Hey there fellow friends and members of EUU! I bring you springtime greetings from our new President, Karen Kyker, and the other members of the Coordinating Committee who manage our group on an ongoing basis.

Along with spring comes another edition of our semi-annual retreats, this time sadly again on only a virtual basis. But, as with the preceding three, I’m sure it will be very fulfilling spiritually and emotionally. It also marks the beginning of our annual pledge drive campaign, which is now undertaken on a calendar-year basis. So this is a request for you to consider making your 2022 pledge at the same time as you pay for your registration for the spring retreat. If you won’t be at the online retreat this spring, you can pledge separately, of course.

EUU finances are in good shape thanks to the support we receive from you, our members and friends, and we intend to keep them that way. Of course our retreats are meant to break even financially, so we seek your pledges essentially to cover the costs of our other activities. Since we are largely a volunteer organization, they are not too heavy. But we do have a very active and ambitious social action program centered around people, planet and partnerships – and with the recent invasion of Ukraine there is a clear and growing need to back humanitarian efforts there. We also support our Transylvanian Unitarian brethren through our longstanding exchange program with them. And we help the development of our affiliated European UU fellowships, as well as our fellow UU organizations: for example, while the International Council of Unitarians & Universalists (ICUU) was recently disbanded, the EUU has an interest in helping get its successor off the ground. We also have bank charges, insurance, IT and publicity costs to bear, some expenses of the UUA Ambassador to pay and professional development charges to cover.

Overall, we have budgeted for 7000 euros in pledges for 2022, which is about the same as what we raised in 2021. This is to be sure a modest amount and one that should be no sweat to achieve. So why not get us on the road with your pledge right now? We understand that some people have experienced severe financial pressures due to the pandemic or other family problems. But for most of you I hope that you can show your support for this great organization and all its activities with a pledge that will allow us to reach our target and continue to offer backing for our shared faith, and our wonderful retreats without dipping into reserves.

Let me and the EUU Treasurer know your intentions by email
(pledgedrive@europeanuu.org and treasurer@europeanuu.org).

Many thanks for whatever you can manage!

In fellowship,
Peter Jarrett
EUU Pledge Drive Coordinator