United Thank Offering Report—May 2025

Province VIII Meeting – UTO Report – May 2025

Date: May 12, 2025

Submitted by: UTO Board Member from Prov VIII – Tammy Smecker-Hane (tsmecker@cox.net)

United Thank Offering (UTO; https://unitedthankoffering.com) is a ministry of the Episcopal Church that invites every Episcopalian to NOTICE the good things that happen to them every day, GIVE thanks to God for these blessing, MAKE an offering by dropping coins in UTO box, and every penny donated becomes BLESSINGS for others through annual UTO grants. For over 130 years, UTO grants have empowered Episcopalians and Anglicans to undertake new mission and ministry projects aimed at solving vexing community problems throughout the USA and the wider world.

I am the new UTO Board Member from Province VIII, having just completed the first year of my three-year term. I was also on the Grants subcommittee of UTO, which is responsible for designing the call for proposals and checking the grant applications for completeness, analyzing their budgets, and judging whether or not they meet the stated criteria. I am also the UTO Diocesan Coordinator for the Diocese of Los Angeles, and the parish UTO Coordinator for Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Irvine, CA. Thus I welcome questions about all aspects of UTO and am very happy to help anyone in Province VIII. Simply email me at tsmecker@cox.net.

UTO grants in 2025 will have the theme of tackling water problems, for example, providing safe and reliable drinking water, building bathing and washing facilities in underserved communities, promoting water conservation and education, etc. The board recently selected the grants to be awarded, and they will be announced in June once approved by the Executive Council. The total amount to be awarded will be $1.08 million.

UTO grants in 2026 will have a focus that moves two different groups beyond dialogue across lines of difference into action that is undertaken together. UTO seeks to fund projects focused on justice and bridging divides. Applications must demonstrate how two formerly disconnected groups will come together to work on a project that produces meaningful change within a local community. The success of these projects may not solely be measured on the expected or hoped for outcomes, but also on the learning and growth that happens as a part of the collective work.

To apply for a UTO grant, see https://unitedthankoffering.com/apply for all the important information and contact your UTO diocesan coordinator to get their help and advice early in the process. Remember that each diocesan bishop can recommend only one UTO grant proposal each year, and a signed bishop’s approval form is a mandatory part of the grant application.

Thus your proposal idea may have to compete at the diocesan level before submission to UTO. Again, contact your diocese early to learn about their specific internal process and to get advice that might greatly improve your chance of success.

In 2024, UTO collected $1.08 million to award as grants, an increase of 8.0% compared to 2023. In 2024, UTO donations from dioceses in Prov VIII totaled $65,027, a decrease of 6.0% compared to 2023. Note that as a Province, we are midrange in giving with Provinces II, III and IV giving more than us, and the other Provinces giving less. Below is a chart showing UTO donations from Prov VIII dioceses over the last 10 years. Notice that donations are slowly coming back to pre-covid19 levels, but have not quite fully recovered yet. Also following is a map showing the dioceses that increased their contributions from 2023 to 2024 colored in blue, and a table showing the amounts donated by Prov VIII dioceses in 2024 and the change (in percent) from 2023. We want to especially thank and congratulate the Dioceses of Spokane, Los Angeles and Olympia for giving the largest amounts, and the Dioceses of California, San Joaquin, Hawaii and Northern California for more than doubling their 2023 donations! Please keep up the excellent work because every penny of your donations quickly goes out to Episcopalians and Anglicans in the USA and the wider world to make much needed improvements in their communities! We anticipate that this coming year we will see even more requests from overseas dioceses due to the cessation of funding from USAID.

UTO Yearly Donations from Province VIII

DIOCESE	2024 UTO Donations ($)	Change from Previous Year (%)	DIOCESE	2024 UTO Donations ($)	Change from Previous Year (%)
Alaska	1,780.27	+68	Nevada	5,866.51	-17
Arizona	4,668.27	+8	Northern California	982.70	+122
California	1,637.30	+184	Olympia	8,695	-35
Eastern Oregon	4,565.97	+37	Oregon	2,617	-21
El Camino Real	1,512.17	-70	San Diego	3,331	+111
Hawaii	2,411.38	+151	San Joaquin	1,674	+168
Idaho	2,255.38	+11	Spokane	10,997	+8
Los Angeles	9,258.68	-20	Taiwan	2,504	-7
Micronesia	0	0	Utah	270	-77
Navajoland	0	0

Many extremely worthwhile UTO grant applications are not funded solely due to the finite amount of funds available. Thus more work is needed to inspire more UTO Ingatherings in parishes in all Prov VIII dioceses. That is one of the jobs of a UTO diocesan coordinator. Please contact Tammy Smecker-Hane (tsmecker@cox.net) if your diocese does not have a UTO diocesan coordinator, and she/he can give you all the information you need to recruit one. Remember that it only takes a single person in a parish to make an UTO Ingathering happen because UTO makes it EASY by providing all the materials you need and giving you step-by-step instructions and creative ideas. For information about holding an Ingathering, see https://unitedthankoffering.com/ingathering.

Parishes who do a yearly UTO Ingathering have the benefits of knowing their donations serve some of the least among us, as Jesus showed by example, and cultivating gratitude in individual parishioners can positively change their outlook on life. For examples of the many UTO gratitude resources available to you, see the November Gratitude Calendar or the Lenten 40 days of daily texts or the Gratitude Coloring Pages (excellent for Sunday School children!) under the Gratitude tab on the UTO web page. The new color-your-own UTO boxes are a huge hit, although the traditional blue boxes are available, too. Placing color-your-own UTO boxes on tables with some colored markers at a church function or diocesan convention is a great idea and an excellent conversation starter.

We use them at last year’s Prov VIII annual ECW meeting and let

our artistic spirits sour, all while raising funds for solving water problems.

See https://unitedthankoffering.com/resources to order UTO material. You will want to order materials early because, in order to be cost effective, packages will be mailed out only once per month rather than continuously.

UTO makes donating easy by providing multiple ways to give:

• Place your donations in the UTO boxes on the tables in the House of Bishops or House of Deputies during General Convention,

• Text INGATHERING to 41444, or

• Donating on-line at https://unitedthankoffering.com/give .

Note that UTO recently changed its bylaws so now the default method of choosing UTO Board members from each Province will be through elections held by the Provincial Synod, rather than ECW Provincial Boards. This will open UTO board membership to a wider audience, including men, trans- and non-binary persons, and not limit board membership solely to women. Each ECW Provincial and Synod Boards must consider the subsequent changes needed to their own bylaws by the next Triennial. In addition, UTO Board members will no longer be required to serve on ECW Provincial Boards.