Trustee Report, October 2006
UUA Trustee Report
Joan Lund
Boston, MA, October 18-22, 2006
Boston in October is usually beautiful; the colorful leaves are falling, the temperature is balmy bordering on crisp, and folks are plentiful in the Common and Public Gardens. This year was no exception. This trip found me spending a full week in Boston. After visiting family in New Jersey over the weekend preceding the UUA Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting I decided not to fly home only to turn around and return mid-week to the northeast so I headed north from N. J. on Monday.
Late Wednesday and Thursday afternoons I met with the two new Trustees for a brief orientation to the Board. This welcome responsibility will be mine for as long as I continue to be Second vice-Moderator, a position to which I was elected in June. Other responsibilities associated with this role including welcoming visitors to the Board meetings, maintaining a list of action items which arise during the Board meetings indicating the nature of the action, who will do it and by when, serve as a member of the Best Practices Committee, and help out with logistics during the meeting. During the year I have additional jobs relating to Board organization and activities.
The actual Board meetings are all day Saturday and Sunday. Informal notes were prepared by observer, District Presidents Association President, Elyse Resnick. This report will be my observations, organized by reports/topics, and loosely by sequence. I cannot begin to cover it all! As always if you have questions or comments please email/telephone me at jlund@uua.org or 813-931-9727. In addition you can go to the UUA website www.uua.org for detailed reports by the staff and Rev. Bill Sinkford, plus BOT minutes from the June, 2006 meeting in St. Louis and the BOT ?packet?. BOT passed motions that are not embedded in this report will be included at the end.
Thursday afternoon the Board?s Anti-racism/Anti-oppression
Friday afternoon Paula Cole Jones, a management consultant, lifelong member of All Souls Unitarian Church, Washington, D.C., and JUUST Change Anti-Oppression Consultancy Consultant showed segments of the PBS documentaries, ?People Like Us? and ?Race, The Power of Illusion?. Much could be written here regarding the films and her presentation. In summary racism and classism are a part of how are nation has been structured and are inextricably entwined. She offered a challenge to all of us: if we are not leading the work to rid our churches and communities of racism and classism how is it ever going to happen? Paula does not believe we have enough incentive at this time to do this work because there is little or no urgency and our principles have not been tested deeply enough. We need to create openings in our UU organizations where practice produces transformation. The Board is committed to this most important work of our Association.
Working Groups
These four groups met the Friday morning preceding the BOT meeting and I currently serve on the Congregations Working Group (CWG). Trustees contacted their District congregational presidents who attended GA to find out how they are doing regarding their congregation goals this year. Please contact me if you are interested in my conversations.
Association (AWG)
Relating to the recommendation of the Special Review Commission, the AWG felt that inviting UUs to learn from and minister to the diverse GA environment is a BOT domain. The issue was raised that there is not a clear policy regarding staff, BOT and other UUA representatives and leaders wearing nametags at Association and congregational events. The AWG reviewed the report and recommendations from the Allies for Racial Equity Report. The AWG also discussed where our Association is in the Independent Affiliate process and the best way to communicate and move forward with its implementation. The AWG discussed current issues and needs of theological education in our Association. It was determined that the role of the BOT in this conversation should be to determine the scope of the conversation on excellence in ministry, identify who should be having the conversation, and a timeline by which the BOT engages in the conversation. The BOT needs to design a process for gathering data, information, and best thought on excellence in ministry, and the predictability of excellence in our ministry as determined by various paths of preparation to ministry. The AWG discussed to what extent the current understanding of the term ?Moderator? is inadequate and misleading to the role.
Congregations (CWG)
Our meeting began with a debriefing of the 2006 GA workshop and planning for 2007. The CWG wants to lift up the importance of governance as a growth strategy and realize there is some frustration among our congregational leaders regarding training in governance models as a barrier to growth. There seems to be an ongoing problem concerning congregational presidents receiving information the UUA sends out to church offices. Appropriate governance might help, with policies about how communication happens. A joint meeting with the Living Our Faith Working Group was held to discuss the GA 2006 resolution on racism/classism. It was noted that this resolution is an invitation (not a demand) to share what is going on or consider new programs if nothing is; this resolution came from the delegate assembly; the resolution is meant to allow maximum leeway among congregations, understanding that some will never have reflected on the subject(s), some will have extensive programs, and many will fall on the spectrum between. Cathy Cordes, Interim Director of the International Office, presented the plans for the work of her Office using the BOT?s vision statement. Rev. Bill Sinkford, UUA President explained some history of the formation of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), lifting up the issue that the BOT must wrestle with: ?Is UUism a missionary faith, in its international relations?? He also discussed the financial and personnel problems of the International Association for Religious Freedom. Olivia Holmes, Director of International Relations was asked to analyze the situation and make recommendations. Kay Montgomery, UUA Executive vice-President presented the ?Crisis Response Planning? document (further information follows). The CWG reviewed the recommendations of the Special Review Commission Report commenting and asking: while agreeing that the recognition of youth contributions is desirable, it is believed that we should also ask what they receive from GA and from our faith; is anyone monitoring whether sponsors check in regularly with their youth, encouraging them to good self care and what kinds of actions have taken place in terms of conflict-management training in congregations and districts?
