Neighborhood Church—Pasadena, CA ...

Most companies, like people, have a mix of strengths and opportunities for improvement. Companies’ mixed records can make it challenging for investors (and their managers) to determine whether they meet their social values, as well as their financial objectives. A growing number of benchmarks,...

Sample Endowment Documents The following sample documents can be useful to any congregation in the process of establishing an endowment fund. Enabling Resolutions for an Endowment Fund (PDF) Sample Endowment Document (PDF) Sample Endowment Investment and Distribution Policy (PDF) Establishing and...

Is the glass half full or half empty? Does economic uncertainty bring only problems, or could it also bring opportunities? Those are questions facing all of us in congregations this fall as markets fluctuate and members see their savings, and maybe even their jobs, in jeopardy....

The article about ministerial disability in InterConnections ("How to Respond When Ministers Become Ill," Spring 2007) reminds us that we are all vulnerable to sudden illness or accidents that can impair our ability to earn a living....

When a congregation becomes motivated to improve its annual budget drive great things are possible. Members of High Plains Church Unitarian Universalist in Colorado Springs, CO (143 members), want to build a larger facility to accommodate their growth, which has been running at 15 to 20 percent....

Like many churches, the buildings of Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston were sorely underutilized during the week. So when the church built a new, 23,000 sq. ft....

Q. Our small Unitarian Universalist (UU) church is exploring the possibility of renting out space in our RE wing to a daycare or preschool to increase our yearly income. Have other UU churches done this, how did they begin, and what has their experience been? A. John Levine of the First Unitarian...

Sometimes a new building is just what a congregation needs. Sometimes, if you build it, people will come and fill it. There is nothing worse than having to turn away people because you don't have room for them. And sometimes there are alternatives to a new building. Before you embark on an...

Q. We had an awkward situation recently when our church sold a piece of furniture that a member had donated. The member felt we should have kept it. We felt that once it was donated it was the congregation’s to do with as it wished. Do other congregations have policies covering donated items? A.

Many congregations earn extra income by renting their facilities to outside groups. But is there a point at which such income might jeopardize a congregation’s tax exempt status? And what about renting to for-profit groups? The Rev. Ralph Mero, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA’s)...

The annual stewardship drive is a lot of fun at Arlington Street Church (ASC), Boston (301 members). For starters there’s the gold spray-painted “ark of the covenant” that is carried down front on Covenant Renewal Sunday. There’s a celebratory mood, with lots of music and a rousing sermon by...

Every congregation would like to have a substantial endowment fund. But many never get there. We hate to ask for the money. We’re afraid we won’t know how to manage it well. Or that there might be disagreements about how to use it. There are good reasons to overcome those obstacles, says Marcy...

Q. We’re considering a capital campaign. I understand most campaigns collect the money over three years, but what is the rationale for that length? Why not five, for instance? And how should we involve the people who join the congregation toward the end of the campaign or afterward?...

Last fall was not the first time the basement of the First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Society of Marietta, OH (94 members), had flooded. Situated just blocks from the Ohio and the Muskingum rivers, flooding goes with the territory....

Q. Our church administrator has trouble getting work done because of frequent interruptions from people who ask questions they should know the answers to. What can we do? A. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, IN, created a three-page document that answers many of the questions that...