Our Season of Giving has begun, a time for all of us to reflect on what the church means to us and how we can be good stewards. When you pledge a gift to “Join the Journey of Generosity” you help fund our programming, services, ministry, social justice efforts, and staff. We hope you are able to make a commitment in the coming weeks. Please pledge before Celebration Sunday on November 17!
Your Board’s Finance Committee has been busy creating task forces to address the goals we have set for this year. As your treasurer, Roger Robinson, I’ve been very fortunate to have a number of knowledgeable and committed board members and members from the congregation to assist in these efforts. We welcome any member to join in these efforts. Our meetings are on the second Tuesday of the month between 5:00 and 6:30 on Zoom. You can find the link on the church’s website, in the calendar. If you are interested in participating, please attend a meeting and send an email to board@firstunitarianportland.org.
Before I describe the task forces, I would like to remind everyone that the Finance Committee and Reverend Alison will be holding a presentation on Sunday, October 27th at noon in the Eliot Chapel. This event is a “two-fer” where the congregants get to hear the committee describing our latest financial statement and the task forces and their duties, followed by a Q&A session, followed by a time with Rev. Alison to answer questions in general about the church.
Now about the task forces.
Financial Literacy and Transparency
This group has been gathering information from other churches on how the finances are shared with their congregants to inform us on how we can make changes.
Reserve Accounts
Look into the history of the church’s reserve accounts to determine which ones are restricted, and what the restrictions are that will honor the intentions of the donors. For those not restricted, but the intentions of the account have been lost in history, determine what to do with the account.
FDIC Accounts
Enroll our cash accounts into a service that protects the accounts through the FDIC program.
Buildings & Grounds Maintenance
Work with church staff to assure that regular maintenance of all the buildings is on schedule.
Real Estate Planning
Begin looking at the future potentials for our block, considering the maintenance costs of our existing buildings.
As you can see, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Good work. Necessary work. We hope you’ll stay tuned and perhaps consider helping out.
Sincerely,
Roger Robinson, Treasurer