We need a quorum to be able to Vote on Endowment Agreement Language and Bylaws Changes.

If you are a voting member, you may vote in-person or through the polling feature in the Zoom meeting. Contact Adam Gough at agough@ucevanston.org if you did not receive the Zoom link in your email on Wednesday.

Everyone is invited to attend the meeting in-person or to watch on our YouTube channel.

The Endowment Fund is governed by the Endowment Agreement which sets the responsibilities of the trustees and the restrictions of the fund’s uses. The proposed changes will simplify and clarify confusing language, bring the mechanics up-to-date, clarify that the Fund is not a separate legal entity but a restricted fund of UCE, and allow for as many as five elected Endowment trustees compared to today’s limit of three. The changes will not loosen the Endowment Agreement or change the restrictions on how funds can be spent.

The Endowment Agreement has not been updated since 2005! To ensure smooth functioning of the Endowment Fund, we need this update. For more information on the proposed changes, please read more on our Endowment webpage.

Dear Friends,

Here is some history about the Endowment Task Force.

The Task Force began meeting in the spring of 2021. It consisted of eight members, including two from the Board of Trustees, present and past members of the Endowment Committee, our Senior Minister (Eileen) and a couple other congregants. Counting subcommittees, there were probably 50 – 100 meetings held and a couple opportunities for congregants to respond to relevant surveys regarding their experiences and hopes for how we will use the funds.

The principle of the Endowment Fund is now a little more than $1.5 million, which allows us to approve grants totaling about $75,000 per year for approved organizations and activities.

Late last Fall meetings were held with the UCE Board, the Social Justice Council, and the Endowment Committee to present and discuss the recommendations. The Task Force then used the comments from these groups to refine its recommendations and present them to the congregation in two Town Halls.

The recommendations along with comments from the Town Halls were then given to the Endowment Committee (EC) for implementation. The EC has been able to begin implementation of some of the recommendations already. (One example of such an implementation is the allocation of specified portions of our total planned grant distributions into three categories: congregational support, community partners, and community projects.)

There are two important steps remaining.

One step is for the congregation to adopt the bylaws language changes which the EC developed with a lawyer who specializes in Endowments. These changes are appropriate in order for us to properly implement the recommendations.

The last remaining step will require some considerable time: the Endowment Committee will need to develop Policies and Procedures so that future committee members will be able to maintain and improve our practices.

Hope to see you Sunday; (virtually at least).

Joe Romeo

The Board of Trustees has called a Special Meeting on June 11, 2023, at 11:45 am to vote on the proposed changes to the bylaws regarding the Endowment Committee and Endowment Agreement. We need a quorum to vote, so please plan to attend!

If you are a voting member, you will be emailed the Zoom link and agenda. You may vote in-person or through the polling feature in the Zoom meeting.

Everyone is invited to attend the meeting in-person or on our YouTube channel HERE.