Financial Costs of Participation
Financial costs (dues) are required of congregations involved in Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO) activities as member organizations. The amount of dues is dependent on the network and the decisions of the local CBCO. Following are the basic orientations of the major networks on the dues issue:
Direct
Action and Training (DART)
No firm DART policy for all churches in DART CBCOs. Typically, dues are
$400-$600 per church, plus $1 to $2 per church member. Some include a percentage
of the operating budget. No church is paying over $5,000 per year.
Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)
No national policy on dues, rather IAF staff will
work with local organization through relational organizing and help them to
develop a structure that serves the local organization. An informal guideline is
$10 per parishioner per year. There is no policy or practice that supports the
1-2% of budget idea.
Intervalley Project (IVP)
Has recently gone through a dues determination
process. They began with three criteria as follows: active membership numbers
("regular givers"), the size of the operating budget (excluding capital
campaigns, schools, pass-throughs and individual member organizations ability to
pay (self-assessment). As it developed, criteria 1 and 3 were used and a tiered
structure based on membership proposed. Annual dues, based on membership are as
follows: 10-49= $250, 50-99= $500, 100-224=$750, 225-374=$1,000 325-549=$1,500,
over 550=$2,000.
Pacific Institute for Community Organizing
(PICO)
CBCO determine
dues locally, typically 1-2 percent of operating (church only) budget, with a
cap of $5,000. While some CBCOs use church membership (size) as a basis, this is
unusual.
CBCOs not affiliated with national networks determine dues for their member congregations
For more information contact socialjustice @ uua.org.
Last updated on Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
