving, Generosity, Giving and Receiving, Money, Resources, Stewardship Education

CSS at UUA GA: It’s really not alphabet soup!

 

The annual General Assembly (GA) of Unitarian Universalists (UUA) was recently held in Charlotte, North Carolina. During those five days, the Office of Congregational Stewardship Services (CSS) conducted four workshops.

Because worksho p attendance was greater than expected (over 400 attended the four workshops) we ran out of handouts. As promised, here are the links to those handouts:

FORTH Introductory Video
Appreciative Inquiry and the Annual Budget Drive PowerPoint

During these same workshops, small groups of participants were ask to answer these questions and the links to their responses are at:

FORTH Short-Term Goals
FORTH Long-Term Goals
Characteristics of a Stewardship Team

 

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Annual Budget Drive, Appreciative Inquiry, FORTH: A Stewardship Development Program, Fundraising, Generosity, Giving and Receiving, Money, Resources, Spiritual Giving, Stewardship Education, Uncategorized

Creative Capital Campaign Gifts (3 of 5)

Over the last 26 years I have served as a Congregational Stewardship Consultant for the UUA.  During that time I have worked with over 135 of our congregations, some of them more than once.  I have had the opportunity to talk with many people about how they made their decisions to support a capital campaign in their congregation.  One technical note:  Financial commitments to a capital campaign are usually paid over a three year period.  Here is one of my favorite stories.

These stories are illustrative.  They contain one common element.  Persons with commitment to the vision of the church will find a way to give generously.  Each of these stories involves people who “gave until it felt good.”  And that really is the criterion for our success.  Each pledge is important.  Each person will give according to her or his commitment and will want to feel good about it.
David L. Rickard
UUA Congregational Stewardship Consultant

Charlotte purchased a new car four years ago.  The final payment was due shortly after the capital campaign began.  She decided that she would make her pledge to her congregation’s building program the same as the car payment had been.  After all, the car was in good condition and she would just make the check out to her church instead of GMAC.

 

Look for another story from David Rickard in the coming weeks!

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Capital Campaigns, Fundraising, Generosity, Money

Learn more about Stewardship at General Assembly

General Assembly 2011 in Charlotte, NC has finally arrived! Director of Congregational Stewardship Services, Dr. Wayne Clark, is leading a number of workshops this year. For those of you interested in the new FORTH: A Stewardship Development program that was just launched, there is a two-part workshop that may be helpful in deciding if this program is right your congregation. Information is included below for your convenience.  We hope to see you there.

Thursday 10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Convention Center 209 AB

Stewardship: Appreciative Inquiry and the Annual Budget Drive
Lead by Dr. Wayne Clark

How do you approach your annual budget drive? Do you focus on the problem of limited money? Do you
identify the root causes? AI turns these conversations inside out, asserting that positive approaches to change can transform your congregation. Come learn how to apply AI to your next annual budget drive.
————————————-

Thursday 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Convention Center 209 AB

FORTH: Growth, Stewardship, and Leadership (Part 1)
Lead by Dr. Wayne Clark & Mark Ewert

Come learn about this new and comprehensive stewardship development program. By the end of the workshop, participants will know how to:
1) initiate FORTH
2) take an Appreciative approach to FORTH, and
3) gain access to FORTH products and Resources.
Handouts and time for questions will be provided.
————————————-

Thursday 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Convention Center 209 AB

FORTH: Growth, Stewardship, and Leadership (Part 2)
Lead by Dr. Wayne Clark & Mark Ewert
This is the second of two FORTH workshops. (Participation in part 1 is not a prerequisite.)

FORTH is a stewardship development program, and this workshop focuses on improving lay and professional leadership skills. Learn how to implement FORTH in your own congregation, while activating growth and freeing-up resources.
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Additionally, this year the Congregational Life Staff group will  be hosting Table Talks at the Congregational Life booth in the exhibit hall. Dr. Wayne Clark will be hosting two Table Talks on Stewardship. During this time, congregational leaders are encouraged to come to the Congregational Life booth and asked Wayne follow up questions regarding Workshops or stand alone questions on any stewardship topic.

