• To: FUS Board and Society Members
• From: Andrew Gussert, FUS COO
• RE: Proposed Budget Fiscal Year 2013-14
• Date: May 16, 2013

Focus and Overview

Over a five year period, we are moving the significant $360,000 annual FUS mortgage payment – approximately $1000 each day – from our capital budget into our operating budget. Where we didn’t even have a line item in 2008, this debt repayment will soon consume over 21% of the total operating budget. The repayment debt line for this coming fiscal year 2013-14 is $270,000, and is slotted at $22,500 each month. The remaining $90,000 payment will come from the capital fund, which has little revenue coming into it.

Funding this planned debt repayment continues to be our main challenge, and propels a certain culture of scarcity within our walls. It is difficult to lay out an ‘aspirational budget’ until this burgeoning problem is adequately addressed. To date, we have not done so. Any answer lies in a combination of major cuts and investing in growth revenue.

In the past, projections for bringing in new members, for increased pledge growth from existing members, and for increased rental of the facility were overestimated or not realized. That projected revenue has not come in during the past five years. We need to envision many smaller sources and increases to make up the difference. There is no silver bullet solution: Only hard work and commitment will dig us out.

Funding Philosophy

We are frugal at FUS, and it may unintentionally breed scarcity. People will invest in a positive plan that highlights our best shared values. They will flee from conversations of flat pledging, stagnant budgets and dwindling capacity. We need to stop the complaints about high mortgage payments or lagging pledge numbers. The budget – and related discussions – needs to become a vehicle to share our best FUS values and aspirations.

Here are the 3 budget documents for review:

The following lists the raw excel spreadsheet cells that make up the budget. For clarity, we’ve stripped out the smaller items, but all of the totals are accurate.

Proposed Budget (PDF file) 

The following narrative gives COO reccomendations, points out the major revenue and expenditure changes, and lists our goals and vision for the next year.

An Overview of the Budget (PDF file)

Over the past year, the COO kept a list of tactics and strategies for making a good organizational budget, including a timeline.  This informal document is a “in the weeds” explanation of budgeting procedures.

Budgeting Principles, Guidelines, Tactics, Strategy (PDF file)

There are also two Governance Documents to look at for the June 2^nd Forum

To be voted upon by the Congregation:

The proposed updates to the bylaws

Previously passed by the Board, setting limits on Staff and Ministers

The updated FUS Policy Manual

Please join us at 12:30 on Sunday, June 2 for the Parish Meeting.

Light lunch will be provided.

We have a generous congregation.

It shouldn’t be a surprise Trace Grade does so much of the difficult admin work around here, and she just sent me a detailed spreadsheet of weekly pledge totals.  It shows our members are investing heavily in FUS.

Top News:

• 40% of people increased their pledge, and another 9% are new pledges. Half of our Society is giving more, or giving for the first time.
• 37% stayed the same, meaning 86% of FUS givers think things are fine or improving (Note: 14% are decreasing their pledge)
• We went over a million dollars in pledges two weeks ago.

The Good News:

• With $1,095,823 in pledges, we have 89% in the door by 5/21
• With 697 of 840, we have 83% of pledges in the door, with 40 days left to go.
• The average pledge is $53 higher than same rate last year, and $130 more than two years ago
• The median pledge is $100 than last year and the year before.

Projections:

• We still need $138,527 in pledges in 40 days to hit the monetary target.
• If the 143 remaining pledges give an average of $969, we hit our target monetary goal of $1,234,350
• For perspective, the average pledge _at the end_ last year was $1385.
• If we have a significant growth program, with entry level pledging, 1000 pledges by Feb 1 2014 is not out of reach.

Concerns:

• Averages are leveling off.
• The mode dropped from $1200 to $600.
• We need 3 or 4 pledges coming in a day to hit our numerical number of pledges goal by June 30.

PS: This is a brief update I draft up for a few of top leaders every week, and decided to post on the blog.  We don’t associate a money figure with each member, or think of FUS as a money making operation…but your friendly COO thought it would be interesting to let you peek behind the pledge curtain.  This support allows our ministers, staff and members to promote our vision and work they so love.

by Andy Gussert, FUS COO

During May and June, all staff at FUS get individual and formal evaluations with their supervisors.  This timing makes it appropriate to share some of our organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) that were suggested in a brainstorm session last month.

