Board Report, June 2016

Financial Condition

The Board received a timely report on the financial condition of the Association. Our position is strong and our funds are well managed. We are particularly pleased that Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Treasurer, Tim Brennan, is serving as Board Chair for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. His appointment to that role reflects the exemplary commitment of the UUA, and our Socially Responsible Investing Committee.

Congregations and Beyond

President Morales and his team continue to help to deepen the conversation about how we come together to live into our Unitarian Universalist faith. Though vibrant, effective congregations will always be at the heart of our concerns, we are also exploring how best to support a wide array of efforts underway to give our faith new form. The Board recognizes that “new occasions teach new duties.” We are grateful to be part of the conversation which will help to shape our future.

Renewing the Contours of Covenant

The Board continues to track the progress of the Renewing the Covenant Task Force led by the Rev. Dr. Susan Ritchie. Dr. Ritchie and her team, affirming the centrality of covenant as religious practice in the free church tradition, are exploring new ways we might engage one another in the process of promise-making that is at the heart of good governance. We have a strong sense that old ways of doing business will not suffice. We need vital, creative conversations for which Roberts Rules of Order alone will not suffice. The Board is appreciative of and energized by the work that’s underway.

Funding the Vision

All our aspirations depend on the generous support of our congregations. To that end, the Board appointed a task force to engage our many stakeholders in considering how best to strengthen and expand the Annual Program Fund. Under the leadership of newly retired Financial Advisor, Larry Ladd, the task force is exploring the possibility of moving away from our present per-member formula in favor of asking for a fixed percentage of congregational budgets. As with any reconsideration of basic funding structures, the discussions are raising core questions of identity, service, and common cause. In the old language of the Cambridge Platform of 1648, we are asking once again, “how shall we walk together in love?” The Board takes its stewardship responsibilities very seriously and urges you to become involved in helping determine how best to fund our faith.

Gratitude and Welcome

We bid farewell to Financial Advisor, Larry Ladd, and welcomed Lucia Santini Field as his successor in that key role. We said goodbye and thank you as well to Vice Moderator Susan Weaver, Financial Secretary, James Snell, Trustee Michael Sallwasser, and Youth Observers Olivia Calvi and Caleb Leman. We formally welcomed and the General Assembly installed new Vice Moderator, Denise Rimes, and Trustees Dorothy Holmes, Dick Jacke, Sarah Dan Jones, and Elandria Williams as well as Youth Observers Andrea Briscoe and Bailey Saddlemire. We look forward to building the new Board team at our October retreat.