The
Maritime Conference
The
United Church of Canada
L’Eglise
Unie du Canada
Maritime
Conference Office
21
Wright Street, Sackville, NB E4L 4P8
Tel.
(506)536-1334 • Fax (506) 536-2900 • Email: info@marconf.ca
June
2013
Re: Maritime Conference $3 million fundraising project
Dear
Port Hawkesbury: St. Mark's Pastoral Charge,
Within
the organization of The United Church of Canada, each layer of our
conciliar system has unique responsibilities and authority.
Conference offers support and encouragement to the work of
congregations and Presbyteries/Synod in matters of faith formation,
spiritual growth, justice seeking, resources, stewardship, personnel,
mission, finance and administration. Conference also has the
responsibility to represent the interests and insights of the region
within our denominational structure, the General Council, and to
interpret and implement the decisions and initiatives of the General
Council in our region. For these purposes, the Conference has staff
and an office.
One
other thing that Maritime Conference does is maintain an Archive for
the purpose of retaining and preserving the records that tell the
story of our churches through the years, and to make those records
available for research purposes by the church and by members of the
public. The tradition of keeping an Archive began with our
Presbyterian (1866) and Methodist (1903) forebears, and has been
repeatedly reaffirmed by Conference. The value of the Archive is
established by its usage, as well as by the continued contribution by
churches of documents to be held. The result, over the years, is that
each time the Conference has expanded the Archive space, it has
rapidly filled up. This most recent expansion of the Archive was done
with the expectation that it would not fill up for at least 25 years.
In
September 2012, the new $3 million Conference Centre at 21 Wright
Street, Sackville, NB, was officially opened.
For
more information on the Conference staff, the Conference office and
the Conference Archive, please visit www.marconf.ca, and click on
“About Us.”
The
Fundraising Project
The
project began with the direction from Conference to focus on gifts
from individuals. The preparatory study interviewed over 70 church
leaders throughout the region and predicted a high degree of success
for the $3 million fundraising objective. Over the last 18 months,
donations and commitments of approximately $600,000 have been
received. We celebrate this progress; however, this progress has not
been sufficient to keep pace with the financing costs for the new
building. In May 2013, the Conference Annual Meeting approved that
the fundraising project should be expanded to include requests for
gifts from congregations.
What
would be an appropriate and “fair” objective for each Pastoral
Charge? What does $3 million look like when spread over 500
congregations? That is a decision best made by each congregation. To
help you with your discernment, here are some numbers for your
consideration, using the data submitted by your Pastoral Charge in
the annual statistical forms (2012). In each case, the sample
objective for your Pastoral Charge is calculated in proportion with
the whole Conference. For example,
- Port Hawkesbury: St. Mark's Pastoral Charge reported 85 people, on average, attending worship (line 20). On this basis, your objective could be $10, 786.80 or $3,595.60 per year over the next three years.
- Port Hawkesbury: St. Mark's Pastoral Charge reported spending $109,822.00 on Pastoral Charge operations (line 40). On this basis, your objective could be $11,278.04 or $3,759.35 per year over the next three years.
- For 2013, Presbytery assigned to your Pastoral Charge a Conference allocation of $2,425/77. On this basis, your objective could be $11,295.70 or $3,765.23 per year over the next three years.
These
numbers are offered simply as examples of ways an objective could be
calculated. You will need to make the determination about what is
appropriate in your circumstances. You could also consider if the
objective is an amount that would be raised immediately, or spread
out over the suggested three years.
While
Pastoral Charges work away on their objectives, the fundraising team
will continue to work on securing individual contributions from
within, and, particularly, from beyond the “regular” United
Church family. Commitments from individuals and congregations that
show strong support for the project will help strengthen the position
of the fundraising team as they continue to seek donations from
“external” sources. A strong response in donations and pledges
now will promote positive results. Progress towards the goal of
raising $3 million will be regularly updated on the Conference
website.
Fundraising
ideas
A
variety of excellent fundraising ideas have been offered. A selection
are offered below. Please develop a plan that will work the best in
your situation, using the skills, interests and abilities of your
community.
- Memorial hymn sing service with donations made to dedicate a particular hymn in honour of someone special. Offering to be collected during the service.
- Fundraising dinners – spaghetti, turkey, beef, lobster, corned beef and sauerkraut.
- Dinner theatre, talent show, movie night.
- Invite each person to make a specific monthly offering using PAR. For example, using the worship attendance figures above would mean $3.53 extra per month per worshipper, for three years.
- Discern if there are individuals who could be invited to make a significant donation towards your objective. Think of ways that special recognition or commemorative designation could be given to these gifts.
- Visit the Conference webpage for fundraising to see some of the options for making commemorative gifts in honour of someone special in the life of your congregation: sponsor an item in the kitchen, a “chair” in the meeting room, dedicate a room of the building. (Contact the Conference Office for more information.)
Thank
you for your consideration of this important moment in the life of
the United Church in the Maritime Conference region. While it is
clearly understood that congregations support the work of Conference
through the annual allocation, this additional request is necessary
to allow us to collectively eliminate this debt and continue to focus
on the mission priorities in our region.
Responses
made by the end of October will assist the fall meeting of the
Conference Executive in their deliberations. Without the support of
these voluntary contributions by individuals and congregations, there
will be little choice but to look again at allocations. The
Conference Annual Meeting in May, empowered the fall meeting of the
Conference Executive to re-evaluate the financial situation in light
of the commitments that are made by congregations before the end of
October. So, as soon as possible, please let us know what your
congregation/Pastoral Charge has decided to do and over what time
frame.
With
prayers for God’s blessing upon all of our work and ministry…
The
Maritime Conference Fundraising Team: Ruth Gamble, Ivan Gregan,
David Hewitt, Jane Johnson,
Stephen
Mills, Barb Prowse, David Thorne, Donna Tourneur
