2024 UUA Certification Report
While this information is confined to the data received during the certification process itself, we hope that subsequent reports will weave together data from sources across the Association, giving us a fuller picture of our congregations, communities and shared ministries. At this time, we are grateful for the robust participation of leaders in the certification process and glad to share the results of that shared commitment.
The UUA serves 1,081 Unitarian Universalist congregations and communities, including Member, Emerging, Covenanting, and international congregations and communities. The total communities served is down by four since the last certification process was completed, though overall, the numbers of communities served remains largely stable.
Of course, it is impossible to interpret this data without serious consideration of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on our communities. The collective and overlapping crises of recent years have exacerbated previously existing trends in membership, leadership and program engagement.
In some cases, the pandemic also opened new possibilities, including continued engagement with online worship in many of our communities. Through this time of destabilizing change, we have learned new ways of being together that would previously have been unimaginable. The changes and challenges that lie ahead for congregations and communities across the Association invite creativity on a similar scale.
Interrelated Stories in Finance
This is a time of significant stress and surprising growth in the financial infrastructure of many of our institutions. On the one hand, the number of individual and family pledges made to our congregations has gone down 24% over the last decade. We should not overlook the significant concern inherent in such a decline. And yet, average pledges continue to go up, showing 43% growth in that same period, from $1,458 in 2014 to $2,082 in 2024. Even as total numbers of pledgers have gone down, average pledges have increased significantly, and total pledged dollars gone up slightly.
These interrelated stories of change in member engagement and the continued generosity of donors must be considered together. During the pandemic, it is evident that less committed members fell away from their congregations and communities while sustaining members cultivated a greater commitment to giving during the crisis. Such generosity from top-tier donors may or may not be sustainable in the long run. Further analysis of congregations’ financial assets and income streams is certainly called for, beginning with our holdings outside of pledged income.
UU Congregational endowments and reserves continue to grow at a strikingly healthy rate, totaling 1.1 billion, up 43% from 2016. This trend of rising endowment holdings takes place even as long-term debt for our congregations continues to shrink from 113 million in 2016 to 69 million in 2024. These numbers are worth some deep consideration. It may well be time for congregations with such growing assets to consider how to leverage them more effectively toward the realization of their mission.
Operating expenses during the last decade are on a relatively neutral trend. With adjustment for inflation, operational expenses are trending downward somewhat, even while the cost of most benefits have increased significantly. Since the largest portion of operating expenditures in most congregations applies to staff compensation and benefits, this may be an indicator that our congregations are not matching compensation to the rising cost of living. We should be careful about who bears the burden of both fiscal anxiety and more measured approaches to the use of growing assets.
Surprise and Possibility in Membership and Religious Education
Overall membership across all congregations and communities was flat. Nearly half of UU congregations of all sizes experienced membership growth during the latest survey period, while the remaining saw declines in both membership numbers and in reported non-member participants. This change in non-member participants comes after a spike in the previous year, opening space for some consideration of that shift. What work could we do to find commonalities among growing congregations in the late pandemic landscape? What can help us to understand the rate of decrease for congregations that are struggling?
In the meantime, online participation has continued to decline as people feel safer returning onsite for services and programming, though virtual participation does not seem to be falling away entirely in the great majority of congregations. The ongoing work will be to provide sustainable strategies for multiplatform programming and maintain the infrastructure necessary to shift back to primarily online engagement when and how that becomes necessary in the future.
Religious Education enrollment is perhaps the single most striking number in this report, showing an increase of 16%. After the expected and nearly universal decline in religious education enrollment throughout the pandemic, this shows that efforts to reimagine faith formation across the lifespan are bearing fruit. When traditional models of Sunday school struggled as we emerged into in-person programming again, the invitation to be creative and remain connected to others similarly re-envisioning religious education programming and goals as been essential. Today, this is in evidence in the continued need to invest in religious education programs and staffing. Religious education programs may not be what they were before the pandemic. Perhaps they should not be. In many circumstances, they are adapting into something new and engaging that is greatly in need of ongoing prioritization and institutional support.
