{"id":13194,"date":"2025-10-08T10:56:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/?p=13194"},"modified":"2025-10-08T10:56:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:56:34","slug":"october-matching-gift-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/october-matching-gift-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"October Matching Gift Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fusit.breezechms.com\/form\/28edc6\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"310\" src=\"http:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/October-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/October-2.png 620w, https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/October-2-420x210.png 420w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ithaca.us20.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=c780247c55e60e3812b2289ae&amp;id=06368a1b76&amp;e=eed9c902e3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Together We Rise AGAIN!<\/strong><br><br>We all are stewards of our First Unitarian Society of Ithaca and we need<br>your help. If you are inspired by Sunday Services; If you believe in growing<br>our UU Values; If you or your children benefit from RE Programs; If you join<br>Groups or Actions organized here\u2014 All depend on your financial support.<br>No one else will sustain a living wage for our excellent staff or maintain our<br>historic spiritual home and vital community resource.<br><br>Our spring pledge campaign was very successful. We\u2014FUSIT\u2019s members<br>and friends\u2014pledged $334,000. This is $14,000 more than achieved the<br>previous year! We are deeply grateful for the generosity of so<br>many. Unfortunately, the budget gap that remains for this church year, as<br>explained by Treasurer Don Barber in his Wednesday Announce finance<br>series, is $37,000.<br><br>Together, We Can Rise to this challenge! This month, Stewardship<br>seeks $20,000 to help fill this gap and is offering a sweetener. Several<br>members have offered funds to be used to match your gifts, doubling your<br>impact (up to $10,000). These match funds only become available if you<br>give a gift this month. Your gift of $20 or $200 or $2000 will bring FUSIT<br>$40 or $400 or $4000 to help close the budget gap.<br><br>Additional funds for this year\u2019s operating expenses are also being sought<br>by developing other revenue streams like the Live Auction (Oct. 25) and<br>increased office rentals.<br><br>This ask is distinct from the spring pledge campaign. If you already pledged<br>for this church year (the spring campaign), please consider an additional<br>gift to take advantage of this match offer. Your October gift will not change<br>your pledge baseline amount for annual giving.<br><br>Every gift counts, even if it is small. 42% of FUSIT households do not have<br>a recent history of pledging financial support to FUSIT. Of course, many<br>are supporting FUSIT in other ways, but communal stewardship does not<br>work on an either\/or model. Consider starting your financial support for<br>FUSIT now by earning a match that doubles your gift!<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/ithaca.us20.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=c780247c55e60e3812b2289ae&amp;id=813948e52a&amp;e=eed9c902e3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to make your October donation and trigger a Matching Gift (or send a check to FUSIT PO Box 6, Ithaca, NY 14851 with &#8220;Matching Gift&#8221; in the memo line.<br><br>Please don\u2019t wait &#8211; act now!<br>&nbsp;<br>Thank you for your generosity and support of FUSIT!<br>&nbsp;<br>-Stewardship Team,&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:stewardship@uuithaca.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stewardship@uuithaca.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fusit.breezechms.com\/form\/28edc6\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ithaca.us20.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=c780247c55e60e3812b2289ae&amp;id=06368a1b76&amp;e=eed9c902e3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Together We Rise AGAIN!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We all are stewards of our First Unitarian Society of Ithaca and we need<br \/>your help. If you are inspired by Sunday Services; If you believe in growing<br \/>our UU Values; If you or your children benefit from RE <a href=\"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/october-matching-gift-challenge\/\"><strong>&#8230; read more<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>October Matching Gift Challenge - First Unitarian Society of Ithaca<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/october-matching-gift-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"October Matching Gift Challenge - First Unitarian Society of Ithaca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Together We Rise AGAIN!We all are stewards of our First Unitarian Society of Ithaca and we needyour help. If you are inspired by Sunday Services; If you believe in growingour UU Values; If you or your children benefit from RE ... read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/october-matching-gift-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Unitarian Society of Ithaca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T14:56:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T14:56:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/October-2.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michelle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/october-matching-gift-challenge\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/unitarian.ithaca.ny.us\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/october-matching-gift-challenge\/\",\"name\":\"October Matching Gift Challenge - 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