By Jane Kenamore, Chair

Thanks to the generosity of many church members, the UCE Endowment Committee has been able to distribute funds for more projects than ever in our history.  Two of the projects funded capital expenses, and the rest were for educational and social programs, none of which could have been funded in the regular operations budget.

We’ve been fortunate to enable several learning opportunities, such as member scholarships for the Midwest Leadership School; Beloved Conversations, a series devoted to race relations; a presentation by Oscar Chacon on migration from Central America; Transforming Hearts, a course on transgender inclusion in congregations; Building a Vocal Community, a weekend of African American music and rhythm; an Upswing Workshop to build a gender-affirming community; and A Life Planning Series, twelve sessions on essential life planning topics

Other projects include the Worship Arts Music project that supports continuing education for Music Director Vickie Hellyer, four section leaders to support the existing choir; and instrumentalists for Music Sundays and regular Sundays, when the choir does not sing; two community projects – one to purchase new cots and blankets for the Interfaith Action overnight shelter program and the other to fund Family Focus scholarships for summer camp and after school care; capital expenses for the new front doors and the REALM database software; ministerial search expenses; and a digital marketing program designed connect people of liberal religious interests with UCE.

The last application deadline for this year will be October 31 for projects to be completed by December 31.  The next deadlines will be January 31 for projects implemented between January-June 2020; and April 30, 2020, for projects in the next church year, July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021. Applications received after each deadline will be considered in the next grant cycle.

Endowment 2019

We are so excited to let the congregation know that we are in the very early stages of implementing a new membership database, called Realm. This project was funded by the Endowment Committee. We have now launched an implementation committee and are working on data transfer from the old membership database system that the church has used for nearly two decades, creating groups, defining data field terms, and learning all we can about how to start to use this comprehensive church membership system. Eventually we hope it will also support the accounting functions of the church.

In the past week, we met with the Deerfield UU church as they launched a training for key leaders in their congregation. We also travelled to Naperville to meet with a Lutheran church which is also using the Realm Software. They have been working on the project for about a year and are well on their way to launching interest groups, membership listings, and encouraging members to put their information into the database.

Once implemented, congregants will be able to manage their own data—information about their family, their children in RE, their interests and their pledge.

We are pleased to have a strong leadership team led by Brian Nielsen and including Eileen Wiviott, Mary Shelden, Tamiko DeVille, Sandra Robinson, Melanie Kitchner, Vickie Doebele, Joe Romeo, and Carol Nielsen.  We have a sub-team examining the accounting software including Erlene Howard, Vickie Doebele, Karen Courtright and Sandra Robinson.

Soon, we will be looking for some assistance in reviewing the data that was transferred from the old system and checking for errors. If you are interested in working on this project, please contact Brian Nielsen (b-nielsen@northwestern.edu).

We are thrilled to announce that the Endowment Fund recently received a $1,000,000 donation from some very generous UCE members. This amazing gift will allow our congregation to further live out our UU values and principles—to unite as a church community and dream together about how we can do the most good, who we can impact, and where we can effect change.

How does the Endowment Fund work?
The Endowment’s Fund’s by-laws state that each year, 5% of the fund’s year-end balance can be released in the following calendar year to:

• Support special church projects not anticipated in or provided for by the operating budget
• Support the communities in which UCE resides
• Enhance, repair, or improve the UCE’s building and property
• Provide scholarships and grants to UCE members and staff for education and training
• Support the wider mission of Unitarian Universalism

With the addition of this donation, Endowment’s current balance is now over $1.4 Million, which means that in 2019, we will be able to grant approximately $70,000 – a significant jump from the $21,000 we can grant this year.

How does this impact UCE’s financial picture?
Issues many church communities grapple with when they receive a gift of such magnitude are: How will this impact our church in the long run? What about our annual pledge drive? What about capital campaigns? And, how do these three work together?

• Our annual pledge drive provides the operating funds to keep the lights on, the staff here and programs for our church community.
• Capital campaigns are intended to finance significant maintenance and improvements to UCE’s structures.
• And the Endowment Fund is designed to insure a lasting financial base so we can continue to nourish our congregation and empower our life-changing work in the community.

As stated earlier, in 2019, the Endowment Fund expects to grant around $70,000. While a remarkable number, it is less than 10% of our annual operating budget of $750,000. Our community still needs to live out our commitment to UCE through our annual pledges. (So, if you haven’t turned in your pledge form, please do so!) And, we will still need to mount periodic capital campaigns to address improvements that go beyond our annual pledges.

But now we also get to imagine and dream bigger than ever before about our work in the world. To lengthen our vision and create a new reality for UCE. To use this extraordinary gift for an even stronger future as we continue to “nurture the human spirit for a world made whole.”

We hope you will join us in celebrating this extremely generous and transformational gift.

—The UCE Endowment Committee

The new tax law, which begins with 2018, increases the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples. That may mean that those people who itemized deductions in the past may not have enough deductions, including charitable contributions, to exceed the standard deduction allowances, and will lose the tax benefit of such contributions. However, there is a way to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA that will not count as income if certain requirements are met.

Requirements. IRA owners must be age 70 1/2 or older to make a tax-free charitable contribution. Those who meet the age requirement can transfer up to $100,000 per year directly to an eligible charity such as UCE or UCE Endowment without paying income tax on the transaction. If you file a joint tax return, your spouse can also make a charitable contribution of up to $100,000, meaning couples can exclude up to $200,000 of their retirement savings from income tax if they donate it to charity (We should all be so lucky to be able to do this). Qualified Charitable Contributions must be made by December 31 each year in order to exclude that amount from taxable income, although a contribution can be made at any time during the year.

Charitable contributions can only be made from IRAs, not a 401(k) or similar type of retirement accounts. You need to transfer the money directly from the IRA to the charity for it to count as the tax-free transfer. Ask your IRA administrator and the charity about making a direct transfer, or you can have the IRA administrator send a check from your account to the charity.

An IRA charitable contribution also satisfies all or part of the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for your IRA.

If you have questions regarding Endowment contributions you can contact Endowment at endowment@ucevanston.org, or contact a member of the Endowment Committee.