Pledge.

“Stewardship is about taking care of something we value and enabling it to grow. When we become stewards, we take responsibility and contribute our time, talent and treasure.”

– Unitarian Universalist Association

We are asking for your financial support to help Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo (UUSM) grow and thrive. We have made tremendous progress and the future is bright! Your gifts of time, talent and, yes, treasure, will help us keep moving in the right direction.

Our community moved forward in exciting ways over the past year. We moved into our revitalized, beautiful, and inclusive sanctuary space. We embarked on a remodel of our social hall. Our Religious Exploration (RE) program is energizing our youth and families. Our music program is thriving under the directorship of Jeremy Raven. We have wonderful ministerial leadership with Rev. Tovis Page and Rev. Terri Echelbarger, who will be with us for the next year. We are finding many ways to connect as a community and continue to have active participation in multiple small group programs including Circle Dinners, Social Justice, Aging to Saging and Sacred Song Circle. We are fortunate to have an engaged and committed Transition Team leading us through the process of creating a roadmap for our professional ministry. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for UUSM!

To support our mission and continue our growth, we need the financial support of the community. Our next fiscal year, starting July 1, will be critical for UUSM as we seek a new minister. Our values dictate that we pay our staff fairly, and provide fair benefits. We need to ensure that we maintain our newly updated spaces. As we all know, we live in a high-cost area and we need substantial financial resources to achieve our aspirations as a community.

Our current projections indicate a shortfall of 10% (~$60,000) if giving levels remain the same as the current fiscal year. We ask you to consider if you can increase your pledge by 10% or more. The most helpful gifts to our community are those given consistently (e.g. weekly or monthly) because they sustain our day-to-day needs. Our donations range from just a few dollars to many thousands--every gift is welcome and honored. We ask that this year you consider your own capacity and the community’s needs. We are including the UUA Suggested Fair-Share Contribution Guide. The Guide asks more of those who have higher levels of both income and commitment. Ponder where you fit and see if you can stretch toward what the Guide suggests.

Part of our covenant with one another is to contribute whatever each of us can give, in time, talent and treasure, to help our community help each of us to grow spiritually. And then, as we grow as a church community, we make our collective impact stronger, making our broader community more just, inclusive, and committed to our values of equity and compassion.

Whatever you decide, please let us know your intended contribution so that we can have confidence in our revenue as we finalize the budget for Fiscal Year 2024‒25 (July 2024‒June 2025). We will be voting on the budget at the Congregational Meeting on Sunday, June 9. Please submit the pledge form by no later than May 10.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything about your stewardship, please reach out to any member of the Stewardship Committee. If you have specific questions about completing the process or setting up your donation, please contact Kate Wasserman, Office Administrator, at 650-342-5946 or office@uusanmateo.org.

Thank you for being part of the UUSM community and for engaging in this process.

We’re excited! Let’s do this together.

The UUSM Stewardship Committee