The Team’s major findings and recommendations include:

• CVUUS membership and attendance has remained steady over the past decade. There were drop-offs during the pandemic, but both have risen again over the past two years. The median age has risen over the past 10 years.
• CVUUS’s history of pledging to support annual operating budgets has been generally successful. More recently, we have had some trouble meeting budget targets through the initial stewardship campaigns, which has led to other strategies to fill gaps.
• Pledge campaigns can be successful while also being short, simple, and fun. We should continue to encourage people to become “sustaining” pledgers and to make pledging and other donations easier to do, by taking advantage of advances in technology and social media.
• We should plan a targeted initiative to increase pledges over time by “jumping” from one pledge level to the next.
• CVUUS should create a Stewardship Team that has ongoing and broad responsibilities. While these could include overseeing the spring pledge campaign, we envision a group that would also provide Stewardship information and programming during the course of the year. The goal would be to grow a greater sense across the congregation of stewardship of and responsibility for CVUUS.
• CVUUS should continue to work with stewardship consultant Mark Ewert to help us plan and implement one or more stewardship initiatives.
• CVUUS should organize and conduct a special campaign to buy down some or all of the mortgage in time to make an impact by January 2026 when the mortgage rate is scheduled to reset.
• We should continue to encourage multiple ways for people to give to CVUUS. Different initiatives appeal to different people, both as to the likelihood of their making a donation and to their interest in helping to organize or participate in something.
• We should build on the success of the two main fundraising events and consider others that members or friends may want to organize.
• The CVUUS Endowment program should be strengthened and expanded.
• CVUUS should focus more attention on marketing and communications to the general Addison County community, and to particular targeted groups.
• We should survey the community regarding facility rentals, review what other venues in Middlebury are charging, and adjust ours accordingly.
• Charge from the Board

The overall charge from the CVUUS Board asks the Long-Term Financial Health Team to “review CVUUS revenue and expense trends over the past several years and make recommendations to the Board related to the long-term future financial health of CVUUS.”

The Board asked for recommendations on this year’s annual pledge drive during the fall of 2023 and for a draft report by a week before the June 2024 Annual Meeting.

The Board’s charge included a number of specific questions and tasks, which form the basis for the following report.

Tasks/ Questions

A. What long-term structural issues are impacting CVUUS finances? These might include things like trends in membership or pledge units, aging of the congregation, inflation, mortgage interest rates, etc.

B. What has made previous CVUUS annual canvass/pledge campaigns successful? Are there other UU (or other) congregations of approximately our size that have been successful at raising money through their annual campaigns or other fundraising events? What could we learn from their experiences? Are there any congregations attempting to minimize reliance on the traditional pledging system? If so, would they be appropriate for CVUUS?

C. Are there ways we can improve our financial health other than through our annual fund drives and events? These might include a one-time capital campaign to pay down the mortgage, additional efforts to increase bequests, the growth of our endowment fund, and additional ways to rent out our buildings. Are there more effective ways to fulfill fundraising responsibilities? These would include, but not be limited to, annual pledge drives, designated giving, endowment
growth, bequests, low interest loans or gifts to reduce the mortgage. 

D. Are CVUUS expenses consistent with current and future income expectations? Can we be more effective at how we spend our money? What staffing levels are needed to maximize income growth?

For full report with supporting graphics, see CVUUS Long Term Financial Health Team Report 2024