Now is the Time is a Success!
Thanks to your exceptional generosity, the Now is the Time Campaign has raised $21,084,956 in cash and $30,410,309 in planned gifts (and counting!), surpassing its $50 million goal!
Five years ago, in response to a series of focus groups, surveys, and roundtable discussions, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) launched the Now is the Time Campaign to grow our faith in all its many dimensions—in numbers, diversity, witness, leadership, and spirit—now.
Now is the Time has been the most successful fundraising campaign in UUA history. No other campaign has had a goal as ambitious as Now is the Time’s $50 million: Handing on the Future (HOTF) raised $8 million and the Campaign for Unitarian Universalism (CFUU) raised $32 million—$8 million (27%) of which was cash gifts.
To date, 42% of funds raised through Now is the Time has been cash gifts, meaning more funds than ever that we can use today!
This campaign has also seen the most widespread participation. While 11,694 donors participated in HOTF and 6,146 in CFUU, a record number of 24,156 individuals have participated in Now is the Time. More Unitarian Universalists (UUs) have connected with the Association and invested in the success of this campaign than all other UUA campaigns combined.
During the last five years, your congregations have contributed $32.2 million through the Annual Program Fund, you have given $6.7 million through Friends of the UUA, and offered $2.5 million in unrestricted bequests. Add to that the $50 million that Now is the Time has raised and the grand total you have given to UUA from 2004—2009 is $91 million!
Here are 20 accomplishments of your exceptional generosity over the last five years:
- The free, accessible online availability of Tapestry of Faith curricula.
- The establishment of the Diversity of Ministry Team Initiative, to develop healthy, sustainable ministries with ministers who identify as people of color, Latina/o, Hispanic, and multiracial, and to support seminarians during their formation.
- The awarding of hundreds of scholarships to support students preparing for Unitarian Universalist ministry, including new $20,000 scholarships funded by your gifts to Association Sunday 2008.
- The UUA’s immediate response to crises, including bringing needed relief to those affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and providing direct pastoral care and financial help for the victims of the tragedy in Knoxville, TN, in 2008.
- The execution of Unitarian Universalism’s National Marketing Campaign, funded in part by your gifts to Association Sunday 2007, including full page ads in TIME magazine and a full page ad in the New York Times in the wake of the tragedy in Knoxville, TN.
- The creation of the UUA’s Umbrella Giving Program, allowing you to designate the beneficiaries of any gift as your congregation or the other Unitarian Universalist entities you love, managed at no cost to you or the beneficiary.
- The work of the UUA’s Office of Advocacy and Witness, including the offer of free advocacy resources and opportunities for congregational and individual involvement on national advocacy issues, and the new Standing on the Side of Love Campaign.
- The appointment of the first ever Emerson UUA Chair of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School.
- The UUA’s inheritance of the growing Green Sanctuary Program, helping us to bring valuable environmental justice resources to congregations across your Association.
- The work of the Freedom to Marry Fund, which provides grants sponsoring lobbying, advertising and educating about marriage equality through Unitarian Universalist congregations across our nation.
- The establishment of the Walt Whitman Fund, to increase public awareness of Unitarian Universalist values and perspectives on social justice issues, notably issues that affect GLBTQ persons, and to enable the UUA’s Beacon Press to strengthen its offerings on GLBTQ issues, through The Walt Whitman Series.
- The launch of the new UUA.org in an effort to make UU information and resources more accessible to our visitors, members, and leaders.
- The virtualization of several UUA data center servers, reducing the number of physical computers used by the Association’s headquarters and subsequent energy consumption by 25%!
- The culmination of the three-year Consultation on Ministry to and with Youth, resulting in an excellent set of recommendations for creating a new, congregationally-based, spirit-centered, inclusive youth ministry.
- The publication of countless Skinner House Books, to aid individuals and congregations in their search for truth and meaning.
- The founding of the UUA’s Office of International Resources, to support congregations as they respond to the call of our Sixth Principle: “to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.”
- The implementation of the JUUST Change Consultancy to build the framework for systemic transformation through our commitment to anti-racism, anti-oppression, and building diverse, multicultural welcoming institutions.
- The launch of five comprehensive regional marketing campaigns, complemented by hospitality trainings to make our congregations more truly welcoming to all people.
- The awarding of building loans to your congregations, to help with building or buying a first spiritual home, repairing or renovating existing facilities, and expanding current facilities—especially to make them more accessible.
- The cultivation of our spiritual growth as Unitarian Universalists through grants (PDF)—funded by Association Sunday 2008—for congregations, districts, and seminaries to create their own, innovative lay theological education programs.
Since the launch of this unprecedented campaign, you have repeatedly declared that yes, now is the time. You have supported leading edge projects which will continue to make an impact not only on Unitarian Universalism but on our world in the years to come.
Thank you for your generosity!
Last updated on Thursday, July 2, 2009.
