Compensation and Staffing News
February 2021
Benefits Tune-up Month!
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UUA Office of Church Staff Finances Mission
Guided by the values of our faith,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being.
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You may need to click on continuation dots to view all articles and/or to see each one in its entirety. |
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Benefits Tune-up Workbook and Workshop
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❤ Show Your Staff the Love ❤
One way to demonstrate care for your staff is by making certain that you are correctly administering UUA benefit plans. The Benefits Tune-up Workbook is one of the most popular resources offered by the UUA Office of Church Staff Finances. Not only does it explain necessary documents, eligibility criteria, enrollment windows, and other Plan rules, it helps congregational leaders put sound systems in place to ensure Plan compliance.
We've now created a Benefits Tune-up Workbook LeaderLab page where you'll find the Workbook in two formats. We recommend printing out the PDF and completing the Workbook by hand. The Word version is useful if you want to type directly onto it or add notations to share with teammates, but you will lose some formatting and pagination.
We urge all congregations participating in any UUA benefit plans to complete the Workbook annually – as well as whenever a new congregational leader becomes a responsible party. Make it a team effort among a small group of staff and lay leaders with personnel and onboarding responsibilities.
Tune In and Tune Up!
This month we are offering two (identical) Benefits Tune-up Workshops. Jan Gartner and Rev. Richard Nugent will take you through the Workbook page by page, highlighting common pitfalls and answering questions. If possible, have your congregation's Health Plan Subscription Agreement and Retirement Plan Employer Participation Agreement available.
Join us on Thursday, February 11, at 7:30pm ET or on Tuesday, February 16, at 3:30pm ET. Webinars will run 75 minutes. Please register beforehand here. You will immediately receive a confirmation email with login information.
Once you've tuned up, please use this quick survey to let us know how it went and what you learned.(You'll find multiple links to the survey within the Workbook.)
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Every Unitarian Universalist congregation is a "church" under U.S. tax law and therefore tax-exempt. This Tax-Exempt Status page contains information about 501(c)(3) status, sales tax exemptions, and political issues to consider.
Although it is not required, there are a number of good reasons for a congregation to obtain an IRS 501(c)(3) Determination Letter:
- It spares donors from needing additional proof of their tax-deductible donation to your congregation if they are audited.
- It may be required by employers in order to match employee donations to your congregation.
- It will qualify you for certain grants, special non-profit rates, and even free software offers.
- It is a must-have to sponsor an R-1 visa for a non-citizen in order to employ them.
The UUA has its own IRS determination letter, but it is not a "group exemption." It doesn't cover congregations. However, the UUA can provide a letter of good standing, which meets some tax exemption purposes. (Contact Administration@uua.org for a letter of good standing.)
Increasingly, we are hearing from congregations who want an IRS determination letter in order to apply for a grant or to hire from outside of the U.S. Our FAQ on 501(c)(3) status explains how to apply. It's not complicated, but it can take a number of months to process and costs about $600. We encourage you to consider applying for a determination letter before you discover that you need it.
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Cindy Franz of the Oberlin UU Fellowship (68 members) shares:
"As a brand new treasurer, I have been swimming in a sea of little details. In an effort to streamline as much as possible, and to minimize check-writing, I've been hunting for any opportunity to take care of business electronically.
"I was happy to discover that it is possible to transmit UUA Retirement Plan contribution data to TIAA paperlessly via e-file upload. What an improvement over having to fill out, print, and mail the form each month! TIAA has a crystal-clear tutorial video, and the system has been a breeze to use."
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Meet Our New Ministerial Credentialing & Compensation Administrator |
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We're delighted to welcome Mary Krigbaum to the Office of Church Staff Finances and Ministerial Credentialing Office teams!
After working as a production manager in a jewelry design studio, Mary worked in customer service for an online research database publisher. Both of these positions provided her with the opportunity to utilize her passions for organization, relationships, and technology. As a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation since 2003, Mary has been continually inspired by the ideals represented by the Unitarian Universalist Association. In January, 2021, she joined the UUA as the Ministerial Credentialing and Compensation Administrator after making the decision to transfer her skills to a non-profit organization.
Mary lives on the North Shore of Boston and finds the ocean and open spaces around her invigorating. In the warmer months, she spends a lot of time in her garden, which produced over 100 vegetables last summer. She also enjoys cooking, home renovation projects, jewelry making, and sewing.
Mary receives requests from congregational staff for financial assistance through our aid funds and is a general point of connection for Office of Church Staff Finances matters. She can be reached at OCSF@uua.org. (Please use MCO@uua.org for ministerial credentialing correspondence.)
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UUA Office of Church Staff Finances
24 Farnsworth Street | Boston, MA 02210
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