RantWoman proposes to open discussion with a query thrown out to the Quaker universe: RantWoman assumes most Meetings have financial needs, as well as leadings about stewardship of resources and desires for activities that deepen the spiritual life of the community as well as keep the lights on, the floors clean, the plumbing and roof in good repair: How does your Meeting ask for Money?
Do you ask out loud every week at the end of worship?
Do you place periodic announcements in your bulletin?
Do you send out extremely humble letters full of very, very earnest solicitations written by Finance Committee?
Do you ask Friends to remember you in their wills? It's not that one wants to imply any hurry to be done with anyone, but well, Quakers can't take it with either and those remaining might be glad to assist in disposition. RantWoman includes this query because of an offhand accidental conversation this summer, not because the issue is currently alive in discussion at her Meeting.
Do needed resources just spontaneously flow your direction with orders of magnitude more magical coherence and obvious guidance by Spirit than, say, a typical popcorn Meeting for Worship? (If your Meeting is afflicted with this problem, RantWoman can easily forgive your reticense in sharing the news lest you be beset by Friends beating down your door to learn your secret.)
Do you have a sense of the range of attitudes about and experiences with money or with movements of the Spirit about money among Friends in your Meeting?
Are you satisfied with your Meeting's financial stewardship both in terms of vibrant community in current terms and in terms of concepts like reserves, maintenance, and capital projects?
RantWoman must speak first of her own twitches:
--RantWoman tends to think that cultivating a healthy vibrant community rich in spiritual life is a good way to cultivate financial health as well. However, in RantWoman's experience, financial health does not just occur automatically; it also must be cultivated.
--Rantwoman contributes to her Meeting out of a great sense that her contributions come back to her many times over in terms of fellowship, community and many, many other movements of the Spirit.
--RantWoman was raised with the thought that money or other resources are not entirely ours in the first place, that at the core they belong to God and that shares regularly should be returned to God's work. Absent parallel thought to good stewardship, RantWoman thinks on some level this thought can lead to peculiar ways of interacting with financial realities. For example, RantWoman has at many points in her life not made the wisest financial decisions. RantWoman has also been through some scary financial moments, but RantWoman has never wanted for many, many basic needs that others struggle a great deal more for. Part of RantWoman's thoughts about giving are motivated by this experience of being so deeply held in spite of many, many blunderings and failings in this realm on her part--and RantWoman here will not even go near venality, greed, and other moral chasms on the part of others.
--In RantWoman's youthful life as a Baptist, there were a couple occasions a year where there were THREE different offerings taken in a single service, and usually at the beginning of every month, there would be a second offering with communion. RantWoman thinks shared offerings could be no less a form of Quaker commuion than silent worship, but RantWoman gets looks of horror that even she can detect when she recounts her Baptist experience to Friends in our Meeting. RantWoman points out that every other house of worship in the city pleads for money so what is wrong with us doing so? Other Friends immediately respond along the lines of "but we're not every other house of worship!" Tell that to the gas company and the electrical utility and the people who take care of the roof.
--RantWoman finds herself continually called to frank dialogue both about dysfunctional financial decisionmaking on a personal level and grander systemic questions about how resources get allocated and how they embody one's beliefs. Unfortunately even in RantWoman's own head some of these dialogues are too contentious for sensible presentation in blog entries and RantWoman is a work in progress in this area.
--RantWoman recognizes that there are many opportunities for Friends to feel guilty for not doing "more" for Meeting. RantWoman sincerely hopes that thoughts of giving as one is able are joy, not a burden and wants a spiritual community where that is the case. RantWoman also humbly and happily reminds Friends that money can enable one's community to do something that one Friend might not be able to get done by him or herself.
--In recent years, RantWoman's income has dropped by a bigger percentage than her reduction in the amount donated. Rantwoman remembers an exercise long ago where Finance committee was asked to tabulate the amounts contributed annually by household. This turned out to be one of those tasks that is easy to specify but took thinking to accomplish. RantWoman at that point had a good job but she had age peers who she expected might have greater incomes. When Finance committee produced a nice chart with annual totals in a nice bar graph based on otals in percentile bars, RantWoman was surprised to discover that her annual contribution amount put her in the second quintile from the top. To say the least, all of this causes RantWoman to think Friends could ask more of ourselves.
--Even RantWoman does not tithe. More to the point, whatever percentage of her income RantWoman allocates to the work of God as she understands it, not all of her donations by a long shot go to Quakers. Why? Because there are huge matters of inclusion and social transformation where Quakers are some among many, because there are many issues needing attention where Quakers have never even shown up to go AWOL from.
Turning, now to Meeting:
In RantWoman's Meeting, current practice is two letters a year from Finance Committee and weekly requests by whoever closes Meeting. People sign up or are recruited to close Meeting and the request for contributions / announcement about how to accomplish them is part of the checklist / script given to the person who closes Meeting.
There seem to be a number of problems about this approach:
--We do not know how much money comes in on Sundays, how much comes in by mail and some other details it might be helpful to use to measure the impact of changes in current practices. These questions would also be a tabulation task for Finance Committee to answer.
--Results as far as message delivered are uneven and to RantWoman's great irritation far too frequently include the phrase "we don't pass the hat," as if passing the hat to support something one believes in ardently were some kind of shameful activity.
--Possibly because of the wording of the script we offer people closing Meeting, sometimes the impression is conveyed either that the only way Friends contribute to the life and community of Meeting is by making a contribution or that one must contribute to be a part of the community. RantWoman always tries for an announcement along one of these lines:
Everyone here contributes to the life and spiritual depth of our community. If you also feel led to contribute to our financial needs, we enthusiastically welcome / gratefully receive contributions....
We gratefully receive financial contributions to the life and maintenance needs of our community.
However, we are a little coy about opportunities to contribute; we accept... through a slot in our office door...
Others' efforts are a lot more uneven and the thought has arisen that requests could simply be made in the weekly bulletin with wording seasoned to convey our desired points.
RantWoman simply advises, give for the Joy of it and don't be ashamed to ask others to do so as well.
RantWoman is aware of the "Give until it hurts" school of hectoring about financial matters. RantWoman would probably still be glad to accept money offered under such circumstances but might be called to inquire, in the event that doing anything until it hurts brings you joy, whether you need more than a house of worship can provide, perhaps, say,something from some of those funky ads in the back of the alternative newsweekly of your choice.
Now if RantWoman's Meeting can figure out how exactly we DO want to ask people to give.
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