Category Archives: Religious Life

A Mindset of Abundance

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Giving Speaks  is pleased to share this guest blog post by the Rev. Neal Jones* ~

People can be funny about money.  I know some people with lots of money who act like they’re barely scraping by, and I know some people who are barely scraping by who are as generous as kings and queens.  When it comes to money, perception can have little to do with reality.

How much we save and spend has more to do with our mindset than our bank account.  Some people have a mindset of scarcity, a “glass half empty” outlook.  They expect money, time, and love to be hard to come by.  These resources could run out at any time, leaving you high and dry.  You need to grab them and cling to them to make sure they don’t slip away.  It’s hard to be generous with a clenched fist.

Some people have a mindset of abundance—a belief, a faith, really, that money, time, and love are plentiful and accessible.  It’s an attitude of gratitude.  Sure, we have to earn our keep, but the real bottom-line is that these things are primarily gifts from God, Life, or the Universe (choose your own term).  When we focus on what we’re getting from life instead of what we’re not getting, it’s easy to feel generous and to be generous.

Congregations can operate from a mindset of scarcity or abundance, too.  Healthy congregations have cultivated a culture of abundance, regardless of the net worth of the people involved.  As individuals we may not be wealthy, but sense that we have been blessed with enough—enough to meet our needs and to fulfill the needs of our congregations.

In keeping with a culture and mindset of abundance, it helps for the congregation to begin with our shared aspirations in mind.

We ask ourselves and one another:

What do we value most about our community of faith and the meaning it brings to our lives?

What vision do we hold for our future and what we could accomplish together?

What can we pledge financially that reflects the level of our commitment to our community and our shared vision?

These are the questions and financial commitment we build our annual budget upon.  We build on our mindset of abundance by providing other opportunities to give generously.  An example of our abundance and generosity is our monthly shared offering program which has grown steadily each month, with more money given to benefit both the congregation and the other charitable and social justice organizations that receive our gifts.

It’s a strange arithmetic—the more we give away, the more we give.  But it makes perfect sense…when you have a mindset of abundance.

(adapted with permission by the author)

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The Rev. Neal Jones, Psy. D., serves as the Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia, SC  http://www.uucolumbia.org/ .

The UU Congregation of Columbia is one the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Honor Congregations, a recognition of their generosity and annual financial support of their wider faith community.  (www.uua.org/giving/apf )

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RESOURCES to Nurture Generosity & Abundance in Congregations:  http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/generosity/index.shtml

Congregational Stewardship Services and Forward Through the Ages Program (FORTH): http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/forth/index.shtml

Giving–the sacred art by Lauren Tyler Wright:  http://www.skylightpaths.com/page/product/978-1-59473-224-9, and six-session study guide for use by UU groups, www.uua.org/documents/stew-dev/study_guide_giving.pdf

Inspired Philanthropy by Tracy Gary:  http://inspiredphilanthropy.com/

The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist:  http://www.soulofmoney.org/

Ideas for Raising Stewardship Awareness in Your Congregation

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Giving Speaks is pleased to share this guest blog post by  Rev. Dr. Daniel O’Connell*

The participants of the UU Stewardship Lab (Facebook group) were asked for their topic suggestions for a stewardship essentials workshop that may be offered at a future denominational event, Rev. Daniel O’Connell quickly responded with his suggested workshop theme

“Don’t Miss Stewardship Workshop:  You will learn about at least 3 new ideas to increase stewardship consciousness at your church.”

Then Daniel generated a few ideas to get our creative stewardship juices flowing….

Ideas for Raising Stewardship Awareness in Your Congregation

Holiday Wish List

Have 3 outside-the-budget items you want to finance. Not 2, not 4, but 3. Total cost: $10,000 (your dollar amount will vary with your congregation’s size). One item should be less than $2,000. One item should be no more than $6,000. One item should be a no-brainer (We need a defibrillator AED). One item should be immediately noticeable by anyone (new tables & chairs for the fellowship hall). Publicize the list (with pictures or drawings), put up a poster. The 3rd item could be priced between the first two, and be something you really need (faster church internet connection) that otherwise might be difficult to raise money for. Let people know the goal is $10,000, and when we get there, we’ll acquire all three things. Give periodic updates. Start mid-November and finish by the end of December.

Leadership Funding for Special Projects

Imagine your congregation would like an additional $20,000 to supplement your half million dollar budget this year.  The Senior Minister goes to the board with a pledge for $1,000, with a request for the Board members to collectively to triple that amount. On the following Sunday, it will be announced that $4,000 has been raised toward the $20,000. Leadership gifts are important. It shows the leadership is serious.

Clear Steps to Stewardship

The congregation leaders must cast a vision for a clear, step-by step path to a sense of stewardship with deep values and intention. It goes like this: become a first time giver. Then, become a regular giver. Then become an automatic payment giver.  Then, a percentage giver.  Each year increase that percentage until you get to 5%. Anything over that, we’ll call an “extravagant giver.”  The congregation leaders and senior minister should exemplify this level of personal stewardship and let the congregation know the level of their financial commitment.

