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U.U.A. Congregational Stewardship Services
ASSESSMENT REPORT
First Unitarian Society of Chicago
By Tamsin Kemos
UUA Stewardship Consultant
Summary Data
Number of Members: 175 Number of Donor Units: 118
Annual Budget: $545,915.00
Annual Donor Giving (Income): $225,199.00
Average Financial Commitment: (FY 2010) $1,924.78
Median Financial Commitment: (FY 2010) $1,200.00
Approximate average Sunday Attendance: 83 (this number does not include RE teachers, children, and youth)
Number of children and youth registered in Religious Education classes: 53
Mortgage: $400,000.00
Endowment: $802,074.00
Reserve Funds: $30,000.00
Nature of Annual Budget Drive:
Last year’s annual budget drive was conducted by holding a Pledge Sunday luncheon at which time those in attendance were asked to make their financial commitments to support the programs of the congregation. Those donors who did not attend were contacted by telephone to ask for their financial commitments. It is important to acknowledge that when faced with the sudden loss of $70,000 in rental funds and the challenge presented by the economic downturn, First Unitarian made the bold decision to raise the funds to support an aspirational budget goal. The Board and the congregation contributed to a “close the gap” campaign and raised $35,000, which was combined with a generous bequest to fund the budget last year. This was quite an accomplishment!
Date and Purpose of last Capital Campaign:
Over 6 years in the 1980s the congregation raised $350,000 to pay for bell tower repairs. In the early 2000s damage to the spire necessitated its removal at a cost of $350,000. Of this amount $100,000 was raised in a capital campaign. The congregation, in a variety of ways over the next several years, raised the remaining $250,000. The congregation also raised $20,000 and secured a matching grant for the installation of a sound system in the sanctuary. At this time extensive work was also done to the organ console paid for in part by a bequest of $60,000.
What action will be taken? When is a campaign likely to take place?
I recommend that the congregation simultaneously put together the leadership team for a combined annual budget drive and capital campaign and the leadership team for completing the strategic planning, defining the scope of the capital campaign, and preparing the building project estimates. The combined campaign could be conducted as early as the spring of 2011.
Congregational Strengths
From all that dwell below the skies
let faith and hope with love arise;
let beauty, truth and good be sung
through every land, by every tongue.
Adaptation of Isaac Watts’ 18th century hymn by Curtis W. Reese
Beauty
You have nurtured a multi racial, multi cultural community of all ages that feels like an extended family. When I was admiring a father gently rocking an infant during Sunday worship, one of the members commented “we are so excited about our new baby”. Many times during my visit I noticed that there were wonderful relationships spanning generations, life experiences, races, and cultures. In a world that so often expresses fear of the “other” you are living, creating and re-creating the kind of oneness that is transformational. That you are able to live this affirmation in a building where Joseph Priestley smiles at you from his perch in a sanctuary filled with the symbols of our human inheritance and lit by the art of your beautiful stained glass windows is a tremendous gift. Family life can sometimes be messy and difficult but I am so encouraged for our Unitarian Universalist Association and for our world when I experience your living community of faith.
Truth
During my visit I was asked about how the congregation can live our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Purposes. You are doing it! Your thriving religious education programs for children, youth and adults, your worship and committee work, and your many social justice programs are grounded in the practice of learning together. The free and responsible search for truth and meaning is a powerful force for transformation in our own lives and in the larger community. It is also counter cultural to intentionally examine decisions, beliefs, and actions. I encourage you to continue this practice and to be just as intentional about sharing your stories with each other and with the larger community.
Good
You have a remarkable history of doing good works in the community. From spinning off Unitarian Universalist congregations, to starting the Chicago Children’s Choir, to your involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, leadership in our association, and being a voice for justice and compassion in your community you have built a legacy of engaged and relevant liberal religion. Walking through your building and seeing all of the community programs that fill your spaces it is clear that you are an integral part of Hyde Park. I was also very pleased to hear that you are looking outward at new ways of expressing your shared values in good works in the community.
And you are a very good church with high standards for your ministry, staff, worship, music, and governance. During one of the assessment workshops a newer member and new lay leader of the congregation mentioned that he had never felt such a loving welcome and acceptance before becoming a part of the First Unitarian community. For longer-term lay leaders this was a meaningful validation that the intentional work of the congregation to be truly welcoming is not just working but changing lives.
Challenges/Opportunities
The congregation is blessed with an extraordinary facility that affords abundant space, beautiful architecture, and the ability to provide space for worthwhile organizations that serve important needs in the community. This space also presents the congregation with significant financial and organizational challenges as the reality of deciding how best to deal with deferred maintenance, inaccessibility, and expensive repairs and restoration is addressed. As grateful and devoted as the congregation is to the church buildings, it is also a burden as the volume of decisions and facilities needs are inventoried. This has been compounded by the sudden loss of revenue from the rental of the Fenn House and uncertainty about how to use this part of the facility moving forward. For years the congregation used the proceeds (roughly $70,000) to support the annual budget. During my visit it was discussed that these funds would have been more appropriately spent as part of a capital fund or reserve which could have been used to address maintenance and improvements. Even as it is correct that this would have been a more prudent use of funds, it is also important to lift up that the allocation of these funds represents the congregation’s priorities. A budget is a statement of the values of a congregation and First Unitarian has consistently demonstrated that the people, programs, and good works in the community are of the highest importance. It is not possible to redo past decisions. Instead I hope that you will use your history to inform your decisions in the future.
