Every spring, we anxiously await the closing of DFMS’ books so we can process the Ingathering in preparation for granting. We know that many of you are also anxiously awaiting the results so you can see how your diocese did compared to previous years and other dioceses. We are pleased to announce that the results are in and our ingathering is up 9.68% over last year! Thank you to everyone who worked hard to increase participation in UTO. We truly believe in the spiritual discipline of gratitude and its ability to change lives, congregations, and communities, so every time the Ingathering increases, we give thanks for all of the new UTO members, reenergized members, and diehard daily gratitude practitioners. Here are some notes about the 2017 Ingathering:
- The total Ingathering is $1,283,216.21.
- It increased by $113,246.66 over the previous year.
- 49 dioceses increased giving from 2016 to 2017 (thank you!).
- 12 dioceses increased giving from 2015-2016 and then again in 2017 (wow, thank you!).
- Albany
- Bethlehem
- Pennsylvania
- Southern Virginia
- Central Florida
- South Carolina
- Upper South Carolina
- Northern Indiana
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- Nevada
- 1 diocese increased giving every year in this triennium – a super big thank you to the Diocese of Pittsburgh!
If you would like to see the chart that tracks giving by province and diocese since 2010, please visit: UTO Contributions 2000 to 2017: Provincial & Grand Totals
One thing to note when you look at the chart is the difference between the total Ingathering and the total granted. We began more closely to track trust fund income. Some dioceses have trust funds that are housed at DFMS, which generate income to directly support the Ingathering. These are tracked and linked to the diocese from which the trust came. In order to help UTO coordinators see what was really collected in their diocese and to decrease confusion, starting in 2015 we removed the trust fund amount from the 2000-current year chart so it shows only what was actually collected in each diocese, and we credited the trust fund income in a separate line. That line also holds funds from other trusts not linked to dioceses, as well as any funds returned from grant recipients that can be granted again. (The trust fund income is listed on the detailed budget of giving per diocese. If you would like to see what that amount is for your diocese, just let Heather know and she’ll give you the amount.)
If you are checking your diocese’s Ingathering amount and it doesn’t match what you have on your records, please contact Heather and she can help you reconcile your report with ours. Just a reminder that if you don’t get your check sent in early in December, it might not have gotten credited to 2017 but rather to January 2018.
Additionally, in our commitment to transparency and to helping support our dioceses track and increase giving to UTO, we will provide a midyear report on the 2018 Ingathering. Since midyear is right around convention, we will provide that report to you at the Ingathering Rehearsal, along with your list of every grant awarded to your diocese since UTO was founded.
If any additional information or reports would be helpful to you in analyzing the UTO Ingatherings, please let Heather know. Since this is a triennium year, we will provide additional reports on the overall health of the Ingathering by triennium (since for many years, we only have a triennium amount for the Ingathering) at Triennial/General Convention and in our post-Convention E-News in late July.