Giving Away the Plate

Three weekends each month plate collections from our services are given outside of our walls to small local organizations or to denominational activities. Suggestions for plate recipients are accepted from members and friends of First Unitarian. These may be made by filling in and emailing an electronic form in MS Word or by printing and filling out a PDF document and returning it by physical mail; links to both can be found at upper right.

History

In January 2003 a consultant challenged us to help build a spirit of generosity by giving away our plate collections (which previously had gone to support the church operating budget). Response was very good and subsequently the Board of Trustees, on recommendation of the Finance Committee, voted to dedicate collections from all but one Sunday a month to some outside organization. With some modifications this practice continues today.

Questions asked on the UU-Money email discussion list and elsewhere indicate that some UU churches hesitate to give away their plate collections for fear of losing necessary income. While First Unitarian did experience a drop in income for the operating budget this was minor and transient, while the increase in contributions to outside groups was striking. Nothing tells this story better than these numbers:

Fiscal Year (June-July)	Kept	Given Away
1999-2000	$10,161
2000-01	$11,207
2001-02	$12,428
2002-03	$10,012	$14,535 [1]
2003-04	$ 8,583	$21,999
2004-05	$ 9,167	$30,675
2005-06	$10,836	$29,690 [2]
2006-07	$13,335	$31,031
2007-08	$13,963	$34,914
2008-09	$15,556	$35,128
2009-10	$15,745	$40,216
2010-11	$17,102	$37,941

[1] Plate collection given away one Sunday in January 2003 and all but one Sunday a month beginning in February.

[2] Policy changed to giving plate collection away three Sundays a month, keeping two collections in months with five Sundays.

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August 30 2011