For longer-term members Fenn House is the place where very many happy memories took place. Newer members of the congregation have very little to no attachment to the building. Right now there are not clear options for what to do with Fenn House. The congregation could decide to use this space, find a renter, or sell the property. Decisions about what renovations, repairs, and improvements to make are conditional upon this decision. It might be possible to find a renter who would not require many physical changes to the property but it might also be necessary to significantly upgrade the space, bring it “up to code”, and to make the space accessible. Selling the now unused building could help to fund some of the repairs to the rest of the facility but would remove longer-term space should the congregation experience future growth in membership. Use of the space by the congregation now would also require repairs and improvements to the building. Estimates for this work have yet to be determined. I suggest that the congregation contract with a real estate professional who can help to bring concrete options for the congregation’s consideration.
Because this will be an emotional and potentially difficult decision for the congregation even with more concrete options from which to choose, I hope that you will look for resources in your community to help you dialogue and work through your decisions as a community of faith, learning, and love. As special as your First Unitarian building is, your community is infinitely more so. Your history, legacy in the community, and lived experience are proof of this. Commit first to each other and to always strengthening the quality of your relationships.
Recommendations for Next Steps
Commit to the goals generated by participants in the cottage meetings and to adopting a new statement of mission that reflects the vision and shared purpose of the congregation. The congregation faces a series of decisions about the prioritization of resources and about the facility. Having experienced a significant loss of rental income which supported the annual operating budget and facing deferred maintenance, renovations and restoration of the facility as well as determining how best to use Fenn House; it is critical that these decisions be reconciled with your shared values and with the way you will actually “live” in your community/spiritual home.
Develop a strategic plan including membership growth and leadership development that will integrate your staffing and funding needs. A strategic plan that reflects the identity, purpose and goals of the congregation provides a roadmap for your leadership so that you may make wise decisions about finances, programs, staffing, facilities, and ministry. The components of a comprehensive strategic plan include:
- A database on membership, worship and R.E. attendance, stewardship, and other data.
- A Membership Development Plan that addresses retention, integration, and leadership development.
- Five year financial projections
- An Assessment of program, staffing, and funding
- Specific, measurable goals and activities and benchmarks for evaluation of your accomplishments
- A description of your community and your aspirations for caring and serving both your congregation and your larger community (your neighbor).
Begin Organizing for a Capital Campaign that will address:
- Minister and staff to guide you
- Space to house you
- Funding to sustain your programs and Ministry—
- Improved accessibility
Capital Campaigns are traditionally thought of as dealing solely with “bricks and mortar”. Many of our congregations are changing their approach to capital campaigns by including funding for programs to the objectives. There are some sound reasons for broadening the scope of capital campaigns to include seed monies for programs and staff. For the three-year period of the capital campaign during which donors are paying their financial commitments, it is often the case that annual giving to support the operating budget will stay relatively flat. But in the year immediately following the conclusion of the capital campaign, annual giving may increase by 15% - 30% provided that the congregation makes a clear and compelling case to donors. A comprehensive approach to financial planning may include investing funds from the capital campaign for needed staff, Ministry, materials, etc with the understanding that increased giving to the annual operating fund will take over when the capital campaign ends. We are all familiar with the idea of “build it and they will come”. The follow up question is “but will they stay?” Spending some monies from the capital campaign for programs and staff may be just the answer to that question.
Tentative Schedule for Capital Campaign: (Please also refer to the power point flow chart included with this report)
Spring - Summer 2010
Follow up from cottage meetings to clarify congregational mission statement and to create a list of specific goals and activities in support of your mission.
Dot Storm” to prioritize goals and activities
Congregational meeting to decide whether or not to adopt a new statement of mission
Begin strategic planning process
Property committee continues to gather cost estimates for renovations and repairs to facility
Property committee in consultation with the Minister, DRE, Music Director Administrator, professional staff, and committees creates a list of 10-15 immediate repairs and improvements.
Spring Cleaning! Look at your spaces with fresh eyes and evaluate each space for its condition and function. Start small, perhaps with the sacristy, to organize and to spruce up each space. Celebrate each success!!
Recruit combined annual budget/capital campaign leadership team.
Create five year financial projections
Put team together to create strategic plan
Program Budget
Conduct Annual Budget Drive following Celebration Sunday Model
Recognition ceremony and/or party for the Minister, Staff and lay leadership to highlight and say thank you for all the work in support of the programs and people this “church” year.
Fall 2010
Begin organizing for Combined Annual Budget Drive and Capital Campaign following stewardship conversation model (Detailed timeline found in Wayne Clark’s book Beyond Fundraising)
Write Program Statement.
Informational Meetings to discuss Building Plan and Program Statement. (Sept.)
Present Program Statement for congregational approval. (Oct)
Reconcile Strategic Plan including Membership Development and Growth with building design and Architect.
Create Preferred Plan including cost estimates (will require consultation with the architect).
Informational Meetings to present Preferred Plan. (Nov)
Congregational Vote to adopt Preferred Plan. (Nov)
Organize for a combined annual budget drive and capital campaign
Winter 2010-2011
Conduct Financial Feasibility Study (Dec-Jan)
Revised Project with capital campaign goal established. (No commitment to financial goal yet.)
Informational Meetings to present Revised Project. (Jan)
Create Communications Strategy and Case Statement (Jan)
Congregational Vote to authorize the building project and capital campaign. (Feb)
Spring 2011
Conduct a combined Annual Budget Drive and Capital Campaign (March –April)
Recruit Visiting Stewards
Visiting Steward Orientation
Leadership Reception
Leadership Stewardship Conversations.
Children and Youth Fellowship Event.
Adult Fellowship Event
Stewardship Conversations.
Congregation commits to Final Project and Financial Commitment.
Consulting needs: There are a number of stages in this process where you may benefit from working with a fundraising consultant. As you continue in your planning, I would be pleased to work with you on a specific proposal for the consulting work you would like me to do.
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