Table Talk Information
Location: #721, Congregational Life Booth, Exhibit Hall
Date: Friday, June 24th at 2:30 and Saturday, June 25th at 2:30
Time: 30 Minutes
Topic: Any Stewardship-related questions

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Annual Budget Drive, Appreciative Inquiry, Art of Thriving, FORTH: A Stewardship Development Program, Fundraising, Generosity, Giving and Receiving, Money, Resources, Stewardship Education

FORTH: A Stewardship Development Program has officially launched

We have some exciting news . . . .

FORTH: A Stewardship Development Program has been launched after four years of input from hundreds of congregational leaders. FORTH has been created because we know that some of the healthiest faith communities focus more on stewardship than fundraising. As noted in chapter one of Beyond Fundraising: A Complete Guide to Congregational Stewardship fundraising emphasizes the need of the recipient; stewardship addresses people’s spiritual need to give.

Take a look at FORTH. Start by watching the 8-minute introductory video and decide if you would like more information about how your congregation can adapt this year-round program to fit the unique needs of your congregation. You may also want to look some other new FORTH resources including The Art of Thriving and the Stewardship Self-Assessment pages.

You can join the FORTH Community by completing the Congregational Self-Assessment. Upon completion, you will have access to many free and helpful resources:

  • Several short videos of lay leaders who have had some experience with FORTH
  • Suggested Year Round Calendar
  • Recommended Stewardship Language
  • Sample Stewardship Team Job Description
  • Recommended Stewardship Team Formation and Charge
  • Stewardship Information and Ideas
  • Sample Organizational Charts
  • Annotated Bibliography (currently more than 130 items)
  • Operational Support for Effective Stewardship
  • Suggested Four-Year Activities

Once you have completed the Self-Assessment, you will receive an email from the Congregational Stewardship Services Administrator with information on accessing these resources. In this e-mail, the Administrator will include a link to the web pages with these resources and the username and password required for logging on to these pages. Please save this information.

Want to get your leaders involved in an exciting interactive process? Become a FORTH Partner by asking five of your congregational leaders (lay and/or professional) to complete the Congregational Self-Assessment and your congregation will gain access to all the resources listed above, plus these free interactive activities:

  • Closed Facebook group
  • Regularly scheduled conference calls
  • Occasional webinars hosted by UUA congregational stewardship consultants
  • Updates distributed through Constant Contact

After five of your congregational leaders have completed the Self-Assessment, Wayne Clark will create a profile for your congregation, sending it to your FORTH Partner contact person. Information about FORTH Partner activities will soon follow.

Interested in some on-site consultation from a UUA stewardship consultant? Ask us about our fee-for-service program, with a sliding scale to match the size of your congregation.

Questions? Contact Us

Wayne Clark, wclark @ uua. org (207) 829-4550

Mark Ewert, mewert @ generositypath . com (202) 722-8888

Brent Jurgess, forth @ uua . org (617) 948-4272

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Appreciative Inquiry, Art of Thriving, FORTH: A Stewardship Development Program, Generosity, Giving and Receiving, Long-Range Stewardship Planning, Resources

Creative Capital Campaign Gifts (2 of 5)

Over the last 26 years I have served as a Congregational Stewardship Consultant for the UUA.  During that time I have worked with over 135 of our congregations, some of them more than once.  I have had the opportunity to talk with many people about how they made their decisions to support a capital campaign in their congregation.  One technical note:  Financial commitments to a capital campaign are usually paid over a three year period.  Here is one of my favorite stories.