Support of Mission
Some of our reported data is less quantitative, serving as a reflection on the priorities and needs of our member congregations and their ministries.
Overall, congregations making use of UUA regional services find them to be helpful. The areas of ministry where leaders report needing additional support from the UUA match up with the anxiety-points encountered as observable trends in congregations. Our worries translate into our expressed needs from the Association. Increasingly, we may need to build structures for cross-congregational and regional collaboration to address questions that are pertinent to many leaders.
Again, this year, we asked congregations to indicate a range in several aspects of our diversity survey. This percentage-range is then used to determine a minimum and maximum based on the reported number of members. We have not started reporting year over year changes in these numbers yet, largely because we continue to adjust the language of the survey itself. However, a cursory review indicates that these percentages have not changed markedly in the reported period.
Finally, it is deeply notable that most congregations report that they are at least somewhat mission driven, inviting us to consider how congregations might articulate those missions and use them as key mechanisms for decision-making amid competing priorities.
Prep for next Certification Process
Again, we want to offer our deep gratitude to those leaders who undertook the labor to make the 2023-24 Data Certification process a success. Our 2024-25 Certification Process will begin in January 2025. We hope for yet more data to continue growing our longitudinal picture and narrative resources for the faith. How do we move faithfully toward the future of our congregations and communities? With clarity, strategy and authentic examination of what has been, what currently is, and what becomes possible when we work together.
Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd
UUA Director of Communications and Public Ministry
Section 1: Counting UU Congregations
The definition of a congregation is evolving just like our UU communities. In 2015 the Covenanting Communities program was born out of recognition that there are many UU communities that want to be in closer relationship with the UUA but don't meet the criteria to become a member congregation.
Sections 3-6 of this report only include submissions from Member Congregations, but work is being done to include the Emerging, Covenanting, and International UU communities who are in active relationship with the UUA.
Learn more about becoming a member congregation or covenanting community (opens in a new tab).
We acknowledge that multisite communities (opens in a new tab) are not yet represented in this report and we're exploring how to best include them. These communities often involve two or more congregations or covenanted communities sharing staff, programming, and mission to have greater impact and reach than any of them could have on their own.
UU Communities Served
As of September 2024, the UUA serves 1,081 UU congregations and communities. This is made up of 1,000 Member, 26 Emerging, 34 Covenanting, and 21 International congregations and communities.
Note that these classifications may overlap and the sum of these does not reflect the total communities served. For example, many Canadian congregations still hold UUA membership and are counted as members and international congregations.
Community changes:
Four (4) member congregations dissolved:
- UU Church of Victoria, TX
- West Valley UU Church Glendale, AZ
- High Plains Church Unitarian Universalist Colorado Springs, CO
- First Unitarian Society of Plainfield Scotch Plains, NJ
The New River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Princeton WV, shifted from a member congregation to a covenanting community.
Two (2) emerging congregations were removed from this year's list:
- UU Fellowship of Warrensburg, MO
- Unitarian Universalists in Covenant, NC
Member Congregations
These congregations completed the application process (opens in a new tab) and were admitted by the UUA board. As a member, these congregations are able to send delegates to General Assembly to vote on business and in UUA elections.
Emerging Congregations:
actively working toward becoming member congregations in our larger association.Covenanting Communities:
an alternative kind of Unitarian Universalist (UU) group. They claim a UU identity and advance UU values, but they look and feel different from a traditional congregation.International Member Congregations
Certified Member Congregations / Non-Certified Member Congregations
Complete list of Certified Congregations can be found at: 2024 Certified Congregations (opens in a new tab) .
Complete list of Non-Certified Congregations can be found at: 2024 Non-Certified Congregations (opens in a new tab) .
