Endowment
and
Memorial Gift
Trust

EMGT Home

Bylaws

Legacy Circle

Planned Giving Program

2005-06 Annual Report

2006 Special Projects

Special Projects Gudelines

Request for Special Project Funding
    MS Word version
    PDF version

Trust Assets

Trust Directors

SPECIAL PROJECT GRANTS FOR 2006

The Endowment and Memorial Gift Trust (the EMGT) directors voted to fund ten Special Projects at our meeting on April 12. As announced in December, we designated $30,000 for this year’s Special Projects. As we evaluated the requests and recognized the quality of the requests and the needs, we voted to increase that amount to a total of $31,425. Included in this total is $1,350 that was previously granted to fund the travel and housing expenses to bring Rev. C. Leon Hopper and his wife, Dorothy, here in early April and to produce a plaque for the sanctuary honoring Leon. Leon was honored as our first called minister, and the sanctuary was named the C. Leon Hopper Sanctuary. Requests for 2006 Special Project funding totaled $47,512.

In addition to the $31,425 granted for 2006 Special Projects, we voted in February to grant $12,600 to fund a second intern minister beginning in September 2007. We had previously voted to grant $12,600 for our first intern minister who will start in September 2006.

We enthusiastically voted to fund the request for $12,000 for new sanctuary chairs. This request was submitted by the Board of Trustees, the Committee on Ministry, the Religious Services Group, and the Building and Grounds Authority. The grant will be combined with $7,000 of designated gifts to purchase 300 new chairs to replace the bench pews in the sanctuary. These individual chairs are designed to increase our effective seating capacity by 20% at each service. The combination of new seating and the addition of a third service will provide space in our sanctuary for another four to five years of growth at our present rate. In addition, the chairs will be more comfortable than the benches and will allow for more flexible use of our space.

The second largest grant is for $6,000 to the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado (TIA-CO). These funds will contribute to TIA-CO’s 2006 budget of about $120,000 and help them hire and retain an executive director and a community outreach coordinator. The EMGT helped TIA-CO in its formative years with grants of $6,000 in 2000 and 2001 and $1,500 in 2002. TIA-CO’s mission and goals are directly aligned with the tenets of JUC and the UU denomination. JUC’s Social Responsibility Council supported the current proposal, and other individuals at JUC are strong supporters of the organization. Chuck Mowry is the immediate past president, and Rev. Peter Morales is a member of the Board of Directors. The organization has pushed an essentially all volunteer organization to its limits. It has built cash reserves, increased contributions and grants, and put together a very strong funding committee. For TIA-CO to move forward, now is a critical time for it to hire experienced professional leaders. We support that goal.

We are continuing to support the Music Ministry Group that adds so much to the life, vitality, and growth of our church with a total of $4,400 for two projects:

1. $2,400 for 150 copies of the new hymnal supplement, Singing the Journey. This hymnal was developed to give UU congregations a fresh musical perspective on the music of our faith. It offers a variety of new, never-before published music for congregational singing, including songs for social justice and multicultural songs. The JUC choir has already purchased 75 copies and has been introducing the music to the congregation to make it easy to integrate this new music into JUC’s musical life. Singing the Journey will be a supplement to our current hymnal, not a replacement.
2. $2,000 for a part of the cost of purchasing a fourth octave of Schulmerich handbells. The addition of a fourth octave will allow more people to participate in the program and will increase the impact of the music in worship and performance. The request was for $3,927. The directors elected to fund only about half of this request, given other Special Project requests that the directors strongly wanted to fund. In addition, the EMGT provided $3,800 in 2005 to fund part of the cost of the three-octave set of handbells and $860 in 2003 to purchase a third octave of tone chimes. We hope that the additional cost of the fourth octave of handbells is obtained by donations or from the operating budget.

We voted to fund $2,500 of a $3,250 request from the Religious Services Group for an Assistive Listening System. This system will assist people attending our services and other events in the sanctuary who have hearing disabilities. The funds granted will provide for the basic equipment needed and the ability to add additional receivers. The basic equipment includes the FM transmitter system and related equipment, a 16-unit charger base, and four receivers. Ten receivers were requested, as recommended for a congregation of our size. Additional receivers can be purchased as needed using funds from donations or from the operating budget.

We granted a total of $4,900 for four projects requested by the Building and Grounds Authority (BGA) as it continues its outstanding work to complete the landscaping projects that are a part of our Capital Project building plan.

1. $2,000 for installation of “Drivable Grass.” When it rains, you have probably noticed water in the northeast corner of the parking lot and mud immediately adjacent to it. That low spot is designed as the retention pond for runoff water from the church parking lot. But landscaping of the “mud hole” is required to complete our landscaping plan and receive approval from Jefferson County. BGA plans to install “Drivable Grass” to stabilize the soil and aesthetically match the surrounding landscape. “Drivable Grass” is a permeable, flexible, plantable concrete pavement system made from reinforced concrete with holes and crack paths that allow grass to grow through it.
2. $400 for stepping pavers east and south of the offices. The request was for $4,400 for a courtyard wall and the pavers. Given that the courtyard wall is not time-critical to complete our landscaping plan, the EMGT elected to fund only $400 for the pavers. When installed, the pavers will provide an informal walkway leading from the walk to the main office through the courtyard area south of the offices and on to the doors from the Mills Building with a branch walkway to the shed.
3. $2,000 for the wayside pulpit signboard. The request was for $4,300 for a wayside pulpit signboard and the sermon signboard, both located on the south side of 32nd Avenue. The EMGT elected to fund only the wayside pulpit sign. It will be located east of the main church sign and will replace the wayside pulpit sign destroyed during the building project. The signboard will be a free standing illuminated double-sided anodized aluminum case of an appropriate color to contain either printed thought-provoking and inspirational messages or notices with changeable letters on a message board.
4. $500 for construction of a labyrinth. This grant covers material and equipment for constructing a 20-foot-diameter labyrinth northwest of the Willis Chapel. The labyrinth is a part of the landscape architect’s plans for the JUC campus and will provide a place for active meditation for all ages. Walking a labyrinth has been a spiritual practice since ancient times. The walking paths will consist of crushed rock or expanded shale and will be bordered by river rock and bricks. The Women’s Spirituality Group is particularly interested in this project and will help in its construction.

We have funded the Fellowship Committee’s proposal for $175 for kitchen sanitation training. The training in food sanitation and food handling safety will be done at JUC by a professional from the Jefferson County Health Department for the estimated 35 Fellowship Cook Team members and Commons Coordinators. The training will ensure that food, cups, and utensils at JUC for Fellowship Dinners and other events will be prepared and handled in the safest, most sanitary manner possible.

The EMGT directors had a difficult time selecting the projects to fund, given the number and quality of all the proposals submitted. The proposals and parts of proposals that we did not fund totaled about $16,000. We extend a special thank you to all who submitted proposals for the effort and vision that you put into your proposals.

The Endowment Fund is a wonderful vehicle to support a great variety of projects that support and perpetuate our values and goals. Please think of including the Endowment Fund in your long range giving plans and becoming a member of the Legacy Circle.

EMGT directors: Lois Abbott, Dave DiGiacomo, Stan Hamilton (chairperson), Kay Kerlin, BJ Meadows, and Jay Wilsey.