Endowment
Established in 1986, the Endowment Fund is a vehicle for members to make contributions to the church as a legacy for future generations. The fund is a source of support for special initiatives that further the mission and work of UCE. Like the roots that nourish and stabilize a tree, Endowment dollars strengthen our community and promote its health and vitality.
If you would like information about including UCE in your estate plans, you already have and you’d like information about the Nellie Brough Society, or you have general inquiries, please e-mail us at endowment@ucevanston.org.
Endowment Grant Application Deadlines through the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year
UCE and its Endowment Fund operate on a fiscal year of July 1-June 30
2023-2024 Fiscal Year¹ | 2024-2025 Fiscal Year³ | 2025-2026 Fiscal Year⁴ | |
---|---|---|---|
Congregational Support |
January 31, 2024² | January 31, 2024³ | January, 2025⁴ |
Community Projects |
January 31, 2024 | May 31, 2024; Oct 31, 2024; Jan 31, 2025 | May 31, 2025; Oct 31, 2025; Jan 31, 2026 |
Community Partners | Applications Closed | March 31, 2024 | March 31, 2025 |
¹funds to be used by June 30, 2024
²minimal remaining funds for this category
³funds will be made available beginning July 2024
⁴funds will be made available beginning July 2025
Members of the Endowment Committee
Grants Management
Fundraising
Finance and Administration
Frequently Asked Questions
Quorum Needed for Voting at Special Meeting
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
Quorum Needed for Special Meeting Vote on June 11
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.
Proposed Changes to Endowment Fund Agreement and UCE Bylaws Slated for June 11th!
UCE members—we need you! Please come to the June 11th Special Meeting of the congregation starting at 11:50 am in the sanctuary to vote on proposed changes to the Endowment related sections of the UCE Bylaws including the Endowment Fund Agreement appendix.
Visit the UCE Endowment Page to read proposed changes.
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. Please join us on June 11 at this meeting—we need your participation!
Currently the UCE Endowment Fund size is approximately $1.5 million and about 5% of the fund is distributed per year. Endowment trustees are elected by the UCE Congregation and manage the fund per the terms of the Endowment Agreement. In addition, the trustees may appoint Endowment Committee members to help get the work done but not to vote on issues related to core responsibilities.
The proposed changes are the result of two years of work by the Committee and a special Endowment Task Force. They reflect many years of Committee experience, congregational input, and legal advice from Kirk Hoopingarner from Quarles & Brady. In addition to proposed updates to the Agreement, changes to section VI of the Bylaws relating to the Endowment are also proposed. Other changes to Endowment policies and procedures (which don’t need to be voted on by the congregation) were also proposed by the Endowment Task Force and accepted by both the Endowment Committee and the Board of Trustees. Those include new procedures for making grant distributions and new financial procedures, as well as improved communications—more to come over the next year!
See Quorum Needed for Special Meeting Vote on June 11th in this newsletter for information about the Special Meeting.
Susan Comstock, Endowment Trustee, and Carla Williams, Board President
Endowment Grant Application Deadline Approaching!
New Application Forms. The application form has been altered slightly for Congregational Support and Community Projects. If your group has already submitted an application on the old form for May 31 consideration, it does not need to be redone on the new form.
Community Partners. For the first time, we will have this special allocation dedicated to sustaining relationships with groups that have had a relationship with UCE for at least 3 years. Selection of partners and recommended grant amounts (up to $3,000 per organization) will be made by the Social Justice Council, with approval by both the Endowment Trustees and the Board of Trustees. For the 2023-2024 church year, SJC will have an initial discussion of this process at a special meeting on May 23. There will be only one application opportunity for Community Partners each year and this year’s deadline is June 30. Applications for Community Partners will have a new, simplified form, and the application form will be made available after the May 23rd meeting.
3 Grants in 5 Years Limitation Dropped. Our previous policy of limiting the number of grants to an outside organization to no more than 3 grants in 5 years has been discontinued. We hope to sustain ongoing relationships with Community Partner grants. We also will give special consideration to new applicants with our Community Project grants.
Board of Trustees Discusses Endowment Allocation Category
Prior to the April meeting, Trustees were asked to complete a survey in advance of a Board discussion about the allocation of Endowment funds for Congregational Support. The survey surfaced trustees’ thinking about the degree of appropriateness for activities funded by Congregational Support grants, and what circumstances might be considered when considering a grant or a repeat request for a grant.
The Board discussed types of requests as to whether they were very, somewhat or not appropriate. Types of requests might include:
● learning and personal development opportunities to support member engagement in UCE’s mission related work;
● leadership development opportunities to support UCE governance and social, environmental, and justice work;
● programs specific to youth engagement in UCE’s mission related work and UUism;
● opportunities for member participation in broader UUism;
● programs and opportunities to support member well-being and spiritual and personal growth;
● programs to support maintenance of UCE’s physical assets;
● and programs that support staff or congregant resources needed to sustain activities and programs.
Different examples of Congregational Support requests were considered, and the Board provided input on how requests compared in terms of being very appropriate, somewhat appropriate or less appropriate. The discussion surfaced some differences in
interpretations of the Endowment’s Congregational Support allocation. Some trustees expressed an interest in not including requests for predictable and regularly occurring needs such as UUA dues, section leads for the choir, and scholarships for members participating in UU organizations such as MidAmerica Region and UUA general assemblies. While these are important programs, some felt these are better supported through the operating budget. Requests considered very or somewhat appropriate included solidarity circle training; building and grounds enhancements or emergency projects not funded by the operating budget; section leaders for the choir, and for some trustees UUA dues fell into this category as important to fund. There was some discussion regarding how to consider such unusual events as funding an interim minister, or an unusual increase in dues.
One possibility for supporting regular and predictable activities through a Congregational Support grant is for seed money to start a special fund for that activity, e.g., a fund for leadership opportunities to support member participation in broader UUism, or for programs that benefit members, including for youth, and support engagement in UCE’s mission related work. When thinking about criteria for funding Trustees suggested weight be given to how critical the need is and whether the need can be met with volunteer efforts, even if not as well. Repeat funding considerations related to whether funding is needed for the program to stay afloat and whether the need being met is ongoing. Other factors to take into account might be the context of that year’s circumstances and whether funding through the operating budget makes sense.
For a number of years we have been challenged to balance the operating budget expenses with pledge and non-pledge revenue. The UCE leadership is committed to holding a summit this summer to explore how we create financial sustainability for the future. In support of that work the Board of Trustees will continue to hold clarifying discussions that support its work to optimally steward our UCE and Endowment resources.
Endowment Grants Approved
The Endowment Committee is delighted to report that four additional grants have been approved by the Committee and the Board of Trustees from our October 31 application cycle.
* Food and Shelter Team: $1,000 to cover the cost of supplies and some food for the two spring Soup Kitchens held at UCE.
* Immigrant Solidarity (Refugee Support Team): $2,160 to cover the cost of childcare for the family’s mother to attend ESL classes.
* Food and Shelter Team: $4,320 to Interfaith Action of Evanston to cover the cost of a new weekend breakfast program for shelter residents.
* Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL)/Anti-Oppression Task Force/Social Justice Council: $20,000 as matching funds for UCE fundraising for the Evanston Reparations Community Fund.
This brings the total amount of grants approved for this fiscal year 2022-2023 to $65,760!
We have approximately $10,000 of funding left for this fiscal year (and many worthy causes)! Our last application deadline for this year is January 31.
Questions? Check out our webpage, email us at endowment@ucevanston.org, or contact one of our co-chairs Bill Hartgering and Susan Comstock.