Section 2: Staff Count
Congregational Staff counts represent the contacts we have on record related to each role in a congregation and do not represent membership counts for Religious Professional Organizations like Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA), Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), Unitarian Universalist Association of Membership Professionals (UUAMP), Association of UU Administrators (AUUA), and Association for Unitarian Universalist Music Ministries (AUUMM).
We recognize that the data below excludes a number of religious professionals and volunteer/paid positions in congregations. Let us know what roles/positions you'd like to see included in future reports.
Staff and Ministers Count
UUA Benefits Congregations Offer W-2 Staff
Section 3: Congregational Fiscal Health
Understanding how the UU Community is doing financially is an important indicator of the health and vitality of our congregations.
Key take aways from the charts in this section:
- The number of Individual and family pledges are down 24% over the past 10 years.
- However, average pledges are up 43% from $1,458 in 2014 to $2,082 in 2024 and total of pledges is up 8%.
- UU Congregational endowments and reserves continue to grow and total 1.1 billion, up 44% from 2016.
- Long term debt continues to shrink from 113 million in 2016 to 69 million in 2024.
- Operating expenses have increased 3% in the last year.
- Operating expenses during the past decade are on a neutral trend, and if inflation is taken into account, down.
Questions to Explore:
- Why are pledging units down?
- Why are operating expenses staying below the US inflation rate, which was 3.4% in 2023? Does this relate to salaries and benefits and are we paying a living wage?
The data in this section comes from 981 member congregation's certification submissions in 2024. Prior year certification data was rolled up for the 39 Non-Certified member congregations.
Total Individual and Family Pledging Units
Total pledging units have decreased by 1/3 in the past decade; however, the average pledge amount is up 43% leading to an increase in overall pledge income as illustrated in the next chart comparing total pledge income and total operating expenses.
Pledging Income and Total Operating Expenses
Total Operating Expenses include all costs of running a congregation for one year. This includes salaries and wages, rent, mortgage payments, insurance, legal fees, utilities, supplies, denominational contributions, and capital expenses.
Operating costs continue to fluctuate and have a flat trend over the past decade. 2024 saw a 4% increase over 2023. Additionally, until 2017, Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock was included in these statistics.
Even with less pledging units, total pledges are up 8% since 2013.
Total Operating Expenses by Region
Total Operating Expenses Include all costs of running the congregation for one year, such as salaries and wages, rent, mortgage payments, insurance, legal fees, utilities, supplies, denominational contributions, and capital expenses.
Over the last decade, operating expenses nationally have increased 3% but varied between 2% and 10% within the regions. The New England Region saw the largest increase of 10%, followed by Pacific Western with 3%, Central East and Southern regions with 2%, and MidAmerica with 3%.
Average Total Operating Expenses
A look a the average total operating expenses. Note that these numbers are heavily influenced by congregations with large capital expenses.
Total Operating Expenses per Member
A different look at operating expenses per member. This chart nearly mirrors the average total operating expenses chart above, however we're seeing the numbers for the New England and Pacific Western Region align. Ditto for the Southern and MidAmerica Region.
Congregation Property Ownership (own/rent)
By itself this data point isn't indicative of anything but may play a role in understanding if building ownership has any impact on the health and vitality of congregations.
Rental/Building Use Income
Income generated from building rentals and use fees by outside parties. This question was added in 2020 and it's still too early to identify any trends or correlations here.
Endowment and Reserves
Funds held in long-term investment accounts including restricted, unrestricted, and board-restricted funds are counted as part of endowments These funds may be in accounts directly held by the congregation or in separate entities such as foundations or trusts established primarily for the benefit of the congregation.
Funds held for emergencies, future building projects, and/or capital improvements but not for regular operations are counted as reserves.
UU Congregational endowments and reserves continue to grow and total just over $1 billion, up 44% from 2016.
