Thinking about GIFT FAQs:
Why Should We Support the Region and the UUA?
by Bill Clontz, Stewardship Consultant
In 2012, the UUA and the Southern Region embarked on a new course to improve how we share our resources. GIFT, Generously Investing For Tomorrow, is intended to be a simpler and more equitable program for providing the resources that enable our UUA and Southern Region team to serve our congregations and to represent our values and priorities at levels we could not do as individual congregations.
To provide information and to encourage reflection on GIFT, the Southern Region has provided a number of GIFT information tools on this web site, including most recently a set of GIFT FAQs. This blog will, from time to time, focus on one of those FAQs in an expanded discussion. Today we are examining the question:
Does the GIFT program ask a higher level of contribution for congregations than the previous system? How much more is being asked of congregations?
Does the GIFT program ask a higher level of contribution for congregations than the previous system? How much more is being asked of congregations?
A: The short answer is no, for most of us the amount we are asked to contribute is about the same or less than under the old system. Important factors to remember (which some of us forget when thinking about GIFT) in considering this question are in bold text below.
The change in the amount requested from the current system will vary by congregation; you can easily compare what you were asked to pay previously (before the GIFT program) to what you are being asked to pay now. Keep in mind when calculating and comparing that the amount asked by GIFT program covers both the regional and the UUA funding requests (which would now be $86 per member under the earlier APF formula), and that the ask is based upon 7% of your certified congregational expenditures as reported by our congregation on myuua.org. and that the ask is based upon 7% of your certified congregational expenditures.
Under the GIFT program, the majority of our congregations are asked to remain at about the same level of contribution, or are asked for less. About 40% of our congregations have experienced an increase (most minor, but some significant). The system is designed to be a zero sum gain; that is, the Southern Region overall is not giving more than it did under the old system. Contributions at 7% of expenditures across all Southern Region congregations will fund the UUA and region at approximately the same level as they were previously; GIFT just spreads the cost more equitably. We are glad to work with congregations who are asked for more under GIFT to help them make a plan to get to full participation.
As always, your questions, comments, and suggestions are welcomed by your Regional Congregational Life Staff Primary Contact, the Congregational Giving Director, or at a dedicated email address at the UUA: southerngenerosity@uua.org.
Those congregations who minimized their expenditures, did not risk by developing more extensive programs, tried to get by on the cheap, will be rewarded by GIFT. However, those congregations that followed Unitarian Universalist Association and Florida District advice about striving to be bold in staffing, courageous in programming, and committed in local giving found that the new GIFT fair share amount was monumentally higher.
ReplyDeleteFor example, most congregations of about 35 members will have either no professional staff or part-time staff. Many will not own property but rely on rented facilities. This, on average, results in a budget of about $37,500. per year. Do the math: 35 members X $86 per member combined dues = $3010. But, under GIFT, Fair Share would be 7% X 37,500 = $2625,
Now, let's take an atypical congregation that thought big, dreamed large, developed diverse income streams,and gave well based on the best-practices advocated by the Association. Their annual budget was $110,000: they worked hard to support full-time professional leadership, part-time religious education, administrative, and musical leadership, and own a building -- in other words, to be a full-service congregation seeking to fulfill their commitment to our liberal religious tradition. Under the pre-existing formula, their share would be the same $3010, but the new GIFT expectation is $7700. In other words, for trying to do the best, to stretch themselves, to maximize their potential to provide Unitarian Universalist presence in the community, they will be penalized.
Not a great incentive to try, to dare, to dream ... every new initiative now has a 7% surtax added to its cost, emulating the most regressive of taxes (sales tax) in our society.
Does GIFT really spread costs more equitably, or does it reward timid funding? or does it reward limited vision? or does it favor those who cut programs and leadership?
While it surely is a challenge to develop a system that works for congregations varying from over 1,000 members to those under two dozen, GIFT does a far better job of this than the previous system. While its not possible to make us all happy with any system, three factors bear highlighting: GIFT is based on common factors in all our certified expenditures, the amount we are asked to give goes down in hard times when our budgets decrease, and the total amount contributed by the Southern Region is the same as previously. This last point means that some of us are, in fact, asked to contribute more (for most, not much more, but for some, yes, it is more) and some are asked to give less (more than half our congregations). Remember also that GIFT is based not on 7% of the total budget, but 7% of the certified expenditures - there is a difference for almost all congregations. GIFT is designed to work on the basis of cost factors that all congregations share, and that leaves a number of items in the budget of many congregations off the table. Under the old system, everyone defined who was a member differently, yet that was the common basis for asking an amount to support the Annual Program Fund (APF). And that per member cost stayed the same, even in times of recession when your membership stayed the same, but your income and budgets went down. Under GIFT, the ratio stays the same - if your budget goes down, so too does the amount you are asked to share, as the rate stays steady, unlike under APF. Although GIFT funding is based on the 7% formula, the UUA recognized that in some cases this does represent an increase, and so put in place a three year delay in full funding for those who faced an increase and needed room to adjust (5% the first year, 6% the second year, 7% in the third year). That represents a net loss in resources for the work done at regional and association levels. Similarly, individual congregations who have staffed for growth have worked with the UUA to allow time to grow into those staffing levels. But at some point, its not fair to ask others to carry our costs because we may be in a congregation that does have contributions higher than might have been the case previously.
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