August's Pru Comm meeting

Last night, members of the Prudential Committee gathered to welcome our new ministerial Intern Kim Hampton, and to discuss the final report of the RE Futures Task Force.

Ken Mandile presented the work of the task force on behalf of Chair Cindy Cordova. He explained the rationales and the data that supported six specific recommendations:
1) that a search to replace Sierra-Marie Gerfao be launched this fall
2) that the replacement be a full-time staff person
3) that the model for religious education at First U be understood to be Lifespan Faith Development (and not merely "Sunday school" for children)
4) that the part-time youth coordinator be hired as budgeted (as soon as possible)
5) that the other paid RE Assistant's responsibilities be reconfigured to better serve the needs of the program, and
6) that the RE committee be re-energized and repopulated both to support and to contribute to the decision-making processes within an innovative RE program.

Discussion revolved mainly around the tension between the perceived opportunity to impose some fiscal austerity during a transition period in church staffing and the resources and skills desired to meet the programmatic demands of the strategic vision that our congregation has adopted. A strong case was made for hiring a new full-time Director of (we may need a new name, because the term "RE" carries a set of assumptions; perhaps Lifelong Learning? Lifespan Faith Development?). To advance this case effectively, the congregation needs over the coming months to be made aware that religious education at First U would continue to grow and evolve in the direction of multi-generational involvement and programming. Under this new model and leadership, extending along but perhaps also inventing beyond the lines of change already instigated during Sierra-Marie's tenure, every member would be supported in their unique spiritual quest. Creating a religious education program that addresses everyone's spiritual development needs (and not just those of our children) is strategically appropriate and vital.

PruComm agreed to act on Recommendation 1 immediately. We will launch the search process this fall, with the aim of hiring a person to start working sometime next summer. A search committee composed of from 5-7 interested members of the congregation will be appointed at the October 18 PruComm meeting. At that time, the Search Committee will also be given some general guidance regarding the desired attributes, the job expectations of, and the resources available to hire the successful candidate for the new position. Persons interested in serving on this important Search Committee should contact David Spanagel (davidspanagel@comcast.net) before October 13, and be prepared to learn as much as they can about how religious education in UU churches is currently shifting towards some exciting, even yet-unexplored possibilities.

Decisions on Recommendations 2 and 3 (whether to commit to hiring a full-time or part-time Director; and what exactly is our desired future direction/model for religious education) were deferred for the next month (or two, at most) while a clearer leadership consensus can be established around the best way to balance fiscal and strategic concerns.

PruComm did not explicitly respond to Recommendation 4. [Explanatory aside from the Moderator -- For the time being, PruComm has implicitly taken the pragmatic approach recommended by the Finance Committee: that the hiring date for the Youth Coordinator be delayed until January 2011 (the new budget year). Had we met the pledge campaign goal for 2010, and if we were caught up on operating budget expectations for fundraising for the current year, this delay would not be needed. Despite the generous responses of about 40 members of the congregation to the mid-year fundraising appeal, we remain more than $10,000 shy of our current year pledge goal, and we are still approximately another $10,000 behind where we wanted to be by this time with respect to fundraising income for 2010. All of that money is absolutely needed to meet our budgeted expenses (current staff salaries, materials, heat, etc.), keeping in mind that the 2010 budget was approved as a $30,000 deficit budget (anticipating future reduction in staffing costs to catch up with us in coming years when we are supporting only one Minister rather than two). We are prepared to carry $30,000 of this year's expenditures into next year; but we do not want to carry forward a deficit of more than $50,000! Therefore, we have been putting off paying the yet-unhired Youth Coordinator, who is the person that suffers the least by what amounts to a $2,713 "salary cut" for 2010. This holding action, however, is not what we would like to be doing in terms of realizing our vision, and it makes but a small dent in the overall operating deficit.]

Recommendations 5 and 6 can and should be implemented by church members and staff. They do not require PruComm permission in any case.

Prudential Committee Actions - May 17, 2010

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.