UUA Trustee Report 1/04Joan Lund
Despite the bitter cold Boston weather our January, 2004 Board of Trustees meeting was filled with warmth, energy, hard work, challenges, and fun. As you can imagine we stayed inside as much as possible and were quite comfortable. On Sunday the temperatures climbed into the 30s which afforded me opportunity for a brief, brisk walk in the Boston Common where I watched the skaters.
Gini Courter, our new UUA moderator promised to work toward chairing a mission focused, joyful, and pain-free board meeting facilitated the pain free part by having Linda Bluestein, District President?s Association president take the board notes so we could fully attend to our work. These informal notes are posted on the UUA web page, www.uua.org, but the official January Board Minutes will be posted after the April Board meeting, at which time they will be approved. The entire Board packet is available on the UUA website for all you die-hard fans.
In my opinion one of the most important ?happenings? is the invitation to all UUA congregational presidents, presidents-elect, or presiding officer to come to General Assembly with their registration being paid by the UUA. I urge each congregation in our District to take advantage of this opportunity, and assure you many fine GA events are planned with congregational leaders in mind. As always if you have questions or comments please let me know. You can use jlund@uua.org, lundjb@earthlink.net, or call me at 813-931-9727. Below you will find my report arranged by topics.
President Bill Sinkford?s Report
Bill began by telling us the banners hanging at the front of 25 Beacon, and facing the Massachusetts State House are part of our increasingly effective public witness program. He believes the UUA has become perhaps the most important liberal religious voice on the same gender marriage issue. He stated same gender marriage is part of the ?Family Matters? issue cluster within our public witness strategic plan, and our goal is not only to gain visibility but to influence our culture, resulting in policy changes. In April there will be a March on Washington for Reproductive rights at which Bill, our moderator, Gini Courter, and UUs from around the country will be in attendance. Response to the call for voter registration and voter turnout work is being enthusiastically received and partnerships with new allies are being developed. A broad-based religious coalition called ?Faithful Democracy? is being formed which will support national voter registration efforts. In November Bill attended the NAACP?s Religions Leadership Summit in Atlanta, the first time the president of our Association has been invited to participate in the yearly event.
Growth of our denomination is a priority of both Bill and the Board. The new start in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, ?Pathways Church?, will open next fall. Bill stated we all know that real, sustained growth will not come from ?showy? new churches; a broader strategic plan is necessary in implementing growth. A new growth team has been created to frame these strategies.
Bill recently met with the YRUU Steering Committee to discuss the possibility of a new ?Common Ground? gathering, the first one occurring in the 1980s, which created the current YRUU structure and covenant. Bill believes we are due for a review of that structure and the issues present in our ministry to and with youth. The Steering Committee has agreed to work with Bill to develop a new Common Ground gathering in the summer of ?06.
Executive Vice-president Kay Montgomery?s Report
As a result of a salary survey in our larger congregations it has been determined that these are clearly out of alignment with compensation paid to field staff. There will be salary adjustments for UUA staff over the next several years.
Kay has been serving as Director of the Stewardship and Development staff group on a temporary basis; Rev. Terry Sweetser has been named Acting Director and according to Kay, the department has never been in better shape.
The capital campaign will probably close at GA in Long Beach, having met its $32 million goal. There will be a collection at the Sunday morning seekers service to benefit the Long Beach community service project and an ?ask? at a plenary session to be used for religious education curricula development.
Secretary Rev. Wayne Arnason?s Report
It appears at this time an appropriate number of petitions in support of Gini Courter, our moderator selected by the Board of Trustees following the resignation of Diane Olson, to continue as moderator have been received. There is no other candidate for moderator in 2004 and it appears an election will not be necessary in Long Beach. The other item of note is the new on-line certification process which by the time you read this will have already been completed in either of the methods (on-line or paper form). Hope it was successful for you.
Financial Advisor Larry Ladd?s Report
Larry traditionally begins his report with a historical retrospective and this time was no exception. We learned about P.T. Barnum and you can find this report and Larry?s financial news on the UUA webpage. Suffice it to say the good news is the fiscal year 2004 budget is balanced, investment performance is strong, and Beacon Press is performing ahead of plan but, as with any small, independent publishing house, remains a risk.
Working Groups
There are four working groups that always meet the Friday before the weekend Board Meeting: Living Our Faith (formerly Justice), Our Association, Congregations, and Growth. I serve on the Living Our Faith group. Below, a paragraph will be devoted to each of these groups.
Living our Faith (LOF). It had been requested that the April Board meeting be held in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the March on Washington for Reproductive rights (see above). It was recommended by this group and decided by the Board that we should not meet in Washington. Nowhere in the UUA by-laws is it stated the Board is to support the President and the Association in public witness, and the Living Our Faith working group suggested that the Board craft an overall policy on appropriate Board response to issues of public social concern. The Board is supporting individuals and congregations, at their own expense, to be present and bear witness at this event. Two members of The Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Committee (JTWTC) were present at this working group and as a result of their presentation LOF recommended they keep their charge/mission as currently written, focus for two years on the ?assessment? part of the mission statement, consider changing the name of the JTWTC to ?Transformation? committee, and although the other components of the charge should not be dropped, but should be fulfilled by the administration over the next two years. The LOF chair will write to the Accessibilities Committee chair thanking her for her letter, informing her of our discussion with Devorah Greenstein, Identity Based Ministries, letting her know Best Practices assesses our accessibility at meetings, and informing her that every notice of our meetings announces the degree of our accessibility, and the procedures by which people make special requests.
