March 19, 2020
FROM: Danny Gray, Pledge Drive Chairperson
Greetings to all my fellow members and friends of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church-Unitarian Universalist.
We have concluded the 2020 Pledge Drive to build a solid financial footing for the FY2021 fiscal year budget. What does this mean to you? You may be saying to yourself, “I’m OK. My pledge rolls over each year.” or “I was meaning to pledge.” or “I have no idea what pledging is.” If any of these apply to you, we still need you to act! While outside of the Pledge Drive the opportunity to pledge continues and all pledges are always welcome.
A few key Pledge Drive points:
1) PLEDGES DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY ROLL OVER THIS YEAR – It has been a while and we need you to reach out and let us know that you would like to continue and at what amount.
2) You do not have to be a church member (signed the book) - any member of the community is welcome to contribute through pledging.
3) Missed the Pledge Drive, no problem – Please try to get your pledge in by March 31st so the finance committee can prepare the most accurate budget for the June budget meeting.
4) Not sure what pledging is – The communications committee has a FAQ page to answer questions, https://uucharlottesville.org/giving/pledge-faqs/, or you can reach out to the pledge manager (see below).
5) A friendly reminder – If you have pledged previously and we have not heard from you this year, a Stewardship Team member will be calling to check in with you. You can tell them your pledge wishes and they will get it to the pledge manager for you. You can also take this opportunity to chat a bit, we are all living separately these days and friendly voices are golden.
So, how did we do? I’m glad you asked. We have pledges for $327,432 of our $415,300 goal, that’s 78.84% of our goal. Out of 279 pledge units with FY2020 pledges, 168 (64%) have pledged, leaving 101 (36%) who have not communicated their FY2021 pledge wishes. Please remember the original explanation of our goal, “This number is a fiscally responsible minimum goal which allows us to … stay out of the red… and avoid an emergency appeal for donations to keep us afloat.”
While we are short and have work yet to do, we have reasons to be pleased and optimistic. We received $16,000 from 16 new pledge units (a giving member or non-member as an individual or a family/group). 61 pledge units increased their pledges adding over $58,000 above previous planned amounts. 52 Pledge units communicated to renew their pledge at the same level, maintaining almost $105,000 in planned budget. We even had a young member of our community pledge from their monthly paper route profits.
I would like to highlight that “distance pledging” continues to be available by multiple methods:
Using the TJMCUU Website Form: https://uucharlottesville.org/pledge/
Contacting the Pledge Manager, Cathey Polly:
Call or Text – 434.806.5397
Email – pledge@uucharlottesville.org or catheypolly@yahoo.com
Communicating to a Stewardship Team member when they contact you – they will get your pledge information to the pledge manager for you.
I would like to thank the members of the Pledge Drive Committee for their creativity and hard work during this month-long fundraising campaign. It has been a pleasure and honor to work with such a great team on behalf of our faith community. Collectively we are planting the acorns of a grove of healthy young oaks trees. This year and subsequent years will allow us to slowly expand the grove to a forest. TJMC-UU is on the way to regrowth and increased service to ourselves, the community, the nation, and the world.
In peace, Danny