If you’ve been around UU Asheville for a while, you know that we have faced some financial challenges in recent years. Adopting an attitude of faith and hope, and following our values and morals, we constructed budgets accordingly. Those were deficit budgets relative to our fundraising capacity. We depleted our Contingency Fund (a fund for unplanned emergencies) to very low levels, and postponed improvements and repairs we know our campus needs.

Yet after last year’s Annual Budget Drive, we find ourselves in a much happier place. The congregation’s response to an ambitious fundraising goal meant we reduced the deficit significantly and kept all programs going, while maintaining our fantastic staff! And we set some records: Our previous givers, on average, pledged a whopping 10% more than in the previous year. We added 43 new households, pledging $70,000 new dollars. Our match program added another $50,000. And our total pledged amount was by far the highest in our history.

A much happier place, indeed! Yet there are still significant needs to shore up long-deferred maintenance on our campus, replenish that Contingency Fund, and most importantly, keep making gains on our mission for beloved community inside and outside our walls.

Your pledge of financial support makes it possible for UU Asheville to create the upcoming year’s budget. If you’re giving but not pledging, we urge you to make a pledge now. If your pledge has been the same for a while, we invite you to expand your commitment.