Fund raising efforts for The Urantia Book Fellowship's activities fall within four major categories-, The first being, what has become traditional, a solicitation letter to the general membership around Spring and another around Fall.
The second and most successful, at least in the greater dollar amount, has been direct contact by an individual(s) to individuals or existing foundations.
A third effort, started by an individual to address a particular need at the time, was directed to a very much smaller group. This would be called the Wrightwood group whose yearly donation of at least Five Thousand Dollars is earmarked to pay-off the mortgage for our organization's building and offices on Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago.
The fourth effort is contribution in-kind. This included those contributions in personnel, in time, in services (not excluding those services provided by the Jesusonian Foundation and the volume of time and money devoted to Whole-Life Expos, Book Fairs and the like.) The exact dollar amount of these contributions are not known. What is known is that the "translated" dollar amount from in-kind contributions is considerable. Consider the donated effort of a few individuals what have worked tirelessly on The Uversa Press edition of The Urantia Book as just one of the many projects fulfilled by volunteers.
This year the general Fall solicitation attempted a different approach in that it looked at the total donor list and separated donors according to what they may have given in past years and/or what could have been considered a more personal and greater interest in The Urantia Book Fellowship. To that end, three letters were composed to hopefully reflect those segments; The first to contributors of one hundred dollars or less; the second to those who gave in excess of one hundred dollars; the third to heads of study groups and Society Presidents.
The results were essentially the same as previous years' solicitations and in fact, down from last year. What was especially surprising was the paucity of response the nominal leadership of The Urantia Book Fellowship including the members of the General Council. Of course one must recognize that a donation can be expressed in other than dollar value. But in the main, the dollar amounts did fall short of previous years.
What added significantly to our bottom line was the much appreciated major donations from a few individuals and foundations. These donations give significant support to pay for specified activities such as our services to the "cyber-community" on the Web site and E-mail readers, conferences and Book Fairs as well as the day to day requirements to maintain our Chicago office.
Special thanks must be given to Jennifer Siegel and her father for their total remake of our Chicago office. It is a beautiful change.
On the subject of our Chicago office, the Treasurer and Finance Chair were given the responsibility of looking at the costs of maintaining the Chicago office. These costs include mortgage (loan), maintenance and personnel. A report was given to the Executive Committee and has not been acted upon.
A proffered donation from Harry McMullan for a church building in Oklahoma City to be used for The Urantia Book Fellowship was ultimately withdrawn.
At the Oklahoma City General Council meeting, a presentation was made to make the General Council cognizant of the value of Charitable Remainder Trusts and Trusts in general. The Finance Chair will pursue further this potential source of funds recognizing the legal implications and the need for any individual donor to work with an attorney.
Some of the frustration of Finance has been a need for a more defined picture and its presentation to the readership of the scope of activities of The Urantia Book Fellowship. An occasional solicitation for funds to a readership who barely understands the scope of activities and needs of The Urantia Book Fellowship, eschews anything that smacks of bureaucracy or politics. That readership simply will not make other than a token donation if one at all. To clarify and define The Urantia Book Fellowship's affairs, 1998-9 will see the significant development of our ad hoc PR committee that will give graphic life to "Who we are and what we do". Finance not only welcomes this committee with sincere thanks but feels its development to help this revelation is long past due.
The Finance Committee announced a newly elected member in the person of Jerry Pando who is viewed as an active participant in The Urantia Book Fellowship affairs and at the same time announced the loss of Robert Bums who, while moving to Charter, has been most helpful in past responsibilities. The Chair will renew its effort in finding persons who wish to serve in Finance.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Liszka