There’s a bit of a dust-up at Peacebang about the tactics of the Association Sunday fundraisers and (to my mind) the more important piece about financial transparency. (To be fair faust at The Socinian asked the vital questions last year.) More important still is if these large efforts are more about consolidating power, resources and identity-making precisely at the time when centralized power systems are showing their deepest flaws. (Furthering my thesis that the UUA is always at the cutting edge 15 years late.)
To prove my point, I would like as many bloggers and readers to ask for a full copy of last year’s annual report on giving. I have, by email to reportongiving@uua.org, and asked for a PDF. (Which seems like an easier request to fulfill and less taxing on resources.)
Read it when you get it, or comment if you’ve not gotten it after a decent interval, and ruminate on it.
A liberal religion needs transparency and broad-based accountability in its operations.
What was the annual report they handed out at GA?
Dunno. Does anyone know?
The printed report booklet available at the General Assembly contains the annual reports of the UUA’s staff groups and committees, which tend to be programmatic and fairly general. I don’t know why it’s not online; the quarterly reports from staff groups are published on the board’s Agenda and Reports page on UUA.org. The annual report Scott is asking about is different.
Figures about expenditures by department, however, tend to show up in the budget documents in the GA report and sometimes in the financial advisor’s report; I can’t recall if something similar appears in the Giving Report.