UUA General Assembly 2018 Report

Workshops and Other Events

As I am back from the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly 2018, here is a brief report of my highlights for those who did not attend (and those who did!).

Workshop: Calling Future Ancestors – Shaping Our Legacy Today
Rev. Laura Randal and I presented this workshop. We had a good group of engaged participants who considered legacy more broadly – how we can create a legacy today and where our legacy might persist in our congregations. It was participatory, so a recording or slides after the fact would not be instructive.

However, Rev. Laura did spend time in the later part of the workshop talking about The Legacy Challenge. Here are some tips for you:

• Please remember the great video on planned giving – useful to congregations! It is on their website: http://wakenowourvision.org/
• About half of the matching funds have already been accounted for – they are definitely tracking the order/date intent forms come in, so start getting forms in, if you haven’t already.
• This effort has already resulted in approximately $53 million in new gift intentions, so far through the match. Thanks and Congratulations to everyone involved.
• Payouts of matching money are being planned for 2019 and again in 2020.
• Each participating congregation will need to decide where the match money will go. I am recommending that congregations use their own process to decide that destination and communicate it to the congregation as soon as possible, and well before the match money arrives.

For more information or questions about The Legacy Challenge, contact Rev. Laura Randall, Legacy Campaign Director: (617) 948-6511, lrandall@uua.org
For more general information about planned giving, contact Jay Pacittii, UUA Legacy Gifts Officer: (617) 948-6445, jpacitti@uua.org
For direct (consulting) help with Long Term Stewardship in your congregation, contact me: (202) 722-8888, mewert@generositypath.com
Also see my blog post about planned giving resources (https://stewardshipforus.com/planned-giving-resources/)

Workshop: Justice, Stewardship, and White Supremacy
I was so grateful to be part of presenting this workshop with an amazing team (listed below). About 75 people attended and the feedback has been good. Again it was by and large participatory, so was not recorded and a slideshow would not give you the core information. My big take-away from the session: white people (like me!) have a hard time focusing in on race and economic systems. When pressed, we tend to drift over to economic inequality.

We left participants with this question for them ponder going forward and to bring back to their congregation:

If you were to wake up tomorrow morning and your congregation had become fully racially equitable and inclusive in relation to money – its gathering, holding and tracking, allocation process, and use – how would you know?

My Co-presenters:

• Cloud, Jessica, Starr King School for the Ministry, Vice President of Advancement
  jcloud@sksm.edu
• Elizabeth Ann Terry, UUA Congregational Giving Specialist
  eterry@uua.org
• Rev. Jacqueline Brett, Eno River UU Fellowship (NC), Director of Member Engagement
  jbrett@eruuf.org
• Jay Pacitti, UUA Legacy Gifts Officer
  jpacitti@uua.org

Other Events

Ware Lecture
The Ware lecture was given this year by Brittany Packnett. Ms. Packnett is one of the hosts of the Pod Save the People podcast (https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-people/). She is also the Vice President of National Community Alliances for Teach for America; co-founder of Campaign Zero, a comprehensive policy platform to end police violence; a member of the Ferguson Commission and served on President Obama’s Taskforce for 21st Century Policing.

I provide some biographical information because she was unknown to me, and the Ware Lecture is often given by a famous public figure who needs little introduction. It was wonderful to hear from a young, black woman who is a leading voice in the anti-racism community – and she was a powerful, dynamic speaker. If you were not there, check out the video on the UUA website (https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2018/ware)

Sunday Worship
For those who have never been to a GA before, Sunday morning worship is open to anyone in the community – there is no need to register or have an official nametag to participate. This year was wonderful as always, and the sermon given by UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray was amazing. Check it out on line (https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2018/worship/sunday) – in fact, there is a lot to see from GA18 on the UUA site, so see all the links of the UUA.org GA page.

Mark Ewert is a stewardship consultant with the Stewardship For Us team. Mark works with congregations on their stewardship programs and can be reached at mewert@stewardshipforus.com, via the UUA’s Congregational Stewardship Resources page, (http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/consulting), or through your regional staff.