2015 Pledge Drive Letter

March 17, 2015
2015 Pledge Drive for UUFD
From: Sue Willis, Board of Trustees Past President
To: UUFD members and friends

We will soon start our annual pledge drive to support UUFD and all that it does. The vast majority of our annual budget comes from pledges, so this drive is crucial to the life of our congregation. The Board and I have set a goal this year of raising $100,000 from pledges – this is an increase of about 33% over what was pledged last year.

Why have we set this goal? First, it will allow us to once again become a congregation in good standing with the UUA and the MidAmerica Region, by restoring our full fair share contribution – we have cut this in half for the past two years due to lack of funds. Second, it will allow us to come closer to paying our staff the minimum recommended fair compensation for a congregation of our size. And finally, it will allow us to gradually build up a reserve of funds for use in case of unanticipated large expenses.

We will be posting the results of the pledge drive as pledges come in; our goal is to conclude the drive in early May, so the Board has a solid basis on which to do the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Many of us give to a variety of charitable causes; why is giving to UUFD different? Let me explain how I see it, using our mission statement.

Together: We are a community. What we do, we do together. We rejoice in each other’s joys, mourn each other’s sorrows, and celebrate each other’s milestones. We support each other in times of need – Frank and I have been the grateful beneficiaries of this for over two years now.

As a religious community: We are not just a community, but a religious community. This probably means something different to each of us; to me it means that we care for each other – and the wider community, local, national, and global – and uphold not only our physical needs but also our spiritual needs. We provide food for the table and rides to the doctor or the store; we also provide shoulders to cry on and ears to hear.

We put our liberal faith in action: We don’t just come together on Sunday mornings. We also act in our local community – hosting winter farmers markets, providing the Welcome Café community meal, operating the non-perishable items bank, participating in Crop Walk, providing meals at Hope Haven, supporting Safe Passage – the list goes on and on. One of the hallmarks of our liberal faith is that we respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and turn away no one on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender expression or identity, or any other irrelevant quality.

We strive to nurture our families: We have many kinds of families in our congregation – traditional families with mom and dad and kids; families without children; same-gender partners, with or without children; single parents; people who are single by choice and/or circumstance – and we support them all. We have recently hired several new child care workers, and are improving the RE space for the children; many UUFD members, both parents and not, are involved in the children’s RE.

And our spiritual lives: Besides the Sunday morning services and RE, we have deepening groups, meditation groups, yoga, music, crafts, and others; a pagan group is in the process of forming. The inspiration for all of this has come from you – UUFD – you are the ones who make this happen.

Protect the Earth: We support the DeKalb County Community Gardens; our electricity has come from a green supplier; we recycle; we have committed to emphasizing green options in our upcoming construction even if they represent additional initial cost. Our children volunteer at Oaken Acres; they also learn about our environment as part of their religious studies. These are but a few of the many ways in which we recognize the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part, and on which we depend for our very lives.

Eliminate poverty: We are active as a congregation in many anti-poverty efforts, both in direct aid and in policy issues. We act not only locally – with the efforts I mentioned before – but also nationally and globally, as we support the UUA, the UUSC, and others. While we will (probably) never eliminate poverty, we are doing what we can to reduce it and reduce its effects.

Stop oppression: We have supported same-sex marriage, opposed war and related aggressions, supported the rights of LGBT people, and undertaken many other actions. We now have a monthly beneficiary of our non-pledge collections; these organizations provide services to people locally and around the world.

While offering love and hope for all: And with this the circle is complete. We are a loving community that cares about each other and about the world around us. So supporting UUFD is not like supporting NPR, the World Wildlife Fund, the USO, Doctors without Borders, or any of the other thousands of deserving organizations which many of us also support. UUFD is our own creation, and is part of our lives in ways that those other organizations, wonderful as they are, can never be. My own pledge represents about 5% of my gross (yes, before taxes) income; that’s a stretch for me, but UUFD is worth stretching for. Please join me. UUFD is you and me, and we are worth it.

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