From the Stewardship Team
Currently, our Stewardship Team meets year round, though its major work is to facilitate the Annual Budget Drive—held each year in the fall—supporting salaries, building upgrades, and programs during the January to December fiscal year. As further progress is made to improve the strategies involving the Annual Budget Drive, the Team expects to begin coordinating all fundraising efforts.
The Board of Trustees made changes to way the the budget drive (formerly the Canvass) is achieved, following consultation in 2014 with Barry Finkelstein of the UUA. Barry led us through a “Next Steps Weekend” and was later contracted again to conduct the “Visiting Steward” training. On the “Important Documents” page, we can find information from Barry about his work with us.
As a direct result of Barry’s visits and the adoption of the UUA Giving Guide, the 2014 budget drive was successful in moving the median pledge from $710 to $1000 and the average pledge from $1240 to $1510, bringing in approximately $310,000 in pledges to support the 2014 year.
For the 2015 Annual Budget Drive—Search & Grow, Share & Connect—we utilized all the lessons learned from Barry’s work with us. We continue to utilize the Fair Share Giving Guide and held receptions honoring the top two quartiles of givers. We expanded our target audience to include not only members but all those who had given some form of gift previously and all those active in the church. This group includes friends, choir members, and parents of children in the Religious Education program, approximately 450 households. Nineteen Visiting Stewards were trained and conducted visits with seventy-seven households of church member. By design, Visiting Stewards did not reach directly all those who are active and give to UUCB. In addition to visits, 324 packets of information, including pledge cards, were mailed. Members of the Stewardship Team are now making calls to follow up on these potential pledges.
The extended period we have been in since 2011 without a settled minister may account for some of the drop in the number of pledging units, as might also the separate and continuing effort made to “clean up” the membership rolls. It is noteworthy, however, that over the period 2012-2014, both the median and the average pledge have increased. We have every reason to think this cumulative pattern will hold through the current Budget Drive.
The Board of Trustees made changes to way the the budget drive (formerly the Canvass) is achieved, following consultation in 2014 with Barry Finkelstein of the UUA. Barry led us through a “Next Steps Weekend” and was later contracted again to conduct the “Visiting Steward” training. On the “Important Documents” page, we can find information from Barry about his work with us.
As a direct result of Barry’s visits and the adoption of the UUA Giving Guide, the 2014 budget drive was successful in moving the median pledge from $710 to $1000 and the average pledge from $1240 to $1510, bringing in approximately $310,000 in pledges to support the 2014 year.
For the 2015 Annual Budget Drive—Search & Grow, Share & Connect—we utilized all the lessons learned from Barry’s work with us. We continue to utilize the Fair Share Giving Guide and held receptions honoring the top two quartiles of givers. We expanded our target audience to include not only members but all those who had given some form of gift previously and all those active in the church. This group includes friends, choir members, and parents of children in the Religious Education program, approximately 450 households. Nineteen Visiting Stewards were trained and conducted visits with seventy-seven households of church member. By design, Visiting Stewards did not reach directly all those who are active and give to UUCB. In addition to visits, 324 packets of information, including pledge cards, were mailed. Members of the Stewardship Team are now making calls to follow up on these potential pledges.
The extended period we have been in since 2011 without a settled minister may account for some of the drop in the number of pledging units, as might also the separate and continuing effort made to “clean up” the membership rolls. It is noteworthy, however, that over the period 2012-2014, both the median and the average pledge have increased. We have every reason to think this cumulative pattern will hold through the current Budget Drive.