Our Ethical Society was built on a dream and the actions taken to make our dreams a reality. We dreamt of a community that helps all of us live our lives in closer accord with our ethical ideals and that supports our efforts to create a more humane world in our families and in wider social issues. The dream is of a community that celebrates together in times of joy and supports each other in times of sorrow. The dream includes a Sunday school, which helps our children learn to think for themselves about ethical issues and in making their life choices. Actions include our spirit of volunteerism, willingness to consider ideas, acts of caring, and financial contributions. 

Many of us recently participated in focus groups designed to obtain the thoughts of all our members as to NoVES’ future. We reminded ourselves of the difference NoVES has made in our lives and shared our hopes and dreams for what NoVES would be like five years from now. We gave our ideas as to the priority issues on which our Board and Leader should concentrate. For members who have not yet participated in a focus group, there will be one or two more opportunities in early April. Please call Mary Ellen Stanton to find out which focus groups still have space available.  Participants have found the focus groups to be enjoyable experiences. The Board is looking forward to receiving focus group recommendations.  

However, whatever hopes and dreams we wish to pursue, they will only become realities if members are willing to provide the volunteer energy and the financial resources to make them possible. About 75% of the resources we use to finance our programs come from member contributions. Again, this year, we will be asking each member to make a pledge now for the next fiscal year. If your financial circumstances should change during the year, you can adjust your pledge up or down. Pledging allows us to have a reasonable estimate of our income for budget planning. The pledge campaign kickoff for our fiscal year 2010/2011 will be April 11 and the official campaign will end on May 9. The success of the pledge campaign will determine what NoVES will be able to accomplish next year. 

There is no fixed fee for membership and we trust each member to contribute a fair share in accordance with his or her circumstances. Our average per person pledge this year is about $660 per member or $1,000 per pledge unit. [A household counts as a pledge unit, whether it contains one or two members.] There is a wide variety of pledge levels within these averages, varying from minimal amounts for members facing financial difficulties to amounts over $3,000. Last year, for the first time in many years, we had a deficit of $7,000. This was not unexpected given the difficulties in the economy.  We have enough saved from the years of surplus to handle this shortfall for a little while. However, to enable NoVES to maintain our current programs and services, we hope that those of us who can would be willing to increase our contributions to make up for those who are currently facing financial difficulties. I am confident that members will respond to ride out the current economic difficulties and enable us to start building toward achieving our hopes and dreams for NoVES’ future.