2025-26_ERUUF_Budget.Final.pdf

2025-26 Budget Summary (Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship)

The 2024-25 budget was approved by a vote of the congregation at the Annual Meeting on May 18, 2025.

We are able to project 395 pledging households for a total of $960,000. The congregation responded in a generous way to the pledge drive (“Planting Seeds Now”) in order to support the vision and mission of the Fellowship.

Many thanks to Co-Chairs Sara Terry and Hillary Zielazinski (plus the thank you and reminder teams) for making the pledge drive a success! Over 24% of all pledges reflect an increase, plus there are 45 new pledges this year. While we expect additional pledges to come in, we have confidence in the projected figure on which the budget is based.

The ERUUF Budget is Built from Multiple Income Streams

• Pledge (76.3%)
• Collection plate (2.5%)
• Rentals (6.3%)
• Cell Tower (2.5%)
• Reserve transfer (12.4%)

Budget Dynamics

To create a manageable near-term budget while also looking ahead to future years, there are several dynamics we are seeking to balance in our effort to:

• Support emerging needs of a growing congregation.
• Address fair compensation equity issues for staff.
• Right size the budget relative to number of people served (1,270 members, friends, children—and counting!)
• Build towards a $1.2+ million budget to match congregation size (comparable with other large UU congregations)
• Maintain fiscal health of congregation through long-term financial planning strategies while also keeping up with inflation.

Budget Highlights for FY 2025-26

Along with an increase in pledge income from the ongoing pledge drive, the final DRAFT budget addresses several priorities:

• Raise what is needed for our $1.2 million+ budget, typical of a congregation of our size.
• Continue to center our children, youth, and families as we nurture their values and our UU faith.
• Address changes in the UUA Fair Compensation Guidelines as we seek to support and grow our staff in an equitable manner.
  • 5% COLA for staff (per UUA recommendation)
  • Adjust some positions towards new UUA guidelines (big step forward in multi-year plan to address equity and fair compensation)
  • Increase staff hours for Religious Exploration, Membership, Justice, Office and Facilities
  • Two new staff members eligible for health insurance
• Program budgets:
  • Lead Minister sabbatical and 60^th Anniversary
  • Modest increases (Justice, Membership, Worship)
• Meet cost of doing business/inflation increases:
  • Health insurance & Property insurance
  • General office and facilities (janitorial, compostables, IT, licenses, etc.)
  • Utilities (busy campus = greater usage)

Strategic Initiatives Fund ($150,000 planned transfer for 2025-26 budget)

We are seeking to balance, in a sustainable way, the growing budget needs with present and expected resources from all income streams, including the Strategic Initiatives Fund. The budget has relied on reserve funds in the past few years to support a growth budget. There will be sufficient reserve funds to provide near term support for the operating budget and campus maintenance due to the successful Special campaign completed in early 2025 (Special Campaign $846,650 total from 112 pledge units).

 

Please refer questions on financial details to the Lead Minister, Executive Minister or the Board Finance Advisory Committee.