We have transferred our donation page to our new Realm information system.

What does this mean for you?

• If you do not have a profile in UUAA's Realm system, simply click on the CONTINUE text below and fill out the form. (You will be able to save your financial information for future use if you wish.)
• If you had a donation profile in the old system (with a credit card number or bank account number), you will need to set up a new donation profile. We were not able to transfer your existing information.
• If you already have a profile in Realm, you can log into Realm, go to the Giving tab, and make your donation.

If you have any questions about Realm, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for your support of our congregation and its work!

CONTINUE TO THE UUAA DONATION FORM

Cottage on Burt Lake Cabin for Labor Day weekend/week

Bed & Breakfast Cottage weekend at summer cottage

Cottage B&B on Mullet Lake

Airstream B&B at Cordley Lake, Pinkney MI

Membership to Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum

A week in a cottage on Mullet Lake

Kayak Trip on the Huron River

 Pickle Palooza II: Pickles Around the World

Slumdog Millionaire Dinner

Cohousing tour and dinner

Bird walk on land

Brazilian Mamas  dinner

Chalice art painting

Paella dinner

Vinology wine dinner for 2

Euchre party!

Movie and Dinner

Freethinkers Brunch Celebration

A dinner in celebration of the immigrant experience

Mardi Gras Murder Mystery Evening

Friday night pizza party

Afternoon Tea and Garden Walk

Fall Harvest Vegetarian Dinner

Pontoon Boat Ride & Pizza Party

Meet the minister dinner

Indian dinner on West Side of Ann Arbor

Summer Delight Dinner

Spectacular Nature Hike & Dinner

Tomatillo Salsar

Ken's favorite pickles!

Tea Party Basket

Authentic homemade key lime pie

Michigan wine basket

Smoked Salmon

Assorted Organic Fair Trade Goodies selected from the Coffee Project Table

Peach Chutney Lemon Curd

Flan with dulce deleche donated

Chocolate Covered Raspberries

Biscotti

3 hours of professional decluttering and organizing services

2 hours of light yard work

1 hour piano serenade

New wine glasses in box

Candy dish donated

Fresh strawberry jam

Stained Glass Sailboat

Autumn Harvest Serving Platte

Chesapecten Jeffersonius Mollusk shell fossil

Portrait of a Woman painting by Jose Zenisch

Seaglass Fine Art Print

Custom-made Women's cape

Hand made cotton knit washclothes

$30 QUUest bookstore gift certificate

African American Gift Books

Sterling silver & Turquoise cuff bracelet

2 art deco pins

Planet Pendant

Obama: the Call of History book

Hand Made Quilt

Hand woven Sisal Basket

Ugandan shoulder bag & bracelet

Handmade Hawthorn kitchen tools

Hand made wool felted landscape wall hanging

Cloth and Bead Bracelet

Cthulhu mask

City ghosts:  Two original photographs in hand-crafted frames

Hand Turned Wooden Bowls

Afghan

Kashmir wool stole from India

Gift basket from Palestine

Transylvanian folk pottery

Homemade basil pesto

Custom designed baby quilt

Transylvanian Wall Hanging

Framed Original Watercolor

2 football tickets

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AUCTION SCHEDULED FOR 3/21/20 WAS CANCELLED due to the Covid-19 building closure.

Check back to this website and watch for UUAA email for updates.

Our theme this year is "An Evening in Paris".  L’Auction will be Saturday March 21 from 4-7 pm [CANCELLED]  Join us for fun, music, food from the Movable Feast, beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages and LOTS of bidding!

This year, young adults (21-39) attend at a REDUCED TICKET PRICE of only $20!  FREE childcare is also available. The standard tickets are only $35.  If you would like to support our young adults in attending purchase a “Gold” ticket for $50.

Your admission includes heavy hors d'oeuvres from the Movable Feast, a drink ticket and entertainment. The auction? It is cash & carry, silent and live, and includes wondrous items such as art, jewelry, homemade delectables, and services. Past reviewers say the most fun items are the EXPERIENCES - cabin getaways, themed group dinners, parties, sports events, and much, much more.  Get a sense of what might be auctioned off this year with this list of items from previous auctions.

• Donate an item for bid please submit your information into our auction software or fill in this 2020 Donation Form and bring it to the auction table in the social hall!

For questions/comments email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Votre présence est requise. Merci beaucoup!

The UUAA Board of Trustees authorized the establishment of a Geisenhainer Music Fund in 2016 to honor our retiring Sr. Minister the Reverend Gail R. Geisenhainer. This fund will support current and future music programs and music community outreach, in tribute to Rev. Gail Geisenhainer’s eight years of loving nurture of UUAA’s outstanding music ministries. 

The first goal of the fund was to purchase a much needed new piano for the Phifer Sanctuary. That goal was reached and the Geisenhainer Steinway Grand Piano was christened in June of 2016 and will allow expanded music program opportunities.

