Conversations at Prudential Committee this month centered primarily around the decisions made at the Special Meeting of the Parish the day before:
The Future Ministries Task Force delivered its complete set of recommendations, many of which will require further work and consideration by the Prudential Committee. [The text of the Task Force's final report is published in a separate blog entry.]
Reverend Barbara Merritt will be our Minister Emerita as of September 1, 2010. She oriented the church leadership regarding the details of this ongoing relationship and the convenant that she and Reverend Schade have negotiated, within the rules set forth by the UUMA governing Ministers Emeritae.
Reverend Tom Schade announced that he has selected the ministerial Intern who will be working with our congregation from August 2010 through July 2011. Her name is Kimberly Hampton. The Intern Committee (currently consisting of Christy Clark, Wendy Innis, and Sue Stafford) will be working with the Intern throughout the year. Rev. Schade is open to suggestions of additional members of this committee.
May 22 will see committee chairs and church staff gather for our second annual congregational goals planning and assessment workshop, as organized by the Lay Leadership Committee. For the first time ever, all these leaders will have a chance to review their own committees' accomplishments within the framework of a set of shared goals and aligned objectives that were laid out together exactly one year ago. In the light of the newly adopted Strategic Vision for 2015, we will then seek to identify a small number of (5 or fewer) high priority congregational goals for the coming year.
The Assessors presented a plan for the 2011 Pledge Campaign to take place early this fall, which will involve a personal canvass of all members, employing approximately 20 Solicitors in addition to the 3 Assessors.
Vice Moderator Scott Hayman prepared a draft of a mid-year fund-raising appeal letter to go out shortly, which will help to inform the congregation about where we stand financially in the current year's projected revenues. Our current pledge total, despite the positively stimulating effects of the new Membership by-law, remains about $15,000 below the original pledge goal of $305,000 for 2010. Our extremely busy spring of celebrations (First Unitarian's 225th, Will's 25th, Barbara's retirement) left no room for the usual parade of special event fundraisers, and so less than $2,000 has yet been raised toward this year's special fundraising goal of $33,000. It is essential (especially for us to proceed with implementing a key first step toward our strategic vision), that we see some rapid and appropriate progress toward meeting our overall revenue goals for this year. Otherwise, the hiring process for a part-time Youth Coordinator (who was intended to be in place by this fall) may be delayed or even jeopardized, for lack of confidence in our fiscal ability to fund and sustain this new staff position.
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