These stories are illustrative.  They contain one common element.  Persons with commitment to the vision of the church will find a way to give generously.  Each of these stories involves people who “gave until it felt good.”  And that really is the criterion for our success.  Each pledge is important.  Each person will give according to her or his commitment and will want to feel good about it.
David L. Rickard
UUA Congregational Stewardship Consultant

Jim and Janice were active members of their church and involved at the District and national levels as well.  In fact, Janice was planning to enroll in divinity school.  She and Jim got drawn into the planning for the expansion of their church building, and Jim became the director of the capital campaign committee.  When it came time to make their pledge, they chose to defer the purchase of a new car and the remodeling of their kitchen so that they could make a substantial investment in the future of their church.

 

Look for another story from David Rickard in the coming weeks!

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Capital Campaigns, Fundraising, Generosity, Money

Creative Ways to Explore Giving with your Congregation

Recently, a UUA staff member attended a service at First Parish Brewster, Unitarian Universalist, in Brewster, MA. This congregation happened to be leading a service about happiness and its connection to giving. For congregations who are struggling with ideas on how to incorporate these types of discussions into their church service in a creative way, First Parish is a great example of a congregation who is using creativity to start conversations about stewardship.

Here is an excerpt from First Parish’s sermon, which built a connection between personal happiness and giving generously. In this excerpt, Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz discusses a few ways to practice compassion as a means of finding your happiest self. Compassion and happiness are linked with stewardship in a story about First Parish’s own church community:

 

“…Find a community to practice with – a group of people who are mutually committed to each other’s practice of compassion. A lot of the small groups in this church partake of this happiness. In Small Group Ministry, six to 12 people come together with a mutual commitment to listen to each other, to hear one another’s stories non-judgmentally, with compassion in their hearts. If you’re not in one of these groups this year, please consider whether you might be able to join in the fall.

 

The happiest people I’ve met in this church were in a group that met only three times. This was a class gathered by Judy Jollett to consider a practice of giving one gift a day for 29 days. People report that this helps them to focus on what it is they have to give and not on what their limitations are. The third meeting of that group, not quite a month ago, virtually rocked with joy. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  People reported finding joy in the most ordinary things – large and small ways they had discovered that they could give to someone else. Like taking the time to look in the eyes of a harried checkout clerk, and smile, and say, “Don’t worry. I’m in no hurry.” When we take the time to pay attention to what we have to give, our hearts overflow with generosity. Giving becomes a way of life, a path that leads to happiness.”

There are also members of the congregation who have gotten involved in stewardship conversations in their church. Here is an excerpt from a testimonial, titled “This I believe,” which was written by lay leader Kevin Lowey.

“I know we are capable of this type of abundance. Here’s just one sign of our changing prosperity. Last year our open plate collections totaled $14,000. Guess how much has been collected this year to date?…If you guessed $28,000, you’re right!! There’s a growing momentum and a renewed vision here at First Parish. If we can put the same spirit of generosity and abundance into the commitments we make this spring to support our church, it will allow our leaders to build a budget that will make good on the potential that I think all of us are feeling. I know I’m feelin’ it!”

While each congregation may approach stewardship conversations differently, this blog was meant to illustrate how thoughtful church members and staff can be when discussing stewardship. Special thanks to Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Rev. JD Benson, Allison Beavan and Kevin Lowey for their permission to highlight their work on our blog.

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Appreciative Inquiry, Fundraising, Generosity, Giving and Receiving, Money, Sermon, Spiritual Giving, Stewardship Education

Creative Capital Campaign Gifts (1 of 5)

Over the last 26 years I have served as a Congregational Stewardship Consultant for the UUA.  During that time I have worked with over 135 of our congregations, some of them more than once.  I have had the opportunity to talk with many people about how they made their decisions to support a capital campaign in their congregation.  One technical note:  Financial commitments to a capital campaign are usually paid over a three year period.  Here is one of my favorite stories.