Longer term, the fund will support music lessons for children from the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor communities who could not otherwise afford them. Money from the fund could employ music students from local universities to provide piano lessons on the Geisenhainer piano. 

Our Director of Worship & Music, Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, had his first opportunity to study music through affordable piano lessons offered at his neighborhood church in South Baltimore. He has been inspired by the W.O. Smith Music School of Nashville (see wosmith.org), which has made affordable, quality musical instruction available to thousands of young people from low-income families for over 30 years. 

We launched this fund in 2016.  Ongoing funding will be through benefit recitals and ongoing donations. We hope future recitals might feature students from the program, as one measure of the program’s success.

If you would like to contribute toward this fund, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate Now" button here.

In April, 2016, the UUAA Board of Trustees authorized the establishment of the Geisenhainer Music Fund (GMF) to honor Rev. Gail Geisenhainer, our Senior Minister from 2008 to 2016, who nurtured and supported UUAA's outstanding music ministries during her tenure.

The fund's main goal was to purchase a new piano for the Phifer Sanctuary, and the Geisenhainer Steinway Grand Piano was welcomed in June 2016!

The remaining money,there was intended to support music programs that reached students in the Ann Arbor area--especially those who did not have the financial means to participate. In early 2019, a task force was formed to decide how best to embody the spirit of the GMF. They decided to partner with the Community Music School of Ann Arbor (CMSA2). CMSA2 provides need-based assistance to students who wish to play music in ensembles during the school year and over the summer. Their history includes holding classes at UUAA at our former location on Washtenaw Avenue! The GMF will provide three summer and three school-year scholarships in 2019-2020, donating $2,370. In addition, CMSA2 will receive rent-free space for two concerts in 2020. This is a one to two-year plan so the relationship between UUAA and CMSA2 can be developed, and new opportunities for collaboration may be explored. At the end of May, there was $11,605 in the fund.

Donations to the Geisenhainer Music Fund can be made by writing a check to UUAA with "GMF" on the memo line or online using this link. For more information about the Community Music School of Ann Arbor, go to www.cmsa2.org

Claiming Our Future

The goal of the Comprehensive Campaign is to claim our future by developing a strong financial base. This base will provide the resources necessary to serve the needs of members in conducting effective social justice outreach, and to advocate for effective environmental action.

To learn more about our congregation's careful planning for our future, follow this link.

Our Aspiration

We are hopeful that all members and friends of this Congregation strengthen their connections to this community where all are welcome and to our history by joining us in making this combined campaign a success. Our success in this effort will mean that when our Congregation celebrates its 300th anniversary, members of the Congregation will be as grateful to us as we are to our founding members from 1865.

Our predecessors looked to the future and built new homes in 1882, 1946 and 1999 (RE addition 2004).

 Faith in Our Future

Members and non-members of the Congregation may contribute to UUAA. If you are not currently a member of UUAA, we invite you to take the next step in your spiritual journey and consider membership. Please demonstrate your faith in our future by giving generously. Through your participation in this campaign you will help build a stronger home for liberal religion in Ann Arbor.

Click on the video below for more about the Comprehensive Campaign.

 
For additional information, contact one of the members of the stewardship team listed below.

Annual Budget Campaign

• Jim Lee

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Comprehensive Campaign

Margaret Pekarek - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Tim Richards - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The First Unitarian Universalist Congregation (UUAA) is a multigenerational, multiracial, multicultural religious community of members who worship together, work together, laugh together and nurture our children with a Unitarian Universalist perspective of our world. UUAA, a liberal religious voice in the Ann Arbor area for nearly 150 years, is part of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Make your pledge online

Download a printable 2022 pledge form

Download Instructions for Realm Pledge Setup

Download the Fall 2021 Pledge Drive Letter

Make a payment using a bank or credit card account

We live in unusual times. Last year we began our annual stewardship letter with this sentence. It seems to be appropriate again this year.

So much has changed, but some things remain the same, notably, our congregation’s commitment of service to others. You can explore these web pages to see the many ways we support our outside community and each other. Our congregation is thriving even as it it comes back to life-- both in person and with continuing virtual gatherings.

October is the kickoff month for our Annual Pledge Drive. Sunday services will feature members and friends who want to share their story of what this congregation means to them and why they make room in their budget for UUAA. What does UUAA mean to you?

We are just beginning to take actions together on our Vision 20/50 priorities of

• Radical Welcome
• Climate Justice
• Anti-Racism/Anti Oppression

And we have been building our live streaming capabilities, our SGD program, and working on finding appropriate staffing levels. We have much to work on!

This year’s goal is $1,150.000. You are invited and encouraged to make your financial commitment for 2022 taking into consideration all the good work you are supporting here at UUAA. You might consider increasing your pledge by $1/day= $365/year over your last pledge.

The power of “WE” is much greater than the power of “ONE”.

