Giving to UUCCH

Stewardship at UUCCH: Stewardship is how we sustain the life and work of our church.  Each year, we ask members and friends to make a pledge of financial support for the upcoming fiscal year.  Click here to enter your Stewardship pledge:  UUCCH 26-27 Pledge Form

The form has an option to request UUCCH to assist with Vanco setup and/or changes.  Here is the Vanco Link if you would like to set up Vanco yourself.   We encourage members to consider tax-efficient ways of giving.  Contact Ken Slight and John Nielsen at stewardship@uucch.org for information on tax-free giving from retirement accounts and direct donations of financial securities.  

The dollar amount of your Stewardship pledge should be based on your financial resources and your level of commitment. The median Stewardship gift at UUCCH is about $750/yr per member. It is important to consider that financial resources are not spread evenly in our society.  Many of our members are able to contribute thousands of dollars each year.  For other members, even $50 per year is difficult to come up with.  Every Stewardship pledge, no matter the size, is important and valued.

Here is general information on our Stewardship program.   

• This church – our programs, buildings, and groups – belongs to us.  About 70% of our financial resources come directly from member contributions. Your pledge is a concrete expression of your connections to this church community. We encourage you to make a generous financial commitment. At the same time, we also encourage you to make a pledge that you can afford. Here is some information about Stewardship and pledging at UUCCH.

• Financial Information is Confidential. Member contribution information is shared on a strict need-to-know basis.  The minister and two pledge secretaries are the only people that see member contributions.

• There is no minimum financial contribution requirement associated with membership. We do not want members to make membership decisions based on financial resources. This is part of the covenant that we say each Sunday – Love is the Spirit of this Church. We need money to operate, of course, but it is not central to our relationship with each other. In order to vote at our congregational meetings, members need to have made at least one contribution of record in the previous 12 months. This can be as little as $1.

• Annual Budget and Stewardship Pledges. We operate on a fiscal year basis with the fiscal year running from July 1st to June 30th. We ask members and friends to make a Stewardship pledge in the spring of each year, with Stewardship pledge payments to occur in the following fiscal year.  The Finance Committee and the Board of Trustees then develop a fiscal year annual operating budget based on these Stewardship pledges. Members vote to approve the annual budget in the Annual Congregational Meeting held in June of each year. This annual operating budget pays for salaries for our wonderful staff, expenses to operate and maintain our buildings and grounds, as well as team expenses. Stewardship pledges represent two thirds of our operating budget revenue.Electronic Giving. We encourage members to give electronically. We use an outside company, Vanco, to process electronic donations. Over half of our members use Vanco for regular or one-time donations.   There are five ways to give through Vanco:
• Electronic giving for folks who are not tech savvy.   Contact Ken Slight (stewardship@uucch.org).   Ken will set up Vanco for you, then send you a screen shot for confirmation. 
  • Give via the Give+ app. Download the app to your mobile device.  Search for UUCCH by entering our zip code 08034.  Select UUCCH from the list of results.  You can choose to create a new account, sign in, or ‘Give Now’ without creating an account
  • Give via a link to Vanco.   This link enables members to set a start date and end date for recurring gifts.   Here is the link:  Vanco form
  • Giving via the embedded form on the UUCCH website.   See embedded form below. The embedded form does not have an option for an end date. 
  • Giving via text.   Make one-time gifts by simply sending a text to our secure account at 844-984-1040.  

• Online Giving.  UUCCH welcomes your donations through any method you choose to give.  As an alternative to cash and checks, we are offering a variety of donation methods online and via phone.
• Giving via text. Electronic and traditional givers accustomed to texting can now give through text giving. Make one-time or recurring offerings by simply sending a text to our secure account at 844-984-1040. It’s a convenient solution when you can’t attend services or don’t have cash or checks with you.
• Giving via the Give+ app. Download the app to your mobile device.  Search for UUCCH by entering our zip code 08034.  Select UUCCH from the list of results.  You can choose to create a new account, sign in, or ‘Give Now’ without creating an account.
• Giving online. You can also make one-time or recurring donations through the form below.  This form only collects a start date for recurring payments.  If you’d like to set up a payment, please use the Vanco form here.
• Planned Giving. For more information about planned giving and making a gift by Will, please refer to the Planned Giving page.
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• One-time or Recurring Donations to our Programs You may also give electronically to our programs and activities, including both special events and the weekly Split Plate with our community partners. There are several options, explained below.