Money Matters 6/1/2025
Canvass Results & UUA Salary Guidelines
Successful Canvass Campaign - Thank You Everyone!
We are pleased to report that pledges for the FY 25-26 year starting July 1 rose 9.0% or $29,386 to $352,353 thanks to the generosity of many donors and the leadership of Canvass chairs Curtis Smith and Karen Goldner and canvassing by Rob Muller, Harris McKee and board members! Pledges range from $5 to $24,000 and every pledge helps! This pledge increase is critical in allowing 2U to provide our staff cost of living increases (we were not able to last year), pay for rising costs in building insurance and operating expenses for the elevator and a myriad of other small increases. Importantly, we are significantly reducing our planned operating deficit.
Thank you so much to all of you who, by making a pledge to 2U for the coming year, make our church life possible, nurturing and enriching! If you missed the deadline and would still like to pledge, please visit our website, click “Contribute” and then click “Pledge ( 2025-2026)” to do so.
A few Canvass Campaign details:
The number of donors pledging rose by 8 to 144 thanks to new members more than offsetting the loss of those who’ve moved away, either literally or figuratively.
The median pledge (half above/below) is $1,200 or $100 per month. The average pledge is $2,447 or just over $200 a month. Increased pledges were received by 55 households and 38 were unchanged while 17 decreased. 24 households were new and 12 returned after time away.
How does the Board Set Staff Compensation ?
Members will vote on the proposed Annual Budget at the June 8th Annual Meeting so you might be wondering how we determine compensation for salary and benefits as this is the majority of our budget. We view a talented, dedicated and fairly compensated staff as the key to providing quality worship services, programming, and helping make 2U a spiritual home for us all.
The short answer is: with the help of the UUA’s guidelines and benefit programs such as the retirement and health plans. The UUA looks at the size of congregations and their location and adjusts its guidelines based on these factors. Chicago is one of the higher cost locations so guidelines for our congregation are higher than for, say, Quincy, IL.
The UUA guidelines for each position include a midpoint, a minimum which is 10% less than this, and a maximum which is 10% above the midpoint. 2U strives to be within this range and with the raise for the Director of Music for FY 25-26, all of our employees will now be at or above the UUA’s minimum. This is a big accomplishment! Our Minister is about 3% under the guideline midpoint. For FY 25-26, the Board is proposing a 3% salary COLA for the Minister, Director of Administration, and Director of Faith Development. The Director of Music’s salary increase to reach the minimum guideline is 10.9%. Health insurance premiums for the Minister and Admin Director are projected to rise over 10%. By agreement with the UUA, 2U is obligated to contribute 10% of each eligible employees’ salary to the retirement fund.
Capital Campaign Update
We recently received an invoice from our general contractor, Mirek Construction, for $116,973 (for the elevator, concrete, radiant heat for the ramp, steel railing, carpentry, doors and hardware, drywall, etc.) and once documentation is verified and payment made, this will reduce our capital campaign cash to about $88,000. There is still much work to be done from the east entryway to the Loft and this includes new windows, flooring, electrical, electric heaters for the east entryway, garden restoration, and completion of the fire detection/alarm system. The remaining work will be approximately $150,000. For the current fiscal year, we have received donations of $68,047 and incurred expenses of $353,575. Total spending is now $678,468. We continue to forecast additional borrowing of about $50,000 so please keep your capital campaign donations coming.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the June 8th Annual Meeting!
Respectfully submitted,