FUS Strengths: We have a spiritual philosophy of theological inclusiveness that truly gels with our time and place. As the people who mark ‘none’ under religious affiliation seek community, or as the ‘spiritual but not religious’ look for fellow travelers along the journey, our FUS doors are open.  We’ve embraced a respect for religious pluralism that honors the curious and questioning people of Madison.  Our principles are reflected in the generosity and actions of our progressive membership. Our Worship services highlight the beauty of our beliefs, reinforced with great music, each and every week.  Other major strengths include our hundred year history, beautiful buildings, religious education program, focus on social justice and great variety of programming.

FUS Weaknesses:  We have 1450 members, but fewer than ten percent regularly volunteer each month in service to others in the FUS community.  If we better utilize ministry teams under new governance, and channel member interests into meaningful action, this will go up.  We need to better facilitate people’s passion to combat the notion we are a passive congregation.  Complaints about not having enough capacity will wither when members are more empowered to act.  Other perceived weaknesses include outdated software and technology, lack of parking, better branding, an unwillingness to promote, and drawing a clearer path for outsiders to affiliation and membership.

FUS Opportunities: There are probably ten thousand or more Unitarian Universalists in Dane County who just don’t know it yet.  FUS is situated in a larger community of people that share our values and vision, but may eschew religion or church.  If we can connect with these individuals, as they expand our congregational community, we’ll live in a better world.  On the flip side of the same coin, we have so many talented current members ranging across professions, geography and income.  The depth and breadth of our membership is impressive, if not unmatched. We need to better activate, utilize and channel these significant talents to better serve each other within FUS.  Other opportunities include getting our profound content out on television and radio, using empty space better, and capitalizing on changing social trends.

FUS Threats:  Whether it is a Wall Street meltdown or something as simple as IRS tax deductions, our financial future is intricately linked with the economy and government.  We cannot accurately predict what will happen to people’s pensions, salaries and jobs a year or more out.  When state positions are cut by a new governor, FUS feels that pinch.  Five years ago, we projected growth figures under best scenarios, and now we must tweak to adjust to a different type of economy.  As we get on track to cover a $360,000 annual mortgage out of the operating budget, we still do not realize the solid financial footing we desire.  This can breed a culture of scarcity, where we focus on what we don’t have, rather than our real strengths and opportunities. Other threats to FUS include complacency, embracing the status quo, departure of key staff, and emerging facility needs (including a new roof over the Landmark Loggia and Gaebler Living Room.)

What did we miss? 

Your COO takes every problem as an opportunity for improvement, so fire off an email if there’s something to share. If you have a helpful suggestion for improvements, they are always greatly appreciated.

You should be reading these important document before Sunday so you can ask questions!

Get informed before you get to the Budget and Governance forum on Sunday (12:45; light lunch)! Check out the documents posted at http://www.fusmadison.org/fiscalbudget. See you there!