Our Association. This group held a lengthy discussion regarding several concerns which included the Regional Sub-Committee on Candidacy system, a report from the Task Force on Independent Affiliates, and Associate Members and Related Organizations. The Board passed a motion at the recommendation of this working group to thank the above-stated Task Force and to have the Association Working group to continue to work with and refine the recommendations of the Task Force. YRUU presented this working group with a proposal regarding changes in the youth nomination process to the Board which will be raised again at the April Board meeting. A spoken and written report on the Community Ministry Summit was submitted and the staff has been asked for an assessment of the feasibility of actions requested.
Our Congregations. Tracy Robinson-Harris, Congregational Services Staff Group, spoke about how growth and our faith go together; she is hearing that good things are happening regarding growth in our denomination and believes part of having a faith is sharing it. The CS Staff is committed to anti-oppression and justice, and the health, growth and transformation of congregations in fulfilling their missions. This group asked important questions regarding how Lifespan Faith Development is delivered to congregations which included how needs assessments are made, the timeliness of how programs/curriculums are created, the evaluation of programs/curriculums, and who serves on advisory groups. The Board passed a motion that stated the UUA will allocate up to $4,000 to share expenses with the District President?s Association for a GA Summit to be organized by the DPA.
Growth. Why? In a report to this working group the Growth Working Group stated there are thousands of persons who desire the nurturing and empowering faith our congregations can offer. Our troubled world needs our voice, and our liberal religious ministry can make a difference. If we grow that ?voice? will be more effective. Some fun and encouraging facts were offered. Over the last 10 years, the UUA has grown by 1.2% per year. Many denominations are getting smaller. The fastest growing districts are Mountain Desert (40%), Pacific Northwest (36%), Thomas Jefferson (35%), Central Midwest 24 %, and Heartland (23%). Sixteen of the UUAs 1000 congregations accounted for 24% of the UUAs total numerical growth over the past ten years. Sixty-two congregations accounted for 60% of the growth. The 200 fastest growing congregations in our Association grew by 6.5% per year. If all our congregations grew at that rate, we would nearly double our size in 10 years to 281,000 members. Bill Sinkford, in his charge to the Growth Team, indicated everything the Association and our congregations do is, or should be, about spiritual growth and depth and the Team must hold a vision for what growth can mean for our Association, and frame and recommend broad strategies that will engage all UUs in an intentional effort to make Unitarian Universalism available to those who need and want it. Please note Extension Ministry has been discontinued for a variety of strategic and programmatic reasons. Staff time and resources will be available for small and midsize congregation workshops and conferences, consulting and coaching. It was recommended that districts need to be encouraged to make these workshops available. The importance of making anti-racism/anti-oppression and soul work part of all of our growth work was emphasized.
Best Practices Committee
A Task Force was formed to work on the issues raised by the Open UUA group. Forming this Task Force was deemed by the Board as being responsive and appropriate. For more information regarding this issue, access www.openuua.org. There is a copy of the Open UUA Petition outlining the Board?s response to this group?s posting on 1/16/04; and a packet of information on governance that can be accessed on the web at www.iog.ca/board/governance/index.html.
Finance Committee
In her opening remarks Lyn Conley, chair of the FC stated the committee is working religiously with vision, mission, and ministry integral to the committee?s task. The following motions were passed:
1. Renewable energy will be added as a positive environmental screen for the Socially Responsible Investment Committee.
2. The UUA is establishing an umbrella giving program. The UUA will expense the total amount of an umbrella gift, applying the rate in effect when the gift is realized. The UUA will distribute funds according to donor specifications, as a percentage of the gross, or a total amount received before expenses.
3. The Board received the FY05 Operating Budget as proposed. A vote to approve a balanced budget will occur in April.
4. The Board authorized the designation of 100% of the 2004 Long Beach GA Sunday ?Seeker Service? collection to the GA Service project.
5. The Board authorized a collection during a plenary session of the 2004 GA to be designated for RE curriculum development.
Anti-racism Assessment and Monitoring Team
(A standing committee of the UUA Board)
A motion passed by the Board that requested all committees of the UUA Board strive to accomplish the four following objectives:
1. Provide ongoing education and monitor progress of committee members on anti-racism/anti-oppression and multi-cultural competency in line with the Anti-racism Training Approach for Board Appointed Committee Members (April, 2002).
2. Utilize anti-racism/anti-oppression and multi-cultural planning in all written policies and procedures.
3. Regularly assess current policies, procedures and practices with an anti-racism/anti-oppression, multi-cultural lens.
4. Include in regular reports to the Board an outline of actions taken to carry out this aspect of the committee?s work.
General Assembly Information
The reasons and purposes of GA are too numerous to list but certainly include networking, homecoming, congregational development, business, and social justice making. It is truly the meeting of our congregations and this year will be special because of the many ways connections of congregations to each other and UUA leadership will be given top priority and will be on-going. Saturday has been designated as Congregational Presidents? Day. So far 2,000 UUs have registered with an anticipated 5,000 attendees. In the past there has been some difficulty with the ?safety? of banners, and a new process will be tried in securing the banners in Long Beach. Certainly the GA Planning Committee strives to make GA an event where everyone feels proud to be a UU.
If I can provide additional information about any particular topic please let me know. By no means is this a comprehensive report. I have tried to relate information of interest to you, the Florida UUs. I very much appreciate the comments, questions, and observations you make. Because the UUA Board of Trustees is meeting the same weekend as the Florida District Annual Meeting I will not be in attendance at our fine District meeting but I shall report again to you after the April Trustee meeting. Thank you for your friendship, support, and faith in me.
Joan
