Generosity & Engagement Ministries:
Connect & Commit: Engage, Serve, Give
We recognize that our community exists because of the commitment of the people involved. Our Generosity & Engagement Ministries (GEM) supports newcomers and members connect more deeply with the Fellowship, through supporting engagement and involvement, providing information about the many ways to serve our congregation, and through encouraging financial giving to support the Fellowship’s ongoing ministries.
Engage & Serve
GEM supports our ministers and staff in welcoming newcomers, educating people in the basics of UU identity and practice, and helping people find ways to connect, get involved, and use their gifts to serve the Fellowship with time and talent.
Give
Giving financially is one of the three crucial aspects to your connection and commitment to the Fellowship. Giving a monetary gift is a way to support the Fellowship and also to have a “stake” in the success of our faith community. We know that when we feel connected, we give. And when we give, we also feel more committed to the success of the organization.
Financial health involves careful and responsible management of the Fellowship’s daily, monthly, and annual financial operating needs. In order to budget appropriately, our staff and governing board need to know how much income to expect from year to year. We ask that everyone let us know if they intend to change their giving, whether that change is an increase or a decrease. If we don’t hear from you, we assume your giving will remain unchanged.
Click the Annual Support button to learn more.
Endowment: Legacy Giving
Many years ago, members of the Fellowship community started an endowment fund to allow all to invest in the long-term future of the Fellowship. We hope this fund will eventually grow to help support the Fellowship’s operations, allow for program expansion, and meet other long-term needs not readily funded by our annual budget.
Members who give a financial gift to the endowment or who notify us of their intention to leave a legacy gift are noted as members of the Acorn Society.
Click the endowment button to learn more.
Focused Fundraising
Fundraising focuses on special events to fund specific and focused unbudgeted needs of the Fellowship. For example, 2021’s Lights Camera Auction! raised funds to help purchase and install the audiovisual updates we needed to offer both in-person and virtual connections. This year, our annual budget includes an expected $25,000 income from fundraisers and our committee is hard at work planning three fun events to help raise those funds. We will need your help to make these a success. Watch the weekly e-news for more details as they arise.
Click the fundraising button to learn about current fundraising special events!
In addition, Generosity & Engagement Ministries supports ongoing fundraising for organizations outside our walls.
“Share the Plate” – A Wonderful Way to Share Your Generosity!
Generosity outside our walls has been and continues to be, important to the members of the Fellowship.
Each Sunday during that calendar month funds received through the collection plate, or through online giving will be shared, with half of the funds used to support the Fellowship budget and the other half sent to support the organization of the month.
The organization of the month is selected in cooperation with the Generosity & Engagement Ministries (GEM), the Fellowship Justice Action Ministries (JAMs), and the Executive Team and will typically be a local or UU-specific organization that is doing work that aligns with the Fellowship’s mission and values.
We hope this will allow more people to participate in outside-our-walls collections, benefitting both those worthy organizations receiving our support, as well as our Fellowship’s operating budget. This is one of the many ways the Fellowship supports those both within and beyond our walls.
If you would like to support the organization of the month click HERE to donate online. If you prefer to make your donation via check make it payable to FVUUF with “Share” in the memo field and drop off or mail to the Fellowship at 2600 E Philip Lane, Appleton, WI 54915.
Your Generosity at Work!
In 2022 we began an initiative called “Share the Plate”. Each Sunday during the calendar month your generosity through the collection plate or through online giving designated as ‘share,’ is split, with half of the funds used to support the Fellowship budget and the other half sent to support the organization of the month – a local or UU-specific organization.
Through Share the Plate we helped to support the following organizations in 2022-2023: Pillars, Sustainable Development Institute of the College of the Menominee Nation, ESTHER, UUA Disaster Relief Fund, Diverse & Resilient, Even Start Family Literacy, UU the Vote. The donations to those organizations totalled $7,166! (And we also added $7,166 to our Fellowship’s operating funds).
In 2023-2024, we supported the following organizations through Share-the-Plate: The Living Legacy Project, Apricity, ESTHER, UU the Vote, the Coalition to Save the Menominee River, Vivent Health, Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Central Wisconsin, and the International Convocation of UU Women. These donations totalled $7,890! (And we also added $7,890 to our Fellowship’s operating funds).
2024-2025 Recipients:
Coming soon.
