2018 Congregational Survey

2018 UUCSV Congregational Survey

Five years ago, in 2013, our church put together a strategic planning committee charged with helping the board and the congregation set a course for UUCSV for the next five years.  To help identify the challenges facing the church and how we as a congregation felt about them, the committee developed a short survey to guide their planning.  The board used the survey responses and the 5-year plan to chart our current course.  Since then we have accomplished much thanks to the strategic plan and the congregation growing to our present membership size and supporting a full-time minister.  Today we are very proud of our success and thank all of you who helped us get to this point in the development of our church community.

It is time to chart a plan for the next five years to guide the board and all of us as we move forward as the loving community we are at UUCSV.  The board appointed three people to put together a new survey to help us identify our current issues as a church and their importance as we begin to plan for the near-term future.  We again want your input to help us identify these issues and to help guide our thinking and planning going forward.

We invite each of you to participate in this survey below.  Each family member old enough to read is invited to respond to these survey questions individually.  Please make a copy of this survey for each family member and record each person’s answers on a separate survey form.  Return your completed forms to the BOARD MAIL SLOT in the church office NO LATER THAN SUNDAY, February 11th.

Jim Carillon, Tina Rosato and David Wells will tabulate the results and share them with the board and the congregation at large.  We thank you in advance for your input and responses on the issues now facing UUCSV.

David Wells, Board Chair
Tina Rosato
Jim Carillon

 

________________SURVEY BEGINS BELOW_____________

GROWTH

One of the key issues (then and now) is encouraging and managing the growth of our congregation.  Congregational growth takes many forms:  numbers of members and friends, spiritual growth of each congregant, financial growth of the church, growth in leadership, growth in outreach, etc.  

We realize that these growth areas are also intertwined with issues of our physical facility, location, financial health, contributions and services volunteered and probably many other factors as well.  Clearly one of the key strengths is the relatively warm caring we all have experienced at UUCSV.  This requires our collective effort in maintaining this active caring in our church community as we continue to grow.

  1.  As you think about where you want our church to be in the next five years, how should we collectively manage our growth?  (Please select only ONE of these possible options.)

____ a. Manage growth in membership to successfully sustain our current size and current use of our facility and location pretty much as it exists today.

____ b. Manage moderate growth in membership which will likely require us shortly to move to two Sunday morning services each week but keep our facility relatively as is.

____ c.  Manage moderate growth in membership and re-orient the seating in the sanctuary 90 degrees to accommodate more seats.  This will require some modification of the sanctuary to move the presentation area and some modest financial spending to do this.

____ d.  Manage more growth in membership requiring expanding the building on our present site (enlarging sanctuary, kitchen, RE area.)  This will require more modification of our physical footprint and consequently more spending to accomplish this.

____ e.  Manage more growth requiring the combination of two services, seat switching, and expanding the building (combine b, c, & d above.)  This will require the spending outlined in both c) and d) above.

____ f.  Manage considerably more growth in membership requiring the purchase of a larger church at another location (and selling our current property).  This will require substantially more spending than the other options above.

 

2.  However we choose to manage our growth, we must continue to assure the financial stability of our church.  To date we have sustained our financial success primarily on annual pledges we all make to support the operational budget of UUCSV.  As we grow, how do we expand our ability to grow financially BEYOND the annual pledges we all make?  Below please rank where we should prioritize our collective efforts at non-pledge financing.  (1 = highest priority; 6 = lowest priority.)

_____Renting our building to other users.

_____Providing fundraising events.

_____Home hosting of visiting guests and donating the proceeds to the church.

_____Encouraging greater emphasis on planned giving / including UUCSV in your will.

_____Providing services to the greater community for some $ benefit to UUCSV:
(music, art, lectures,   discussion groups, classes,  other ideas?)

____Other ideas that benefit UUCSV financially?  (Please specify):

 

3.  In the left margin in survey item #2 just above, please put a large X next to those non-pledge fundraising options that you are PERSONALLY willing to help us do.

 

4.  How do we continue to grow in membership size and yet still retain our warm sense of intimacy and being in a loving, caring community?  Please share your ideas:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

PARTICIPATION AT UUCSV

5.   Active participation in groups, committees, social events, and other ways beyond the Sunday morning services makes for a richer church experience and helps develop that sense of community that we all seek.  Many opportunities at UUCSV exist to become involved.  As we move forward in the next 5 years, where collectively do we need to encourage more participation and emphasis in these opportunities?  First rank the top five areas we need to collectively emphasize more to the LEFT of each item.

(1=highest priority, 5= least priority among the top five.)

6.  Then to the RIGHT of each item, put an X in any areas that you personally would like to become more involved at UUCSV.

_____ Adult Education/Classes _____

_____ Board/Governance _____

_____ Building/Grounds/Aesthetics _____

_____ Children’s Religious Education _____

_____ Choir / Music / Audio _____

_____ Communications/Newsletter _____           

_____ Congregational Safety _____

_____ Covenant Groups _____

_____ Environmental Justice _____

_____ Finance/Canvassing _____

_____ Habitat for Humanity Build _____

_____ Hospitality/Sunday Potlucks _____

_____ Membership/Greeting _____

_____ Memorial Garden _____

_____ Personnel / Staff Committee _____

_____ Social Action Committee/Events_____

_____ Social / Discussion Groups _____
              (Includes men’s group, women’s group, lunch bunch, Friday Fling and other social groups at UUCSV.)

____ Strategic Planning Committee _____

____ Sunday Service Associates _____

____ UUA Denomination Participation____

____ UUCSV Round Robin Dinners _____

____ Other ideas? Specify below _____

 

 

DEMOGRAPHICS (Select one each)

  1. Personal Relationship to UUCSV
  1. ___ Member
  2. ___ Friend
  3. ___ Child of Member or Friend
  4. ___ Visitor
  5. ___ Other: Specify____________________
  1.  Age Grouping
  1. ___ < 18
  2. ___  18 – 25
  3. ___  26 – 34
  4. ___   35 – 54
  5. ___   55 – 64
  6. ___  > 64
  1.  Gender

           ____Female
           ____Male
           ____Other