Going all the Way with Percentage Giving

Did you get a year-end bonus? A teacher merit bonus? Make some money off your garage sale? Give 5% to church.  Every time. Make it a spiritual practice. Honor those who make this commitment.

Include the minister’s and other lay leader’s journey to becoming a percentage giver as part of canvass testimonials or as a regular newsletter feature. How they went from zero to 5%, and why they did it.

Generational Giving

Maybe once a year (maybe less) remind people that parents can give their children tax-free gifts of up to $13,000 (each parent) without triggering IRS Gift tax form 709.  So, if you have 30-50 year olds in your congregation, have them tell their parents about this. Chances are your members would rather have the money now than after their parents have passed on.  If they do get such a gift, encourage them to give 5% of that gift to the church.

Reverse Offering

This is designed to move away from scarcity consciousness toward abundance.  Take $1,000 in $50 dollar bills and put them in 20 different envelopes with an index card.  The index card says that they have to spend this on a social justice project, and write a one-page history of what they did with the money and how they feel now. Give a few examples:  the money was spent on postage for solicitation letters for a special charity or $50 of postage brought in $2,000 of gifts. It doesn’t benefit the church directly, but imagine 10 really good stories out of the 20.  Stories about how the power of creativity and ingenuity led to unexpected benefits for strangers in need.

Raffles

Get an iPad 3 or big screen TV cheap.  Sell tickets over two weeks, do the big reveal at coffee hour.  Do this a couple of times per year. This builds excitement.

Flattening the Pledging Curve

Encourage people to sign up for auto-paying their pledge and let them know how this helps to smooth out the annual income curve while sustaining the congregation’s financial picture.

Why Girl Scout Cookies Are Good For You

Some people frown on the sale of Girl Scout cookies in the fellowship hall. Put as many Girl Scouts as want to do this at the same table. It is very meaningful for the girls, the adults like the cookies, and it builds abundance consciousness and stewardship into everyone.

Multiplying your Justice Impact

Sharing the offering with other charitable organizations or community partners can often double plate income and dramatically increases the amount of money your congregation will give away to other charities.  Another benefit many congregations with offering give-away programs experience is an increase in overall giving to the congregation.  People feel good about making a difference with their giving!

Put it in Writing

People are more apt to fulfill a pledge to annual giving than not.  That is why asking all members and friends of the congregation to fill out a pledge form, even those who say they cannot give anything that year to write ‘zero’ down on their pledge and turn it in.  Being intentional about one’s annual giving is a good habit to get into, even in the challenging years.

Rewarding Good Stewardship

A year ago, we sent out a form letter at the end of the canvass thanking people for pledging. This does not recognize good behavior! This last year, as Senior Minister, I sent a personal letter to everyone who made a pledge increase.  I sent another to everyone who made a pledge for the first time.  I did so as soon as we got their pledge in.  I got a note from someone saying they’d been pledging for 20 years and this was the first time they got a letter from the minister thanking them for it. Needless to say, I’m doing that again this year.

Assume Insufficient Motivation Rather Than Insufficient Funds

Are your congregation’s lay leaders are up for the annual financial challenge?   Whether that’s a canvass increase,  special project, or whatever.  When people hint around they don’t have the money, it may be due to insufficient motivation rather than insufficient funds. Of course, sometimes it is about money, but many times it was because the funding idea was not sufficiently attractive. So, it may be time to postpone or shelve an idea or try other ones, instead of giving up altogether.

Alternatives to the Traditional Canvass

Some congregations are doing away with the traditional canvass. They assume you’ll pledge this year what you pledged last year, and they send you a letter to that effect.  Others canvass only a percentage of the congregation: maybe 1/3 of the top half, with a different group every year, restarting the cycle again in the 4th year.

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*The Rev. Dr. Daniel O’Connell serves as the Senior Minister for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, Texas (http://www.firstuu.org/), which is one of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s 10+ year Honor Congregations for their generous financial support of their wider faith community. (www.uua.org/giving/apf )

Daniel O’Connell grew up Unitarian Universalist in suburban Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C. He was active in the youth movement (LRY in the late 1970s) and in the emergent Young Adult movement (UUYAN), both at the regional and national levels before attending seminary in 1992.  He has served congregations in Connecticut, regional and national level both in the UU Ministers Association and with the UUA on district boards during most of the last 15 years.  Daniel can be contacted directly at:  daniel@firstuu.org

Unitarian Universalist Stewardship and Finance Leaders can find an online support network through the following links:

Facebook UU Stewardship Lab:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/UUStewardshipLab/

UU Money Leaders email list:  http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uu-money

The Forward Through the Ages (FORTH) Program:  http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/forth/development/index.shtml

What’s the Budget For Anyway? Part Three

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The third and final installment of the “What’s the Budget For Anyway?” article by K. Peter Henrickson*~

Presenting the Budget

By whatever planning process is appropriate in your congregation, the Finance Committee needs to showcase a set of targets for congregational services three or four years into the future.  The presentation of such plans and their longer term financial implications shifts the congregation’s attention from considering the spending request for next year vis-a-vis last year to considering where the congregation is heading.  The stewardship drive is an opportunity to meld the conversation about congregational direction with the conversation about individual dreams.  So, here are some guidelines for presenting a vision budget stimulating such conversations.

