Greetings WellSprings!
The Stewardship Ministry is wrapping up our annual pledge campaign, and we would like to thank everyone who generously made a pledge commitment to WellSprings for the fiscal year July 2024 to June 2025.
Our pledge campaign, Building Our Beloved Community, supported the following stewardship goals:
1. to increase member pledge participation from 70% to 90%
2. to increase the overall pledged amount by 16% to meet the planned budget of $250,000.
To measure member pledge participation, we used a base measurement of 111 member families. So far, 61 member families and 4 non-member families have pledged. This puts our current pledge participation rate at 56.5%, down from 72.4% (76 pledges) in the last fiscal year.
Regarding the second goal, we have now received $196,520 in pledges, which is 78.6% of the way to our requested goal. This pledge amount was given to the Board of Trustees, and they proceeded to put together the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. At our June 2nd congregation meeting, the Board announced the budget cuts planned for FY24-25 and a revised deficit budget of $204,030. The current pledge amount provides 96.3% of the budget.
The change in pledging is the product of several different kinds of movement within the overall congregation. The chart below summarizes the changes in our pledging from last year, showing how many member pledges increased, decreased, or stayed the same, how many new pledges started and how many pledges stopped.
The Board shared the congregation’s financial position at the congregation meeting and noted: “WellSprings’ cash reserves are in danger of being spent down if nothing changes. The cash reserves are there for rainy day needs, not a surplus used to balance a deficit budget. We have used our cash reserves to balance our budget the past two years. This is not sustainable.”
Ninety-five percent of WellSprings’ budget is supported through annual giving, which means everything we are and do together – singing with the band, gathering online and in Bell Hall, sustaining our ministers and staff, giving back in our communities, nurturing our youth – happens thanks to your annual generosity.
We are so very grateful for those who participated in this pledge campaign! It is through your generosity we can continue to support and sustain our beloved WellSprings community next year and into the future. For WellSprings to be here as our Beloved Community now and in years to come, we will need more of our members to pledge their support.
It’s not too late to submit your pledge if you have not done so. Any pledge amount is appreciated. But please submit it ASAP. Pledges made now would be paid between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025, and would allow the Board to plan for a more sustainable balanced budget for the coming year.
We know that many members give regularly, but have not yet filled out a pledge form, and so their giving information is not captured here. If you have received a reminder e-mail from a member of the Stewardship Ministry in the past few weeks, please know that we would especially value receiving your pledge before the fiscal year begins, July 1, 2024.
Ways to Pledge:
- Online: Submit your pledge for the fiscal year 2024-2025 (July 2024-June 2025) at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WS2024pledge.
- Paper Pledge: Complete a paper pledge form and return it to the Giving Box at Bell Hall or mail to PO Box 375, Chester Springs, PA 19425. Download Pledge Form.
If you have questions about giving, please reach out to any Stewardship Ministry member or send an email to stewardship@wellspringsuu.org.
Thank you for your help in Building Our Beloved Community!
Sincerely,
Your Stewardship Ministry:
Majid Alsayegh, Mary Alsayegh, Kathy Burke-Howe, Julie Choi, Sarah Costa, Josie Waldman