Stewardship is support of and for a congregation in the present and future. It includes faith and community development for all ages, support for staff, programs, and facilities, and financial support in various forms (annual pledge, special donations, and endowment gifts). A positive congregational stewardship culture requires continual planning, coordination, communication, and education. Wayne Clark, author of Beyond Fundraising, defines stewardship as "the growing, nurturing, promoting, and building of the gifts, call, and spiritual vocation of the congregants of a faith community."
The UUA has several fundraising and stewardship resources including educational curriculum, stewardship and pledge drive information, as well as facilities plans that can help you develop best practices to complete successful projects. In 2021 the UUA published information on congregational giving trends during COVID. For more specific information, we recommend you contact Stewardship for Us, UU consultants with decades of stewardship experience. They can assist with annual pledge drives, capital campaigns, financial feasibility studies, planned giving and endowments, and more. They also have a blog and periodic webinars.
Recent Regional Stewardship Webinar Videos:
2019 Resources
Pat Infante from Central East Region presented "Stewardship: Building a Sustainable Future (PDF)" at her MidAmerica Regional Assembly workshop in April 2019 and generously offered to share the slides with us.