Dear Fellow UUCC Members:
We’ll cut to the chase. Based on pledges received to date, UUCC’s projected revenues for the next fiscal year stand at about 77% of the minimum amount we need just to maintain a budget at the same level as the current year. Some 98 member households have yet to pledge.
Friends, as your congregation’s Board of Trustees, it’s our responsibility to advise that, unless we close this gap, the risk of cuts in UUCC programs and/or staff reductions or furloughs starting July 1 is very real. Moreover, even if we were to attain the minimum levels needed to forestall cuts, we would still be far short of being able to do all that we have hoped for the coming year. We certainly would be unable to compensate all of UUCC’s professional staff fairly and equitably. About half of UUCC’s staff salaries are currently below the UUA’s minimum guidelines. Our staff have not seen a cost of living increase since 2019. As residents of one of the USA’s wealthiest counties, it’s long past time that we do.
The Board thanks Jim Reiser and Lisa Schlossnagle for their exceptional leadership of this year’s annual budget drive (ABD) once again during an especially challenging pandemic period. We also very much appreciate the entire canvass team’s time, talent, and dedication in supporting the pledge drive.
Likewise, we are grateful for the generosity of all who have committed to investing in UUCC over the coming year, particularly our “fair share” pledgers, first-time pledgers, and those who increased their pledges over previous levels. Your commitment and ongoing support are critical to keeping UUCC as the “incubator for good” that we all cherish.
If you are in a position to pledge but have yet to do so, now is the time, bearing in mind that pledging is part of the covenant of UUCC membership. Please click here on UUCC’s website ASAP where you can submit your confidential pledge electronically at whatever level you feel you can manage.
UUCC’s future is in your hands. Our budget is this congregation’s expression of the values and the priorities we hold most dear. Our congregation needs your support!
In our Congregational Covenant, we promise each other to “. . . pledge our time and vigor to the continuing celebration of spirit, of the world, and of humankind.” Now is the time to mobilize that “vigor” with your pledge.
With deep gratitude and in community, your Board of Trustees,
Tim Lattimer, President
Colette Gelwicks, First Vice President
Kristin Parrish, Second Vice President
Wendy Ramsey, Treasurer
Jim Johnston, Secretary
Sarah Basehart, At-large Member
Amy Brooks, At-large Member
4 Comments
Dori
Thank you, Tim. I think it’s vital for us all to realize that this isn’t Public Radio. There aren’t others who will step in and support this community. It’s up to us.
Suzanne Henig
Why I Pledge
UUCC is a very important part of my life. I love the services, I love the music and the choir, I love the auction. I love our Karuna and religious education programs. I love our minister. I love our hardworking staff and Board and volunteers, I love this congregation and the people in it.
After attending a Sunday service, I feel centered and balanced and ready for the week ahead. This been especially important over the past year with everything that was going on. UUCC was there for me through it all, in Zoom services, in the Daily Pauses, the In Between Sundays reflections, and with all the many other opportunities to connect. UUCC continually nurtures my heart and spirit.
But the reason UUCC is important in my life goes even further. UUCC is my hub for information on issues that are important to me—strengthening human rights and voting rights, building the Beloved Community, and ending climate change, hunger, and systemic racism. UUCC provides me with opportunities to not only learn more about these issues but opportunities to participate in the work. UUCC gives me the resources to help make a difference in the world.
UUCC also inspires me to expand my worldview. I felt the true challenge of our congregational covenant more than ever over the past few years. I learned that struggling together on our spiritual journeys can be hard work! And challenging each other to live our values can be awkward and painful.
But for me, that struggle and challenge led to real personal and spiritual growth. I have a better understanding of how people who are different from me experience the world. And I have a new appreciation for the power and importance of trust and forgiveness and responsibility, and what it means—and what it takes—to be part of a caring and transformational community.
Unitarian Universalism affirms that my spiritual journey isn’t a straight road with a clear destination but a winding path with unexpected curves. UUCC helps me navigate those curves.
And so I pledge and I give. Stewardship means to oversee and protect something worth caring for and preserving. If that’s not UUCC I don’t know what is. I am committed to supporting and sustaining and preserving UUCC so it can continue to inspire and challenge and support all of us, and those that come after us, as we work together as a community for a better future. Please join me today.
Celonia Walden
How can I increase my annual pledge for 2021-2022?
Sean Griffin
Hi Celonia! To change your pledge you can fill out a new pledge card here on the website at https://uucolumbia.net/pledge-form/ or you can send an email to pledge@uucolumbia.net with your updated pledge amount. Whatever you choose to do please know that we are grateful for your generosity!