by Jim Sanders, Finance Chair, and Denny Rodgers, Treasurer

U.S. presidents declare in their State of the Union address each year that “the state of our Union is sound”; we too can say unequivocally that the state of our church is financially sound!

We are in the first year of our tenure as financial leadership representatives, having inherited from our predecessors several key items. They include:

• a period of balanced budgets
• completed financial and financial procedure audits
• a successful capital program that has moved into construction
• a coordinated theme for all aspects of fundraising activities for the church year based on our work in Soul Matters
• a healthy and energized team of fundraisers made up of Stewardship, Auction, Endowment, Capital Campaign, and Fundraising who meet monthly in support of each other.

We have completed the first seven months of our church year (July 2023 – January 2024) and share the following numbers that show we are running at budget with our income and at or below our expenses. Expenses are lower because our construction costs will be covered first by church capital pledge gifts BEFORE we start using our bank loan. We will share specifics about anticipated savings during the budgeting preparation process in the spring.

In other news, the Finance team has been working with the staff and Board of Trustees about best use of our limited space(s) during this spring’s construction schedule.

Our investments in UUCWC’s Endowment Fund have earned enough interest income from the “up market” to offer grants this spring for projects for next year that are not covered in our regular budget (look here for more information about and the application for Endowment grants).

The Spring Stewardship Campaign is in full swing, and Jane Root’s and Scott Blaydon’s wonderful leadership continues to move to a model of year-round stewardship conversations with members.

Capital Campaign Treasurer George Faulkner has negotiated our loan with Northfield Bank for the construction project, and Farzad Shadzik has successfully negotiated a new construction contract with additional savings. BRAVO, TEAM CAPITAL!

WATCH YOUR EMAIL: Finance will contact Committee chairs over the next several weeks to request their anticipated budgets for the 2024-25 fiscal year in preparation for development of the church budget in early April.