These stories are illustrative.  They contain one common element.  Persons with commitment to the vision of the church will find a way to give generously.  Each of these stories involves people who “gave until it felt good.”  And that really is the criterion for our success.  Each pledge is important.  Each person will give according to her or his commitment and will want to feel good about it.
David L. Rickard
UUA Congregational Stewardship Consultant

For ten years, Joan and Jackson had looked forward to retirement.  In recent years, they had told their friends of their plans to avoid the cold, snowy winters in the northern city where they lived.  Joan said, “You will not see us during January, February, or March.  We will be in Florida.”  As part of the campaign to fund a new church building, the couple (both former presidents of the congregation) was asked to give an endorsement during the Sunday service.  Joan spoke for both.  “We lied to you,” she began.  “We will be here throughout the next three winters even though we have retired.  We are pledging the money we would have spent in Florida to the capital fund drive.”

Look for another story from David Rickard in the coming weeks!

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Capital Campaigns, Fundraising, Generosity, Money

The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects by Barbara Lewis: Book Review

Stewardship isn’t just about graciously giving of monetary resources; it is also about graciously giving our time. Some adults have a longing to engage in service, yet don’t know where to start. Or some adults live their live s without giving any of their time to volunteer work, and reach a point in which they feel unfulfilled. The giving of time is not only good for your own personal satisfaction; it’s appreciated by those on the receiving end of service. If early in life we teach kids about not only the value of service but als o about how to get creative in choosing what service projects they decide to get involved in, we are creating future caring stewards.

In Barbara Lewis’ book, The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects, the author spends each chapter listing idea s of small and large service projects that kids can participate in in their own communities. All of these ideas are basic in nature and can be built upon by the child by investigating the resources that are available to the student in their specific community. Some of these projects are those where a child would follow the direction of others, and some of these projects are those where a child can take initiative and be a leader in creating and implementing the project. Prior to fully committing to a service project, the child should spend some time thinking about what is important to them. Is the environment an issue that they feel is close to their heart? Do they get really revved-up when talking about politics or government? Do they believe that health and wellness are the keys to a great service learning project? The child should spend some time thinking about these things, and Ms. Lewis spends the first few pages discussing in more detail how a child can help decide what service project is right for them.

Here are some examples of chapters & projects that are in The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects. These projects can be adapted and implemented for kids up through teenagers.

Animals:

  1. Contact your local humane society or animal shelter to get the latest statistics on the numbers of homeless dogs and cats in your community. Ask their advice on what needs to be done
  2. Contact your local zoo and ask which animals need help. Find out what animals need the most.
  3. Join a wildlife organization. Be an active member.

Politics and Government:

  1. Telephone unregistered residents and explain how to register to vote.
  2. Provide a voter pickup and transportation service for seniors or other people with special needs who might not be able to travel to the voting booth.
  3. Petition a student position on your community council, neighborhood committee, school board, or any state or local agency.

Community Safety:

  1. Assist an after-school little league or other sports program for younger children
  2. Create a play that teaches children how to stay safe at home while their parents are away.

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Generosity, Giving and Receiving, Stewardship Education, Volunteer Management, Youth

Let’s talk about Unitarian Universalism and money.

“Ask” given at joint Association Sunday service planned by seven Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations in South Central Pennsylvania.

From my work with Unitarian Universalist congregations about money, I’ve learned that there are 3 different kinds of money we gather from among ourselves.

First, there’s the money we gather up so we can give it away – to people or organizations who need it more than we do, because they are changing the world in ways that we know are essential.

This is the kind of money we like best.  We never have enough of it, but we make a point of talking about it, and it makes us feel good to give it away.

The second kind of money is what we use to run our churches – to keep our buildings warm and lit and not-falling-down; to pay our staff, update our websites, send money to Boston or the District to pay our “dues.”

This kind of money we would rather not think about, but we do, all the time.  Usually, we find just enough to keep the church going, but it doesn’t make us happy – thinking and talking about it makes us tired. (more…)

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Generosity, Money