Some fun background on the FUS Shawl Ministry program…

• Michael Schuler introduced the idea at a Quest retreat in 2006. It was a direct outgrowth of the Quest program, and there would probably not be a Shawl Ministry program without Quest. 
• The formation of the Shawl Ministry was participant-driven. The structure for what became Shawl Ministry was created at a meeting of about 20 interested folks in the trailers that were our office and meeting space during construction of the Atrium building. 
• The original group of  coordinators, Joyce Carey, Chris Lee, Maggie Dugan, and Lorna  Aaronson worked with Karen Gustafson and member coordinator Alice Delaquess to craft what gleaned from that meeting into what we refer to as the “FAQ,” which we think of as our basic structure.
• Lorna Aaronson and Dorit Bergen are the current coordinators. Our primary focus is within the congregation, but we do from time to time organize giving of items outside the congregation (to The Road Home, Midvale School, the Family Enhancement Welcome Baby Program, for example). Gail Bliss served for two years as the Shawl  Ministry outreach coordinator.
• It is a little-known fact that the very first shawl that we gave was a lace shawl with images of the flaming chalice integrated into the design.  Gail Snowden finished the shawl just two weeks before the shooting at the Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville, and we thought it especially fitting to send to them as a gesture of love and support from our congregation to theirs.
• Our motto is “Hand to hand, heart to heart.” All items are hand-made by people in our church community specifically for others within our congregation. Since starting in April 2008, nearly 80 people have made and contributed over 300 shawls, lap robes, and blankets.  More than100 children and adults have received comfort items to help them through such challenging times as hospitalization, illness and loss.
• Since March 2009, the giving of a handmade child dedication blanket to each child has been incorporated into child dedication services. Nearly 120 children have received dedication blankets, including a record number of 45 child dedications in 2012.
• People give as many or as few  items as they want:  Some may make only one item a year, while others offer half a dozen or even more.
• The latest addition to our efforts is the notion of “Shawls in the Auditoriums.” Based on an idea brought by a new member from her former congregation, we have placed baskets of shawls in each auditorium to loan to anyone who may need comfort and warmth during services.
• We think of the comfort items created by the Shawl Ministry as representing the embrace of the congregation during times of need.  While the ministers, staff, and lay leaders sometimes hear about members who are having difficult times, in a congregation of our size it is a real challenge to get this information in a timely way. 

If you know of someone who is ill, hospitalized, grieving, or would otherwise benefit from this token of caring, please get the word to a minister, lay minister, or staff member directly, or fill out the form that appears weekly in the Red Floors.

For more info, contact

• Lorna Aaronson
• 608-255-0296
• lorna464 -(at)- gmail.com

In the news, in bestselling books, and at FUS, we’ve heard the words “Mass Incarceration” on a regular basis.  Our 11×15 Ministry Team has been spearheading FUS efforts to move our tax dollars to fund alternatives to the mass incarceration of African American men in Wisconsin.  Has it seemed like media hype?

Oxford defines Mass Incarceration as “comparatively and historically extreme rates of imprisonment.”  A recent report issued by the UW-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute revealed that Wisconsin’s incarceration rate for African American males is:

the highest in the country;
nearly double the national average;
ten times the state’s rate for white men.

What can we do?  Read the full report here: “Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013.”  Or, read a summary of the report and policy recommendations by the Institute’s director, John Pawasarat in Sunday’s Journal Sentinel.   Every person reading this can send a note to  the FUS 11×15 Team, to say that this matters to us. Our team is already hooked into a statewide effort.  Team members will connect whatever time and skills we can offer to the work. We can write, call, and show up with them.  We can say that this isn’t hype, it’s just wrong.

“Take heart Wisconsin!” says Karen Gustafson, Associate Minister, as she heads to a spot from which to watch Minnesota become the twelfth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Go to http://www.startribune.com/politics/207166651.html  to watch Gov. Mark Dayton publicly sign the law.

Dalai Lama’s visit shines light on its many flourishing  forms

From the news story:

“Generally, if people say they are Buddhists, it means they are meditating  and that they have found the fundamental teachings of the Buddha helpful in  organizing their lives,” said Janice Sheppard of Madison, a retired higher education administrator.

She is a lay Buddhist minister with the Madison Insight Meditation Group,  which practices meditation in the Theravada tradition as developed in India, Sri  Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. Its weekly Sunday gatherings at First  Unitarian Society draw 20 to 40 people.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/buddhism-s-big-week-dalai-lama-s-visit-shines-light/article_f168c24d-4edc-5c39-a0cf-e437fa381f9a.html#ixzz2TBkFDHTD

Starting at 12:45 pm in the Atrium on Sunday, May 19th.  Light lunch will be served before the meeting.  Please join us with questions, feedback, thoughts or concerns.

We will share the proposed 2013-14 budget as well as the Revision to the By-Laws so that they are in accordance with our new governance model.

Links are provided to these documents, so please take the time to review them before the forum.

http://fusmadison.org/images/Revised%20BYLAWS%20OF%20THE%20FIRST%20UNITARIAN%20SOCIETY%20OF%20MADISON%202013.04.09.pdf

http://fusmadison.org/images/FUS_Policy_Manual_4_22_2013.pdf

Get all the news that is fit to print (about FUS) at http://www.fusmadison.org/red