Growth (GWG)
In a written report to the GWG, Rev. Tracey Robinson Harris, Director of Congregational Services, reviewed learnings, lessons, and recommendations from the Pathways Church experience as they relate to the WellSprings organizing and launch strategy. The report also talked about other UUA growth projects and new experiments including the completed Chrysalis Way, the Florida District completed project to develop a process for supporting and nurturing emerging congregations. The resources developed and used in this project have been published on CD and distributed to every District. Harlan Limpert, Director for Lay Leadership Development, handed out copies of the Breakthrough Congregation DVD with a discussion guide. This, plus Drive Time Essays are being mailed to all congregational presidents with a cover letter from Bill Sinkford, not as a personal gift but to share with congregations. Breakthrough congregations are selected each year to be honored at GA through recommendations of District executives after they have contacted the UUA Trustee, District President, and the Program Consultant for suggestions. In order to be considered for this honor among the characteristics looked at is consistent growth over time. A summary of growth statistics as of 10/06 reveals that ?break through? congregations had an average of 41% growth over the past 6 years. It was noted if our UUA had the same growth rate, instead of just under 5%, we would currently have 214,000 members. Questions were posed: ?Is there something in our ministerial culture/training that makes ministers less than able allies for growth?? Where can we provide training for entrepreneurial ministries? How can we prepare all ministers to support and encourage growth? Ways to lift up this conversation will be explored.
Living Our Faith (LOFWG)
In debriefing the 2006 GA the LOFWG realizes the controversies about music and the events surrounding AROM require better ways, as a faith community, to speak with integrity about issues that trouble us. A social justice track as part of the UU University, 2007, was recommended. In regard to the recommendations of the Special Review Commission it was noted that there was a lot of good collaboration between the youth and adult chaplains. It was noted that one of the important things that happened at GA was that we were proactive about issues that come up. In an update regarding the Gulf Coast Relief Fund activities Rev. Burton Carley noted that most of the money to aid the three New Orleans congregations has been spent and the focus will now be on how the congregations plan to move forward individually and together. A five-year plan will come to the Board in January. Kay Montgomery discussed the broader Gulf Coast relief effort and the results of a research project to learn more about what?s gone well and what has not will be given to the Board in April. Rev. Bill Sinkford met with the LOFWG to discuss the Association AROM work and how it is spread throughout the work of the entire staff, rather than a single staff group. This intentional shift will help facilitate congregational work in this area. Rev. Sinkford reflected on the merits of how the work is spread out among the staff groups and how that makes everyone responsible for aspects of this work; also on the increasing number of active ministers of color, which hopefully will lead to some AROM breakthroughs.
President Rev. Bill Sinkford?s Report
Reporting on the words and activities of Rev. Sinkford is difficult because of the depth and breadth of his work on behalf of our Association. He routinely reports through the Working Groups; I will relate the highlights of his report from my perspective. He let us know the re-organization of the UUA staff 4½ years ago with a particular concern about AROM work has and continues to be very successful. Almost the entire UUA staff now claims a mission to support our transformation as a faith community. Additional resources directed toward this effort include the creation of the JUUST Change consultancy and the beginning of development of a ?self-administered? Welcoming Congregation type resource around issues of race and culture. It will be used for the first time next February and field tested later in 2007. A Spanish language hymnal is being developed. Some believe that he has led us in a retreat from our Association AROM commitments. In all the successes of our public witness efforts race was present in this public witness work. Rev. Sinkford let us know that the number of our seminarians-of-color is significantly on the rise. There are currently 55 persons of color, Latina/o, and Hispanic seminarians. At this time there are only 14 persons in this category serving our congregations. Rev. Sinkford expressed his concern as a question: Will our congregations be ready to receive their ministry? Theological education is also of concern. The merger talks between Meadville/Lombard and Starr King ended with Starr King?s decision not to move forward during the St. Louis GA. Almost 70% of our ministers now do their ministerial preparation at non-UU schools. How do we support their UU formation? This issue will be a central focus of the Panel on Theological Education. Issues of theological education impact only our religious professionals, but our lay persons as well. Lay persons are searching for greater theological depth and continually want more of this depth from their ministers. The yearning for spiritual deepening is great, wide spread, and we need to find a way to address it. Rev. Sinkford will report to the BOT in January of his continuing work in this area.
Executive Vice-president, Kay Montgomery
Kay told us about the changes in security upon entering 25 Beacon and 41 Mt. Vernon: visitors must sign in, then the office they intend to visit is notified, and a person comes to greet the visitor. A Crisis Response Plan is being developed and implemented in stages. This comprehensive plan will include the locations: UUA, GA, congregations, and other areas in the world. Incidents included are all forms of person-made disasters, physical harm to individuals, and reputational harm to leader(s)/institution. Information Technology Services is also putting a number of best practices and infrastructure improvements in place to ensure that essential services like email and internet access, and important data are available in the event of a variety of emergencies.