Summarize and focus expenses into the major areas of energy for your congregation.  We want the membership to “own” the vision — to believe it is good and to love it passionately.  Suppose we organize a vision budget around the major growth needs driving the church.[1]  Consider these examples:

  • Worship, Spiritual Growth and Exploration
  • Organizational Services and Leadership Development
  • Community Outreach and Denominational Support
  • Pastoral Support and Shared Ministry

These categories represent what is sometimes referred to as a “mission budget”.  They virtually scream out the necessity to describe why we are in community. The minister and board need to provide inspiring leadership in each of these areas — to show in greater detail the aspirations for your congregation.  “Worship, Spiritual Growth, and Exploration”, for example, might mean a year around ministry for children or additional emphasis on laity ministry.  It might mean developing two or three regular services each week (or more), each targeted to the needs of particular groups of people.

  •  Include a multi-year forecast, three or four years beyond the budget year.  The purpose of a forecast is to show that the leadership has heard what the members want and that such a church is available in the future — although not next year.  Members understand that programs take time to launch; they need to see movement toward objectives.  They will support growth with a vision that fits their own, that enhances lives in the community today as it moves toward tomorrow.
  • In the vision budget keep the focus on the future and away from the past.  Consider using only the following column headings congregational meeting budget:  current year budget, current year projected, budget year, first vision year, second vision year, third vision year, etc.  That is, strip last year’s spending out of the budget presentation. The data are 12 months old or more and contributes virtually nothing to the discussion about future years.  If someone wants to reference a particular number from last year, the treasurer can look it up quickly enough.  But do not presume that the entire congregation needs or wants to review the historical perspective.  That entire extra column  of numbers increases potential confusion without bringing much benefit.
  • Give committees a way to talk about why they do what they do, and how they want to do it better.  Most of what your membership envisions will be championed by the various committees.  Listen to what the committees want in the future and recognize its priority in the budget presentation.  The role of the board is to defer committee requests, not cut them.
  • Present a vision budget which is adequate to the community.  Too often churches limp along without the ministerial or other staff support they need, without an annual installment on the building repair fund, or without sufficient religious education supplies.  Good leadership presents a budget to focus attention away from the discouraging present and toward the place we want to be within the foreseeable future.  The vision budget should highlight the opportunities facing the congregation.  Develop the vision budget to get both the board and the committees to share their observations and their dreams.  They are the core of the congregation and their common purpose for the future is building community.
  • Show what can be done with modest pledge increases over the next few years.  I do not believe that any congregation can say with integrity that it enjoys a fullness of spiritual meaning in all of the four areas of energy suggested above if the average giving level is below $120/family/month. This is a commitment of about 2% where congregational monthly incomes average $5,-$6,000/month.  The vision budget needs to show what the church could be with a growth of gifts to a 3% – 5% level over the course of a few years.
  • Show the number of members or giving units currently and into the future.  Growth is important in most congregations, and the vision budget should elevate this discussion.  This is also a way to focus attention on growing average stewardship levels.  One might show average commitments separately for “members” and for all other contributors as a way of communicating the higher giving levels expected of membership.
  • Do not show the congregation numbers with more than four digits.  The membership will not absorb numbers with length, or at least not an entire page of them.   A budget totaling $150,000 – $250,000 can express $435 as “.4” — at least in the years out beyond the budget year while a budget of $500,000 should round to even thousands.
  • Put the entire budget on a single page.   Leave lots of white space on the paper and do not reduce the type size.  When you have done this, you have a budget that is comprehensible to those not familiar with it.  Again, the sole purpose of the vision budget is to increase the level of giving.  We who are church treasurers often lose sight of this objective.  We default to thinking the purpose of the budget is to present numbers, and more is better.  In the vision budget, fewer is better.

In summary, “This is not your father’s budget!”  Look forward.

Use the annual budget process to continually revisit the congregation’s dreams for where it wants to go and how fast it wants to get there.  The budget process is repeated every year.    It brings focus and detail to the discussion.  When done as described above it shows clearly what the leadership sees as priorities and focuses discussion on them.  It shows that those programs and needs which are not this year’s priorities are still important and are viable in the future.  It is public enough to generate discussion among many who are interested but not directly involved.  It can be a terrific vehicle for inspiring a congregation.

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*K. Peter Henrickson lives in Vancouver, WA has served the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and its Pacific Northwest District for over 30 years.  Peter served two separate terms as district treasurer for a total of 15 years.  During that period, he began consulting with congregations on general financial management issues.  With the learnings from those consulting jobs, Peter put together several presentations for both district meetings and the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly.  And the material from those workshops grew into a book, Church Financial Management, which is now available through Amazon.   Peter has served on the Board of Eliot Institute and was Treasurer for a total of about ten years and has served as the UUA’s District Compensation Consultant since 2005.  Peter can be contact directly at:   kphenrickson@gmail.com    (360) 608-8571

            [1] See Loren B Meade’s “More Than Numbers, The Way Churches Grow” referenced in the bibliography.  I recommend it for further development of these notions.