Building a Stewardship Environment for Your Congregation? Consider These Four Cornerstones

Generosity is a funny thing. The more you give away, the more you gain. Congregations that “Share the Plate” every week, for example, usually find that gifts increase overall, not just for the sponsored cause, but also for the congregation itself. It seems that regular opportunities to share, to give to worthy causes, and to live our values by putting our money where our mouths are is having positive side effects all around for many congregations.

With that in mind, consider emphasizing these four “cornerstones of stewardship” in your congregation. Two of them are home based, two are dedicated to Unitarian Universalism and the world writ large. Choosing to give locally or broadly is a false choice; both are important to the health of our movement and genuine satisfaction on the part of the donor.

Pledge to Your Congregation: This is the cornerstone of cornerstones. We are self-supporting congregations. The leaders we have chosen cannot plan or budget realistically without our commitments. It’s not just a question of making the resources available; it’s also making the commitment so the congregation can plan and spend wisely.

Equally important is what a pledge represents to ourselves. If this is where we most live our values, surely we want to underwrite the congregation with our time, talent, and treasure. If we are not willing to make so minimum a commitment as to provide a planning figure for what we will share in a given year, we’re not really members in the best sense of that term – we would be just shoppers and consumers. This is more important a relationship than that.

Be a Legacy Donor: Is your congregation and/or the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) a part of your will or estate plan? They should be. This is a powerful way to say that you are committed for the long-term and that you want Unitarian Universalism, locally and globally, to succeed far into the future. People sometimes put off putting this sort of commitment in place, thinking “I’m young, I have years to think about that,” or that it’s too difficult to calculate how much to designate as a gift. Neither is a good reason to delay.

First, we all hope to live long indeed, but the reality is that none of us knows what the future holds. If you have decided this is a commitment you would like to make, get it set up now and it need not be a worry later, perhaps at a time when many issues will seem pressing. Second, it’s not necessary to specify an amount. While one may certainly do so, we also have the option of expressing the gift as a percentage of the estate, either a percent of the total available or as a percent after other specified allocations have been made. And of course, we can change any of those allocations any time we so choose.

Keep in mind this is not just about you. Your estate gift, of whatever size, is a visible commitment that can inspire others to follow your example. Hopefully, your congregation has in place a Legacy Society or similar organization to encourage such gifts and to recognize those who have joined the Society. If you don’t have such a group, start one without delay. The Stewardship for Us team is available to help organize and launch such efforts if you would like some assistance getting off to a good start.

Be a Chalice Lighter: Most Unitarian Universalists know about the Chalice Lighter program. It’s a fine example of all of us working together, helping each other out when the need arises. Begun in the 1980s, the idea is simple: Ask individual UUs if they’d be willing to contribute $10 or more up to three times a year to help a congregation in their region complete a special project linked to growth. Every Region operates their program a bit differently, so get in touch with your primary contact person in your region if you need information and materials to grow a chalice lighter community within your congregation.

The program has raised millions of dollars over the years, donated by thousands of our members. Chalice Lighter projects generally consist of helping congregations call a minister or construct a building or addition. Other purposes are to establish a new congregation or support campus ministry. Rules vary by region. Participants may, of course, contribute more than the minimum asked for each time if they wish, and many do.

These grants often make the difference for new congregations to start up or established ones to grow. And a standard I like, Chalice Lighter programs generally are ready to help any congregation, but one measurement applied is how active is that congregation in the Chalice Lighter Program; have you helped others in the way you are asking to be helped?

Check Out Faithify: This is the age of the internet, of connections never thought possible before. One interesting offshoot of all this is crowd funding – people coming together who don’t even know each other, helping make something happen that they may never see or benefit from themselves. It can be a powerful way for anyone to make a small contribution and see it matched by others to becomes a major, empowering gift. Even though Fathify  is a rather new effort, it has raised over $600,00 for more than 160 UU causes of widely varying types and all around the country.

Faithify is a UU run crowdfunding platform for Unitarian Universalist ministry projects. Projects include everything from youth work to justice, service, buildings, staff positions, and emerging ministries. Faithify is full of projects that are “faithified” through the direct support of others. Faithify is a project of the Massachusetts Bay District of Unitarian Universalist Congregations, and is supported by the staff of the New England Region of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It serves the entire UUA. Take a look at their web site for more information, including FAQs, candidate projects, rules to participate or submit a project, accountability (high) and costs.(low). faithify.org

There you have it – four good cornerstones for your personal and congregational spirit of generosity and four great ways to turn your values into living, functioning programs that change lives. There are other great causes we can support, but more on those in a later posting. Circulate this list among your congregation and talk up the satisfaction and value of sharing both at your home congregation and on a larger stage.

 

Bill Clontz is a stewardship consultant with the Stewardship for UsTeam, supporting the UUA.

You can reach Bill via email at bill@stewardshipforus.com ,via the UUA’s Congregational Life Directorate (http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/index.shtml ), or through your regional staff.

Your comments and observations are always welcome here.