Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Let's talk about UUCA's cost by the day...$1027.60

Can you believe that it is almost October?  It seems like just yesterday I was walking into UUCA for the first time.

I have heard from many of you saying that you enjoy this blog.  My primary goal is to raise awareness and work as a team with all of you to make this your spiritual home. 

Most people don't like to talk about money.  I completely understand.  I thought I would give you some figures on what it takes to just pay basic bills, just like we all do at our homes.

First let's talk about our mortgage.  This is a large facility, and with the recent building project we added some responsibility to our budget.  We budget $236,000 annually to pay for our mortgage which is the result of two separate loans.  The daily rate we pay is $647 and that is without paying any of our bills to open the doors. 

When our doors open, we then have to pay for heat, air, water, gas, trash, internet.  Here is the daily average cost for each:
Trash $28/day, Electric $138/day, Water $23, Gas $26, Air/Heat Monthly Maintenance $55, Taxes (Parsonage) $18, Telephone/Internet $15, Copier $36, Insurance $39

Side note - Toilet Paper Daily cost $3.60.  Anyone care to guess how many rolls we purchased last year?  The closest guess will be awarded a prize!  email tsrader@uucava.org with your guess!

Grand total:  $1027.60 per day

I am always looking at ways to save money on basic operating costs.  Having an idea on what it costs to operate a facility as large as UUCA helps everyone understand how your contributions are spent.  Thanks for your generosity!



Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Fall is quickly approaching and this past Sunday began the regular schedule at UUCA.  I have been amazed about how many people have commented on reading this blog - and I thank you for your time to read these quick posts.

I have several updates for you to review.  First, Track It Forward participation is increasing - AND - we need more!  To date we have 710 hours reported by 32 participants.  If I based the sign-up rate on our membership, we are at around 4% participation.  I will continue to encourage those who participate to sign up - it is completely free and I will not be sending out additional email using this application.  We have so many places where you receive communications I know it has to be overwhelming. (http://www.trackitforward.com/site/unitarian-universalist-church-arlington-virginia)

We have a great team here looking at ways to facilitate communication with everyone at UUCA.  Mary Ann does a fantastic job of creating the weekly Connections newsletter.  Did you know that over 1500 people are on our mailing list - and that is almost double our membership!  The newsletter sent this past Thursday on the 8th of September had the following statistics:
  • 1498 sent
  • 708 opened (47.5%)
  • 232 clicks - with 28% of those going to registration for covenant groups and looking at information on the PBS schedule for the 9/20 showing of Defying the Nazis.
It takes an entire team to keep things fresh and new in our communications!  Did you know that we have two twitter accounts ( @uucateaming and @uuarlingtonva) where you can follow real time activities here at UUCA?

I hope you have a terrific week!  Thanks for your time and efforts to make this a great place to connect, grow and serve!

Tamara

Friday, September 2, 2016

Track it forward - Update!

Great news!  Here is what I can already see ( you can get the visual)...


For the month of August, we had 156.5 hours submitted by 14 volunteers.  The dollar value would be $4,083.85.  What makes this even more amazing is that is only a fraction of people we have recording hours in this congregation.  Imagine if we had the entire community recording their time.

Thank you to all those who are tracking UUCA forward!

Here is another interesting fact - only 40% of those who receive the weekly connection actually open and take a look at the contents.  If you know of someone on your teams ask them if they have uploaded the Track it forward app and signed up for an account.

Last - remember we are closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Thanks for all that you do here in our community!