The Board held its regular meeting and one special meeting in April.  At the special meeting on April 12, the Board accepted a recommendation from the Finance Committee to apply for a CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program loan. 

The goal of the Paycheck Protection Program is to ensure that small businesses can maintain their payrolls through June 30 through the use of forgivable loans.  BVUUF qualifies as a small business under this program, and the Finance Committee recommended that we apply in order to cover possible needs.  The UUA has also encouraged congregations to apply because of the uncertain economic future stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Following the meeting, Treasurer Joan Mulcahy applied for the loan of $57,232.63, which the Fellowship has received.

At the regular meeting on April 16, the Board approved proposals to:

• Adopt a policy for moving unrestricted gifts into either the Legacy fund or the Operating Budget.  This policy, recommended by the Finance Committee, specifies that gifts of $1,000 or greater that do not have a specific purpose identified by the donor are to be added to the Legacy Fund.  Such gifts include, but are not limited to, bequests and other planned gifts.  Unrestricted donations of less than $1,000 are to be recorded as General Donations income to the Operating Budget.  

• Carry over budgeted but unspent RE salary and benefits dollars at the end of the current fiscal year to the School of the Spirit Fund to fund summer camp in 2020-2021.  Because of mid-year personnel changes in the Spirit Jam program and because we are still out of our building, RE staff positions will not require all funds budgeted for this year.  Under our Budget Management Policy, these unused funds would normally revert to the Operating Reserves.  This action instead allows these funds to be carried over to the School of the Spirit fund for the following reason.  Some of the unused funds for the year were budgeted to cover staff costs for BVUUF personnel who would manage/direct the summer camp.  However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unlikely to be able to offer a summer camp this year.  Carrying the the funds over to the next church year will allow them to be used for next year’s summer camp.

• Allow secure online voting in conjunction with remote participation at the June 6, 2020, Annual Meeting and other Congregational meetings going forward.  COVID-19 restrictions make it unlikely that an in-person Annual meeting can be held this year.  This action authorizes a remote meeting and online voting.  Such a meeting will require sufficient technology to ensure that participants can hear well and participate in all discussions as well as technology for secure voting.   Board members emphasized that remote participation and voting should not exclude any congregants.  For example, congregation members who do not use computers could be sent paper ballots.  

During the month, the Board also took actions to identify potential nominees for Trustee positions for the 2020-2021 Fellowship year.  There are now likely nominees for two of the three trustee vacancies, and the Board has suspended efforts to identify other potential nominees.  This may result in the Board having only two trustees next year.

Board members also received an update on this year’s pledge drive.  As of April 17, the amount pledged for 2020-2021 totaled $451,996, not including one-time gifts for the Easter bunny match.   Pledges have been made by 189 of the 219 pledge units.

The next regular Board meeting will be held on May 21, 2020 from 6 to 8:30 PM. The location is to be determined.

For more information about any of these items, please contact Gloria Pearlstein at secretary@bvuuf.org.