Long-Term Debt
Long-term debt including mortgages, bank debt with multi-year payment schedules, and bonds or loans from congregants and friends. This does not include credit card debt or other loans due in one year or less.
Long term debt continues to shrink from 113 million in 2016 to 69 million in 2024.
Section 4: Membership, Religious Education, and Participation
Congregational growth was flat over the last year, with growth in religious education enrollment and a decline in non-member friend engagement.
Key take aways from the charts in this section:
- Membership was flat. Regionally 3 regions shrunk and 2 grew.
- Religious Education Enrollment increased, 16%, for the first time this decade.
- Online participation continues to decline as people feel safer returning onsite for services and programming.
Questions to Explore:
- Nearly half of the congregations experienced membership growth. What's behind this?
- What's behind membership declines in the rest of the congregations? What tools do congregations need to help with exit surveys, to learn more?
- Non-Member decreased this year after a spike the previous year.
- What's behind Religious Education Enrollment increasing?
- Is it important to continue to provide online experiences? And how can congregations make multiplatform events sustainable?
The data in this section comes from 981 member congregation's certification submissions in 2024. Prior year certification data was rolled up for the 39 Non-Certified member congregations.
Members, Non-Member Friends, & Religious Education Enrollment
Membership has trended downwards over the past decade, with membership nearly flat this year.
Non-member friends decreased 5% over last year.
Religious Education Enrollment has been on the decline every year for the last decade; however, there was an increase of 16% this last year.
Membership by Region
Over the last year the national membership decline is 1% with the Central East region seeing the largest decline of 4%, followed by Pacific Western and MidAmerica regions with 1%. There was no significant variation for the New England region (0%). The Southern Region's membership increased by 1%.
Membership Over the Last Decade
Over the past decade national membership is down 16% from the 2014 high of 154,372.
Patterns of Growth
Membership decline isn't universal. In the last year 416 congregations saw increases to membership. 142 saw two consecutive years of growth, and 35 grew for three consecutive years.
278 Congregations saw increases to RE Enrollment.
342 Congregations saw increases to Non-Member Friends.
List of 416 congregations (opens in a new tab) that saw membership increase in the last year.
List of 142 congregations (opens in a new tab) that saw two consecutive years of growth.
List of 35 congregations (opens in a new tab) that saw three consecutive years of growth.
Participation & Religious Education Enrollment
Starting in 2021 we started tracking Attendance differently to account for Onsite and Online participation.
Congregations select a range instead of providing a specific number related to attendance. This range is used to determine the minimum and maximum participation range illustrated in the graph.
Online Participation changes
As members feel more comfortable, they are returning onsite for participation. We do not yet have a baseline to know what percentage of members will continue to participate onsite or online.
Youth Bridging
Bridging ceremonies celebrate the transition of our youth from their high school experience into young adulthood.
The collection of bridging data begain in 2022 to help plan for the Synergy Worship Service during General Assembly. It's too early to determine if there are any trends or correlations to consider as we continue collecting this data.
Congregations wanting to learn more about bridging should consider Resources for Bridging from Youth to Young Adulthood (opens in a new tab).
236 congregations made at least one selection, 350 reported none or 0, and 169 skipped the question.
Section 5: Diversity & Demographics
To understand and analyze the impact of racial disparities in Unitarian Universalist faith communities, we need to understand the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of our congregational members, staff, and leadership teams. This work is a small part of a long-term commitment to better understanding congregations' ability to nurture antiracist and antioppressive ministry along with understanding the quality of livelihood of our religious professionals.
While the certification period is a great time to collect some of this information, we recognize that it often falls upon individual administrators to complete the certification process, many of whom may not fully know the makeup or extent of diversity within staff and leadership teams.
This year's diversity questionnaire results: 825 congregations completed the questionnaire with 83 opting out. These congregations represent 166,244 members and non-member friends, 4,246 paid full-time and part-time staff—including ministers—made up of 728 administrative/facilities staff and 876 religious professional staff, and 5,864 board/standing committee positions. Congregations sometimes opted out of some of the individual questions within this section.
