UUCT 75th Annual Pledge Campaign–for 2023/24

For members of UUCT = offer your pledge via “UUCT’s 2023/24 Pledge Form“.

Not a member of UUCT?

• …but still want to support UUCT by contributing to our 2023/24 fiscal budget?
• Easy — just make a one-time donation via UUCT’s “Online Contribution“.
  • Be sure to use the “Donation” field — for your amount
  • also — on the second page — in the “Optional” area, add this note:
    • “For UUCT’s 2023-24 pledge campaign”.
  • (This will move funds into the savings account.  Big Thanks!)

Sharing our Time, Talent and Treasure
Brings about Change!

(from March 26)…

Pledge Update:

We are…

• only short about $15,000 of our pledge goal
  • to meet our budget needs for next year.
• You can help!
• No amount is too small.

(from March 23)…

Sharing your Time, Talent and Treasure Ensures the Future of UUCT

As the stewardship campaign comes to an end, our finance committee now struggles to build an acceptable budget that provides fair wages to our staff, funds for campus maintenance, and programing to meet the needs many of you expressed in cottage meetings. The congregation will be asked to vote on whatever budget they come up with at our annual meeting, Sunday, May 7.

Our pledge goal was $240,000 to provide them with a strong basis for this budget. As of a few days ago we had raised close to $216,000. As you can see, there is still a significant gap. However, your minister, Rev. Bethany, is confident we can do this! She has faith in us, and we should too!

We had a lovely dinner last Sunday to celebrate the generosity of all who had already pledged—now up to 101. This included pledges from 83 who are listed as active members of UUCT out of 185 total active members. We are fortunate to have some friends and winter members who also pledge, but if you are an active member, we need you to step up. We need you to pledge to support the mission of this church.

Can you give $10 a month? What about $20? Yes, every penny counts.

It is easy to pledge.

• Email the church office and tell our administrator, Mary Wiese to enter your pledge of X amount in the database: mwiese@uuctucson.org
• Or, go online: PLEDGE and fill in the online 2023 Pledge Card,
• or pick up a pledge card this Sunday at church, fill it and drop it in the pledge box.

Mind the gap! It takes a village.

(from March 16)…

Sharing our time, talent, and treasure is an ongoing process!

As of today, we have raised $198, 440. We still need to raise $41,560 to meet our budget goals for this fiscal year. Thank you to all of who taken part in this years pledge campaign so far.

The Finance Committee is still working to build a budget for the new fiscal year starting on July 1. So, however much you pledged, that new amount does not go into effect until then. The congregation will vote on the budget at the annual meeting the first Sunday in May.

Remember pledges are accepted most gratefully any time of year! And pledges can be changed any time as well. Perhaps you have an unexpected stroke of good luck—thank the universe and raise your pledge. Hard times hit unexpectedly—lower your pledge or notify the Minister, minister@uuctucson.org that you are financially unable to fulfill your pledge.

In either case, the church administrator, Mary Wiese, can make changes to the information that is in the church database: mwiese@uuctucson.org

Also, the pledge campaign uncovered a number of wrong phone numbers, addresses and email addresses in the database this year. Please make sure your contact information is kept updated, and contact Mary if there are changes.

This Sunday, March 19, join us after the service, to celebrate another year of generosity and sharing with a free lunch prepared by our Kitchen Ministry team. This lunch is a big thank you to all the members and friends who pledged this year.

What? Making a pledge somehow slipped your mind? You can still pledge online, and of course pledge cards will be available at church on Sunday! Pledges can be made on the UUCT website. The pledge form is available here: Pledge 2023-2024

Again, thanks to all who support the mission of this church with their time, talent and treasure. The very survival of a liberal religious light in the desert depends on you!

How is my pledge or donation spent?

Each photo tells a story. From top to Bottom:

• Sunday Coffee Hour and other special events. Although we receive donations on Sunday, they do not cover everything such as the free trade coffee we serve, delicious snacks, the gas it takes to heat the stove and the water that cleans the dishes. And, to pay our wonderful custodian, Jesus, who cleans those spaces every week. (And cleans the 12 toilets/urinals we have on campus weekly. Yup, 12!)
• Music! The sheet music, the microphones, the instrument maintenance, especially our beautiful piano that needs to be tuned several times a year. And of course our wonderful Music Director, Brian Moon, and our pianist, Hangyu Bai.
• Our desert grounds. We have almost 5 acres of property, with 4 buildings that need to be maintained. Last year we spent $3000 to pay for Primavera Works, to trim trees and weed our grounds. This gives back to the community, and helps us to have a safe and welcoming place for everyone.
• Electricity so our church sign can be illuminated for passers by. All utilities have risen this year, gas, water, refuse, and electricity. And, we pay a monthly lease for our solar electric system which aligns with our values, and saves us money.
• Our child friendly play spaces and classrooms. These spaces are used for our Religious Education program, that our fabulous DRE, Jamili Omar, takes care of, our Sunday nursery and childcare, OWL programs, and the Children’s Center which rents our facility 5 days a week. The Children’s Center serves many families in the community, and 60% of those families live below poverty level.

These are just examples of how we use the treasure that so many of you generously give every year. How about our incredible minister, Rev. Bethany Russell-Lowe? How lucky are we to have her!

(from March 9)…

Cottage meetings, a staple of stewardship campaigns for many years, were organized this year so that you could discuss Cottage meetings, a staple of stewardship campaigns for many years, were organized this year so that you could discuss your goals and aspirations for the church in small groups at people’s homes.

Reports from those who hosted these meeting were positive—that is, the attendees enjoyed getting to get to know other people from the church better and to talk about what they would like the future of UUCT to look like.

