This survey invites the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society (CVUUS) congregation and friends to share their input on the goals that have been drafted for the Stewardship Campaign, which is scheduled to take place next year, January - May 2025. This campaign is designed to combine our annual stewardship/budget drive with several other significant efforts. Below we share our current CVUUS mission statement, and some thinking behind the “why” of the campaign. This online survey is one of the many ways we are receiving input from the congregation. We hope you will share your ideas and priorities so that the campaign goals feel right sized and purposeful and will position CVUUS to have all of the resources it needs to center love for many, many years to come!
This is a short survey and should take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Summary survey results will be shared with the congregation when they are compiled.
ALL information you share in this survey is strictly confidential and will only be used for the purpose of analysis by the Campaign Committee.
Kindly complete the survey by Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024.
Please share a little about yourself
CVUUS’s purpose…and the possibilities for the future
CVUUS Mission
As members and friends of the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, committed to the Unitarian Universalist Principles, we strive to be an inclusive and welcoming community that sustains a liberal religious tradition. We aspire to be visible and active on behalf of social justice and environmental responsibility. We nurture and empower each other at all ages on our spiritual journeys, and we reach out to the larger communities of which we are a part. (10/24; Website)
Using the current mission of CVUUS as a guide, we share some of the thinking to date on “Why a Campaign? Why Now?” Our CVUUS Board and stewardship leaders have spent the past few years exploring how to both sustainably -and boldly- move CVUUS into the future.
Priorities include: caring for the physical home that sustains us as we practice our values; continuing to care for and best support one another, our neighbors, our newest, and our youngest members; honoring the planet we all share. Growth is on our minds. Justice and community connections are on our minds. The climate crisis is on our minds. Long-term financial health is on our minds.
Working with the Board, the Campaign Committee is planning a special fundraising campaign during the current church year, 2024 - 2025. This campaign is designed to combine our annual stewardship/budget drive with several other significant efforts, such as paying down our mortgage and building up our reserve fund. The reasoning is set out in more detail below.
>Lowering or eliminating CVUUS’s mortgage payments relieves annual budget expenses and creates potential for new or expanded programs, ministries, and services that speak to our values, such as social justice and love in action.
>Building financial reserves - to pay to replace the roof - and help CVUUS continue to care for/upgrade its buildings in important and environmentally sustainable ways.
>Investing in CVUUS’s financial health now is key to attracting the settled minister who can help us:
--->grow the number of CVUUS members and friends
--->cultivate an intergenerational CVUUS community by attracting more culturally diverse, young families
--->increase visibility and action to fulfill social justice responsibilities to the wider community
Please rate ALL the items below with your view on where fundraising resources should be prioritized. The items listed are in no particular order. Please add any other priorities that are important to you that are not listed. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list for all the ways CVUUS may show up in the world.
The rating scale is from 1-3:
1=Lowest Priority
2=Medium Priority
3=Highest Priority
Please think of these questions with the following idea in mind:
"If you could distribute additional resources as the result of a successful campaign, what would your lowest, middle and highest priorities be for that money?"
Thank you for making the time to share your input and perspectives on the campaign goals for CVUUS! Please reach out with questions to any of the Stewardship Committee members: Alan Moore, Andrea Sambrook, Ellen Flight, Heidi Sulis, John Barstow, Kate Gridley, Mary Conlon, Mary Hadley or Steve Maier.