821 congregations provided estimates on what percentage of members and non-member friends are BIPOC. It's estimated that out of 165,444 members and non-member friends, 8,272-14,890 (5-9%) identify as BIPOC.
818 congregations provided estimates on what percentage of members and non-member friends are LGBTQ+. It's estimated that out of 165,249 members and non-member friends, 16,525-39,660 (10-24%) identify as LGBTQ+.
The questionnaire did not consider any overlap between these BIPOC or LGBTQ+ identity groups.
Of the reported 4,246 paid full-time and part-time staff, 697 (16.42%) identify as BIPOC. This includes 264 (6.22%) religious professionals and 433 (10.2%) administrative/facilities staff.
Of the reported 5,864 board/standing committee positions, 366 (6.24%) identify as BIPOC.
The table below includes the national totals along with the totals for each UUA Region.
Section 6: Congregational Questionnaire
This section of certification is comprised of questions designed to help inform UUA and regional staff on a range of topics.
The results below are from a sampling of congregations who opted to complete some or all of the questionnaire. These numbers by themselves don't necessarily reflect full engagement with a program or resource. Additional work needs to be done to compare these numbers with engagement statistics from other sources.
Each question includes a note on how many congregations responded to the question.
Support to the Congregations from the UUA (including regional staff)
#19.1: In the past year, how helpful has the UUA (including your regional staff) been to your congregation in advancing its mission and addressing key challenges? On a scale 0-5:
743 congregations made one selection, and 12 skipped the question.
Conflict in Congregations
#21.1: How would you rate the conflict in your congregation this past year? On a scale 0-6:
742 congregations made one selection, and 13 skipped the question.
- We don’t have notable conflict
- We have creative tension in our community that helps us go deeper and lean into issues as they arise. We practice Covenant and hold ourselves accountable to our promises.
- We have disagreements that are uncomfortable at times – however, we call ourselves back into Covenant and work to maintain our mission.
- We have arguments that are difficult to navigate. Covenant is sometimes difficult to maintain, however, we call ourselves back into Covenant and right relationship most of the time.
- We have arguments that are destructive – trust is eroding, it is difficult to stay on mission, and hold ourselves accountable to our Covenant.
- We have factions in the congregation that do not trust each other and do not listen to one another’s views. Movement forward on our mission is difficult to impossible, pledging is down, and Covenant is broken.
- We are imploding, the leadership is exhausted, mission and Covenant cannot be maintained, trust is completely eroded, people are leaving the congregation, pledging, and living up to the pledges that are made is low.
Safe Congregational Policies Adoption
#19.3: Which of the following are currently addressed by Safe Congregation, Board, Personnel, or other policies in your congregation?
676 congregations made at least one selection, 6 reported none, and 73 skipped the question.
The Extent which mission and strategic goals drive and challenge the work and ministry of congregations
#19.2: To what extent do your congregation’s mission and strategic goals drive the work and ministry of your congregation? (For example, do they shape your budget decisions, programs, worship life?) On a scale 0-5
739 congregations made one selection, and 16 skipped the question.
Congregational Collaboration with Other Congregations
#19.4: Has your congregation collaborated with another UU congregation on any of the following over the past year?
590 congregations made at least one selection, 10 reported none, and 155 skipped the question.
2024 NEW
#24.1: Which of the following Side With Love’s priority areas are you engaging with?
528 congregations made at least one selection, 0 reported none, and 227 skipped the question.
2024 NEW
#24.2: What types of actions has your congregation done this year?
685 congregations made at least one selection, 2 reported none, and 68 skipped the question.
2024 NEW
#24.3: How many active social justice teams or committees do you have?
590 congregations made at least one selection, 102 reported none or 0, and 63 skipped the question.