Our Sunday, September 26th service featured a powerful sermon from our UUAA administrator, Ed Lynn, on how our congregation can live into our Vision. Pledge Drive chair, Beth Hospadaruk inspired us for Building Our Vision, the theme of this year's pledge drive. In case you missed this very inspiring service, you use the link below to view it (or re-view it!).

Where Do We Go From Here?

Make a capital campaign commitment online

Download a printable commitment form

Download Instructions for a Realm Commitment Setup

Download the April Campaign Letter to the Congregation

Learn more

Upholding Our Values is the 2022 Capital Campaign to raise $1.3 million over the next 3 years, to allow UUAA to:

• Make significant progress on our Vision 20/50 Climate Action goals,
• Retire our mortgage, and
• Save over $100,000 annually in operating expenses that we can redeploy to other Vision 20/50 goals

 Resources

Download/ Read the FAQ Sheet about the campaign.

View the Video of the Tuesday, March 22nd Q&A discussion (which includes answers to questions from the March 13th Q&A)

Download the March Campaign Letter that lists the proposed expenditures.

More questions? Contact Ed Lynn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Remember UUAA in Your Will & Estate Plan

Share Your Values Across Generations

The generosity of people who have included UUAA in their estate plans has been critical to the success of our congregation. From maintaining our beautiful building and land to making grants through the Jackson Social Welfare Fund, such gifts provide support for our mission year in and year out. Since 2005 UUAA has received nearly $1 million from planned gifts. That money has been used to reduce the mortgage, improve our building, and get us through some hard times.

Planned or legacy gifts are generally bequests from people who remembered UUAA in their wills and estate plans. Organizing one’s affairs before our death is something we want to do anyway. Having a plan is a great benefit to our families and loved ones. It is also a great way to perpetuate our shared values into the future.

Create a Legacy That Matches Your Values

For over 150 years, the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor (UUAA) has been a spiritual home where people meet across the generations. With your help, we can keep building the Beloved Community for generations to come.

If you’ve put off your estate planning, you’re not alone. Maybe it seems too complicated or somber, or you think your “estate” is too small to matter. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Like spirituality itself, planned giving is an opportunity to think about what is of ultimate value to you and to put those values into action. And like religious community, together we can accomplish more than we could ever do alone.

The Benefits of Giving

Planned gifts can offer you compelling benefits:

• Giving you peace of mind that your wishes will be carried out for your loved ones and the values you care about
• Providing income streams for yourself or your loved ones
• Deducting a portion of a gift to be made in the future as an immediate charitable contribution
• Avoiding/reducing capital gains taxes on the sale of assets that have risen in value
• Memorializing your commitment to UUAA through an endowed fund
• Knowing that the assets you carefully assembled over your lifetime will be managed and distributed according to the highest standards.
• A clear and organized estate plan is its own gift to your descendants.

UUAA has been a source of spiritual nourishment and musical community, in addition to being a beacon for social justice. I want the congregation to continue to enrich the lives of future generations.

- Brandy Sinco

It is our responsibility to make sure our children, grandchildren, and all generations hereafter have the opportunities of faith that we have been so generously given.

- Beth and Bob Hospadaruk

Ways to Give

Most of us can give more generously from our total assets than from our annual income, which means planned gifts are commonly the largest contributions we’ll ever make.

Many types of planned gifts are available. Your attorney or financial planner can help you choose what’s best for you. Examples include:

• Making a bequest in a will, living trust, life insurance policy, or retirement account
• Giving the asset now and receiving income for life (charitable remainder trust)
• Giving property while retaining the right to use it during your lifetime
• Making an outright gift of cash, securities, or real estate

Sunderland Society

When you make a commitment for a planned gift to UUAA, you become a member of the Sunderland Society, named in honor of our forebears, Jabez and Eliza Sunderland. Jabez Sunderland was the Ann Arbor congregation’s minister from 1878-1898. While serving as Jabez’s informal co-minister, Eliza earned her PhD at the University of Michigan and taught religion there for 17 years. Together, they fought for women’s rights, created our link with Unitarians in the Khasi Hills of India, and firmly positioned our congregation for growth.

The Planned Giving Team has set a goal of adding 20 new members to the Sunderland Society by 2020. Our “20 by 20” campaign will help ensure that the congregation continues to thrive and grow. If you’re interested in joining the Sunderland Society, or have other questions about planned giving, we’d be happy to talk with you. Please contact the Planned Giving Team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to set up a conversation about how you can share your values across generations.

LINKS TO RESOURCES - You can download this form:               

UUAA Planned Giving Form; Confidential Statement of Intent

We all enjoy the shade of trees planted by those who came before. The UUAA buildings and grounds, programs and ministries are made possible in part by those who were generous in their estate giving. In gratitude for this community we offer a share of our good fortune to help continue the work of UUAA as it plants a few new trees.

- The Stalhandske Family

QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION   Contact the Planned Giving Committee at - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Or contact committee members, Becky Hoort, Jim Lee and Don Duquette