UTO at Diocesan Convention

A wonderful way to spread the word about United Thank Offering is by attending the diocesan convention. You can host a UTO booth in the convention marketplace and lead a convention Ingathering, too, with permission from your bishop. The UTO office will send you a box full of colorful materials to use at your booth.

The photo at left shows Tammy Smecker-Hane, the UTO Coordinator for the Diocese of Los Angeles, at the UTO booth at their convention in Riverside, California, in November. In addition to handing out information about UTO, she created a few “Parish UTO Starter Kits” to give to parishes who had never heard of UTO before or had not had an Ingathering in a few years.

She also ordered color-your-own UTO boxes and placed a box with a few colored markers on each table in the convention hall with a flyer giving a “UTO Convention Challenge” to the attendees that encouraged them to remember the people who made their day at convention productive – the friend who drove the carpool that day, the hospitality worker who tidied up their hotel room, and the convention employees who kept the coffee and water flowing, etc. – and give thanks by donating the change from the $20 bill they used to pay for their lunch to UTO.

This simple request netted $407 for UTO and blessed the attendees, too, by giving them something creative to do during convention lulls. These were a big hit! Below are pictured some of the colorful UTO boxes they decorated. We plan to make this a yearly event and encourage others do the same. Contact Tammy Smecker-Hane (tsmecker@cox.net) if you have any questions.

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.

 

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