Multicultural or Anti-Racism Learning Program Engagement
#19.6: Which of the following has your congregation experienced in the past year towards increasing its ability to dismantle white supremacy culture and become more welcoming to people with marginalized identities?
626 congregations made at least one selection, 5 reported none, and 124 skipped the question.
Faith Development / Religious Education Resources Usage
#19.7 Which of the following has your congregation used to help lead faith development or religious education this year?
619 congregations made at least one selection, 6 reported none, and 130 skipped the question.
UUA.org Resources Used by Congregations
#19.8 What online congregational leadership and management resources or materials provided by the UUA has your congregation used in the past year?
646 congregations made at least one selection, 6 reported none, and 103 skipped the question.
UUA Region Services, Resources, and Programs Usage/Participation
#19.9 What services, resources, or programs from your UUA region has your congregation or members used or participated in during the past year?
620 congregations made at least one selection, 4 reported none, and 131 skipped the question.
Identity Based Caucus or Covenant Groups/Circles
#21.2 Does your congregation host an identity based caucus or covenant group/circle for any of the following:
360 congregations made at least one selection, 12 reported none, and 383 skipped the question.
Youth Bridging
#22.1: Number of youth bridging in the next year?
Question #22.1 is shown in Section 4. Jump to Question #22.1.
Congregational Life
#21.3: Which of the following aspects of congregational life have you offered virtually?
679 congregations made at least one selection, 7 reported none, and 69 skipped the question.
How the UUA can help Congregations
#19.10: In what ways can the UUA help your congregation?
646 congregations made at least one selection, 0 reported none, and 109 skipped the question.
Change Log
2024 Revisions
- Section 2: Expanded list of contract roles and are asking congregations to provide employment status of each role.
- Section 2: Two questions added: “How many paid W-2 employees do you have?” and “If you have W-2 employees, which of the following UUA benefits do you offer?”
- Section 5: The question “Which of the following has your congregation done in the past year, if any, to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of your congregational staff and volunteer leadership?” was merged with question 19.6 in section 6.
- Section 6 Questions 19.1, 19.2, and 21.1 are now formatted like other questions with clearer descriptions for each level and a ‘0’ option for when not applicable. 21.1 now uses a scale from 0-6.
- Section 6 Question 19.3: Added: “Responding to threats, harassment or violence from outside groups” and “Discernment about when and whether to call the police”.
- Section 6 Questions 24.1, 24.2, and 24.3 replaced the question “Has your congregation publicly acted in support of any of the following social justice issues in the past year?”
- Section 6 Question 19.6: Added: “Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice”, “30 Days of Love”, “Taking a Collective Breath/Reconstruction”, “Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice”, “Speaking up for Trans Lives 101”, and “Cultivating Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care”
- Section 6 Question 19.7: Added “2023-24 Common Read: “On Repentance and Repair” by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg”, “UU Institute Online Trainings”, and “Side With Love Toolkits and Resources”
- Section 6 Question 19.8: Replaced “Congregational compensation consultants” with “Congregational staff benefits, compensation, and HR resources” and replaced “Congregational social justice organizing resources including UU the Vote” with “SideWithLove.org justice trainings, blogs, worship and organizing resources”. Added: “UU Institute online trainings”. Modified UUA Email Lists to be simply “Email Lists” with more examples of lists.
- Section 6 Question 19.9: Added options “Side With Love Trainings”, “Regional Cluster Events”, and “Resources Through the LeaderLab Database”.
- Section 6 Question 21.3: Added options “Community-Building (Game Nights, Talent Shows, Trivia, etc.)” and “Congregational Board, Annual, or Business Meetings”.
- Section 6 Question 19.10: “Office Church Staff Finances” option replaced with “Compensation and Benefits” and “Staffing, Hiring, and Human Resources” options. Also added “Pastoral Care Resources”.
Feedback
Send your questions or feedback regarding the Certification Report to app.support@uua.org.