During the last year of Marcy Moreland’s tenure as Chair of the Trust, she made it a goal to sort through all of the various policies and procedures floating around the files, as well as to collect all the Amendments made to the Declaration of Trust through the years.

The Declaration of Trust is the instrument that was filed with the State of Florida and submitted to the IRS back in 1987, establishing the UUCP Charitable Trust as an entity separate from the church. The Declaration also outlines the restrictions on the use of funds and the powers granted to the Trustees; for that reason, it is often referred to as “the Bylaws.”

After a steady year of hard work under Marcy’s guidance, the Trust committee (1) amended the Declaration to bring the language up to date (for example, it was still called the PUUF Charitable Trust); (2) created a Working Copy of the Declaration of Trust that incorporates all of the Amendments into the original language so that it can be more easily read; and (3) combined and updated the various policy and procedure documents into one master Policies and Procedures.

The new Policies and Procedures document establishes the various officers within the Trust committee and their responsibilities, clarifies the purpose of the Trust and the types of funds contained within it, and explains the procedures for releasing funds for the church’s use.

These documents have been provided to the Board and are available in the Board Minutes notebook in the church office. They are also available upon request from any Trustee.

The Trustees’ next project is to establish a central location to publicize the Trust and to conveniently provide information on how to donate now as well as how to include the Trust in your estate planning.

If you ever have questions about the Trust, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of the Trustees: Georgieanna Bryant (Chair), Gerry Donnelly (Treasurer), Barbara Goggins (Secretary), Erin Renfroe, and Laurie Winterberg.