Secretary, Paul Rickter
Paul is beginning to address with the Election Practices Committee the GA elections of 2007 and 2009, when there will be an election for a new UUA President. Several UUs have expressed an interest in running and more names are expected.
Financial Advisor, Dan Brody
Dan presented a Power Point financial report, which should be available on the UUA website. He also briefly discussed some Health Insurance issues regarding time frames for sign-up, solvency during the first, and in future years. He indicated that many ministers did not sign up for various reasons including, the plan does not meet their needs, but the goal was to meet the needs of those qualified who do not now have health insurance. It is hoped that the plan will become more affordable in future years. Dan has some concerns about the draw-down on endowment reserves to fund the Capital Campaign.
Moderator, Gini Courter
Gini began with asking: How shall we associate together and embody our promise to move from comfort to covenant, from corporation to association, from consumption to service, from criticism to appreciation, from privilege to solidarity? She asked the Trustees who are ministers to reflect on: if there is a piece of this question they could preach on? She offered the beginning question with an eye on process and as an invitation. She encouraged us to contact UU folks we know and engage in a dialogue asking the same question?also is it a worthy and helpful question? Does this create enough excitement to engender a conversation in the Association? Gini is looking at a way to structure our time at GA which is called Open Space Technology, a system/method designed to enable ownership of decision making by large numbers of people. (Your Trustee will write more about this after the January Board meeting and if you want to know more before then contact me.) Following GA Gini, Kay Montgomery and 10 folks from DRUUMM, Allies for Racial Equity (ARE), and the Musicians Network met to discuss their relationships to one another, believing this is a fertile area for conversation. I will end (but it is not the end of her words) with her statement that we need to hold hands and not let go, and we need to educate all of us around how to be together in a dialogue of love.
Finance Committee (FC), Lyn Conley
GA ended in the black with 798 more people in attendance than in Ft. Worth. Some of the surplus will be used to fund presidents at GA 2007. Presidents will be reimbursed 50% of the registration fee, which will be $280 adult full-time (no increase from last year. Tim Brennan, UUA Treasurer, briefed the FC on the recent ?green audit? of the UUA buildings and how the buildings can be renovated to make them greener. Fiscal year 2006 was a strong year for Beacon Press. The Investment Committee and the Committee for Socially Responsible Investing are currently screening companies to be avoided, ranting S&P 500 Companies in the Domestic Stock portfolio from best to worst. The Annual Program Fund (APF) and Friends of the UUA are doing well. The Congregational Properties and Loan Commission (CPLC) will be encouraging congregations to use green standards in building construction and renovation.
General Assembly
The GA schedule in Portland, OR, June 20-24, 2007, will be different. Plenary time will be reduced by 40% to allow time for Open Space Technology (OST) gatherings. OST is designed to more actively engage our congregations in the development of their Association?s ends. OST meetings are about large topics, like the ?ends? of our UUA, and are often scheduled over several days. OST begins with a defined question, a defined space, and time in which to answer the question, and participants define the conversations needed to answer the question. (More after the January meeting).
Other News of Note
Self-Funded Health Plan: The minimum number (plus) needed to establish the plan was reached by the October 15th deadline. The BOT approved the resolution to offer health insurance. Open enrollment will continue until November 27th. Tim Brennan was approved by the BOT to serve as acting Trustee of the new health plan trust until the trustees are appointed by the BOT.
Capital Campaign: ?Now is the Time? will be the next campaign title. The BOT approved the name and the case statement for the new campaign. Over the past three years our UUA Administration has conducted an extensive set of studies to determine both what the Association needs to accomplish and what individual and congregational donors are interested in funding. The findings indicate that UUs feel urgency about various aspects of growth and it is agreed that now is the time to raise and spend money to strengthen our movement. Now is the time for us to live up to the name of our liberal religion and let the world know we are here and what we stand for. The campaign hopes to raise $20 million in immediate resources and $30 million in legacy covenants.
Additional BOT passed motions: 1) The FY07 operating and capital expenditures budgets; 2) Recommendations of the Special Review Commission be endorsed; 3) Use of checklist for Reviewing Independent Affiliate Applications for use by the BOT in its process; 4) Place on the agenda of GA 2007 a motion to add to section 8.8, ?Moderator shall serve as Chief Governance Officer of the Association?; 5) Approve the vote of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) to remove affiliated status from all rules of the MFC by amending Rule 22; and 6) Approve the vote of the MFC to change the Professional Appearance rule 17, that reads, ?For any given professional vacancy, a minister who has visited a congregation in any professional capacity after the most recently settled minister has announced his or her resignation to the congregations shall not be recommended to that congregation by Ministry and Professional Leadership for twelve months following the visit.?
That?s all folks! Accolades to all who read to the end. Thanks.
