Pledge Drive 2023: Envisioning Our Church’s Future
Our minister, Rev. Deneen Robinson, has encouraged us to dream and envision what we want our church to be! And that’s where we start as we think about making a financial commitment supporting the growth of our church. With our time, talent and treasure, we create a thriving UUCOC community! Let’s look at what we accomplished last year so we may imagine what is possible in the year ahead.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our church!
Without the work of our volunteers, our church simply couldn’t exist. These are just some examples of the tons of work our volunteers have done:
• Thanks to the Worship Team’s incredible work, our virtual services have attracted people from all over the country and continue to provide a space for those who can’t attend in person.
• The Sacred Spaces crew spent many hours beautifying our campus!
• The Comm Team kept us informed & entertained through the e-blast, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram! We increased our reach to 13,000 followers on Facebook!
• The Endowment Fund managers kept our investments secure during these precarious times!
• The Repairs Team invested many hours in finding contractors & vendors while overseeing work on the church!
• The FUNd-raising Team has done a tremendous job thinking of ways to raise money for the church, transforming those ideas into reality!
• In addition to Sunday announcements, Alicia Kalich follows up with our visitors!
• Sarah Ricke continued to work tirelessly to keep our Adult Religious Education classes going!
• And, last, but not least, our board members volunteered their time, energy & talent to keep our church going!
Caring for Our Members
• We continued our member outreach by sending cards for special occasions as well as sympathy cards during times of loss.
• We continued “Widening the Circle of Concern” workshops to address white supremacy in obvious and hidden places.
• Our Pastoral Care Team was available for those who needed a shoulder or a hand during these difficult times.
• Heading our Social Justice Healing Ministry, Sara Latchison and Rev. Deneen have provided many opportunities for meditation on campus in addition to bringing healers to campus for a variety of events.
Engaging with our Community is another important part of our mission:
• We reached out to those who are food and/or housing insecure.
• We hosted the Haunted Forest fundraiser!
• We hosted the T’Monde concert in partnership with St. Augustine's Episcopal Church.
• We held our first fabulously-fun NerdCon fundraiser.
• We participated in a reproductive rights march.
• We hosted drumming and other events through our new Healing Justice Ministry.
• We participated in the Red Path Warrior Society Holiday Toy Giveaway.
• We expanded our A/V technology to present services & TalkBack live and online
• We have Jazz Jam again!
• We are gearing up to resume First Tuesday Social Justice films in September.
Because of generous donations, repairs & updates to the campus included:
• New & Improved Faith kitchen doors
• Installation of an accessibility ramp at Faith kitchen door
• New front doors on Hope
• Recharged/replaced fire extinguishers
• A new roof on Hope
• A music license which provides options for more music in our services
• Our readiness to hire childcare on Sundays
Back to our regularly-scheduled pledge drive!
As we began to emerge from the isolation of the pandemic, many of us struggled physically, mentally and spiritually. Even so, we worked together and kept going, onward and upward. Now, as we continue to open our doors, we promise to continue going forward. That will take the full participation of each one of us. Yes, your pledge is vital!
Where does the money go?
Pledge monies go to our operating fund which pays for the lights, heat & AC as well as water and other utilities. It also pays for our contractors & staff who are instrumental in keeping our church functioning smoothly.
Last year, we received a $60,000 NTUCC grant to help us find a minister with the total amount distributed over four years. Last December we received a check for $5,000 to enable us to start the application & interview process. We will receive $25,000 this year, $20,000 next and $10,000 in 2024. The payouts are contingent on our retaining a minister for the four-year period. Since we still need to raise matching funds to pay a salary of $50,000, it is more important than ever to continue our fundraising efforts and have a successful pledge drive.
Make Your Pledge!
As you begin to make your pledge decisions, take a moment to imagine! What do you love about our church? What improvements would you like to see over the next year? Where do you see yourself in our church over the next year? What will you do to make these dreams come true?
Regardless of how much you are able to give, we deeply appreciate your support for our community.
Making Your Financial Pledge
Pledging Made Simple
Your generous support makes it possible for UUCOC to budget in a way that is both realistic and aspirational.
Pledge onlne using Breeze:
You can pledge financially online through our convenient online Breeze form below or download a PDF form to print, fill out, and mail to the church: 2023 Pledge Form
Online Pledge Form:
Making Your Pledge Payment Online:
You can set up recurring payments or one-time payments online, simply select “Pledge 2023” in the dropdown menu on our Donations page.
Making Your Pledge Payment by Text:
You can set up recurring payments or one-time payments via text, just use the code “P23” and the amount you want to pledge.
If you set up recurring payments in 2022, you don’t have to change anything. Our administrator, Rita, will make the change for you.
Make Your Pledge Donation Online
Donate Online
Apply your donation to your pledge or select another fund from the dropdown menu. (If you wish to donate to a specific fund that isn’t listed in the dropdown menu, please contact
Pledging Your Time & Talent
You can select the areas in which you want to pledge your time & talent online or download, print, and fill out a PDF to mail to the church: 2023 Time & Talent Pledge Form
A listing of the descriptions of the typical donated areas of time & talent can be found here on our website.