If you were unable to attend one of these meetings, you still have one last opportunity this Sunday, March 12, after the service at church.

Your input is important. What should leaders and staff of UUCT be focusing on in the coming year? How can they focus on what you think is important if you never share your thoughts and ideas with them?

How can our goals and aspirations be achieved unless we all consider how to share our time, talent and treasure to make these dreams come true? How can leaders and staff budget for the year ahead if they have no idea of the income to expect? That is what a stewardship campaign is all about.

As we sang at a service recently, “Hand in hand, stone by stone, help us build our sacred home.” That is what the Stewardship Team is asking you to do when we ask you to pledge your financial support for UUCT.

Update—as of today we have raised $184,135 from 79 pledgers.

Many thanks to all who have pledged, but if you have not done so, the time is now!

Our goal is $240,000. We are almost there.

Will your pledge be the one that puts us over the top?

(from March 2)…

Yes, this is the 75th year of Unitarian Universalism in Tucson. And during each of those years, ministers, and lay people alike, asked their congregations to make a monetary pledge of support for the church.

Because those who came before us answered this call, we, today, have a religious community that stands for the liberal values that are so important to us—dignity of each individual, a right to search for our own truths, respect for the interdependence of all existence, and justice for all.

There were some people in the past who donated large amounts so that we could have a sanctuary like Holland and a gathering place like Goddard Hall. But there were many, many others who consistently gave whatever they could to keep a liberal light burning in the desert.

Last Sunday, the first official day of our pledge drive, we already had 51 pledges for a total of $127,355.00. By this morning we have 65 pledges totaling $161,815. What a wonderful showing of support for the mission of UUCT!

When you promise to give a certain amount in a yearly pledge, you are not only giving to pay salaries, keep the lights on, and assure that our rooms are comfortable for the numerous classes and events we have here at the church, you are also saying “I support the values of a liberal religion.”

If you have not already made your pledge, please do so today either online or on a pledge card that you may have received in the mail or picked up at church or a cottage meeting.

Let’s meet our goal of $240,000 or even surpass it!

We must support the institution today,

so that it will be here for our children,

and our children’s children

far into the future.

(from Feb 22)…

During our annual stewardship campaign, you are being asked to share more of your time, your unique talents and your treasure. Yes, we are all busy people, and yet our church asks us to do more. So, now is a good time to pay heed to a recent communication from Susan Frederick-Gray, the UUA President:  She reminds us to take care of ourselves during the challenging times we are living in, remembering what brings us joy and peace, even as we are in “the churn of change.”

She continues, “sometimes we still push ourselves knowing the urgency and importance of the challenges ahead…Rest is crucial…It is the seedbed of imagination, generosity and inspiration.” Keep these thoughts in mind as we move forward using our time, talents and treasure to create the change that will make the challenges worthwhile.

Remember, you are not being asked to do this alone. Sharing the work with others in UUCT who believe in the change that is coming will make it happen. As the old proverb says, many hands make light work. Together we can make it so.

(from Feb 15)…

How do you like to spend your time? Do you like to cook? To garden? To solve electrical problems? To tell people about your commitment to social justice? To environmental justice? Do you like to sing? Are you comfortable with numbers? Are you action oriented? Willing to make hardboiled eggs for feeding the unhoused? Hold signs proclaiming our principle that all people have inherent worth and dignity? Do you like to talk with children? Do you like to sit quietly, listening to people, to music, to a good sermon? What is your special talent that you could share?

Let’s commit our time, talent and treasure to UUCT. We need you in so many ways. During our annual pledge campaign you are being asked to make this commitment. Each of us has something in us that can help our community. Change may take a long time, but it happens when people work together to make it happen.

Pledge your time, talent and treasure to support what you stand for as a UU!

(from Feb 2)…

Perhaps you are at a point in life where it is just not possible to increase the amount of money you give to the church or to any other charitable organization. And this year’s pledge campaign will soon ask everyone to try to increase their pledge by 10% or $100 over last year’s. What’s a person to do?

This week consider how valuable your time is. Think about those stalwart volunteers we see every week in the kitchen over in Goddard Hall. They make sure there are snacks and coffee available every Sunday morning. Sometimes there are delicious lunches as well. If the church had to pay them an average McDonald’s hourly wage of $15, their four hours of volunteer time would be worth approximately $60 per Sunday. If you volunteered for the Kitchen Ministry two Sundays in 2023, you would contribute $120 worth of labor!

Now would be a great time to consider increasing the amount of time you volunteer at UUCT. Just increasing the number of Sundays you actually attend services in person is the easiest way to increase the time you share with this community! Set a 10% increase in the amount of time you give as your goal for this year. You will reap the reward of feeling that you are a valued member of what is truly your church community. (Oh, and when asked for your monetary pledge, if you are able, please increase that amount too!)

(from Jan 27)…

Jeannie Campbell, a licensed marriage and family therapist, wrote in a blog post, “What we pay for, invest time in, and volunteer for speaks volumes about what we value.” What do you value about UUCT? Why do you attend services here or visit us online? What is it about being or becoming a Unitarian Universalist that speaks to your heart and mind?

What you value is at the heart of our 75th annual pledge campaign. Please consider these questions about your values when you are asked in the coming weeks to pledge generously of your time, talent and treasure to support our church in fulfilling our mission to transform ourselves, our community, and our world by intentionally living our Unitarian Universalist principles:

• Inherent worth and dignity of all
• Justice, equity and compassion
• Accept and encourage spiritual growth
• A free search for truth and meaning
• Use of the democratic process
• World community with peace, liberty and justice for all
• Respect for the interdependent of all existence