From the UUA’s Office of Stewardship and Development

What is the Annual Program Fund?

Every UU congregation in our Association is asked to contribute a specific sum of money annually to the Annual Program Fund to support all of the congregations in our Association. The Annual Program Fund makes up the single largest source of funding for the work of the Unitarian Universalist Association. In turn, the UUA utilizes these funds to provide resources, programming and support to all of the congregations across the Association. Your giving makes this possible. Thank you!

In July of 2019, congregations in MidAmerica and the Districts of the Pacific Western Region will move to the New APF.

The New APF Formula Is Different in Two Significant Ways

First, the New APF request supports both APF and what your congregation formerly contributed to your district and/or region. The New APF is a unified program, demonstrating that we are all one UUA. The New APF is also based upon a congregation’s ability to pay, and it therefore is based on a congregation’s certified expenditures rather than number of members. The New APF is a fair and equitable way for all of our congregations to both support, and be supported.

The New APF formula asks for a contribution of 6.75% of your congregation’s certified expenditures. There are built in adjustments to the formula for congregations in high wage rate areas (utilizing the national UUA Geo Index), or for congregations who have extremely high expenses per member (whether this is due to the high cost of your building or other circumstance). Additionally, there is a transition collar applied so that no congregation’s requested contribution amount will go up by more than 10% in a year. At the same time, no congregation’s requested contribution amount will go down by more than 10% in a year.

How Did The New APF Come About?

The APF Task Force of the UUA Board (with the help of the UUA Staff and the congregations in the Southern Region who piloted the GIFT program) worked for a number of years to study congregational giving in order to create a program that would be fair and responsive to the realities of congregational life, while at the same time providing sustainable financial support so that our congregations can be well served. The New APF Formula is the result of this work.

For more more information and resources visit Amplifying Unitarian Unviersalism.