The Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Monica held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, via Zoom. President Vilma Ortiz called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Other board members present included Vice President Karl Lisovsky, Secretary Linda Van Ligten, and Members at Large Larry Weiner, Cassie Winters, Jef Travis, Anne Bridgins, and Jila Tayefehnowrooz. Minister Jeremiah Kalendae also attended. Treasurer Sue Bickford was absent.
Spiritual Grounding, Check-ins, and Opening Remarks
Linda lit the chalice, and read the UU Value of Transformation: “We adapt to the changing world. We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically. Openness to change is fundamental to our Unitarian and Universalist heritages, never complete and never perfect.”
Linda also gave a very brief opening reading – “Be curious, not judgmental” – which is attributed to Walt Whitman, but more recently made famous by Ted Lasso.
Attendees provided a personal checking and answered a question based on this month’s worship theme, Awakening Curiosity.
Vilma reminded attendees to be mindful of speaking in turns, waiting for others to speak before speaking again, avoiding crosstalk, honoring the queue for speaking, following the process for the meeting, and keeping things moving.
Reports, Motions and Discussions
Vilma reported that there will be a budget deficit this year (see the Treasurer’s Report, below), but we have savings that will help cover it. She said rentals have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, but having the Santa Monica Synagogue renting space has been positive for our income. Attendees discussed ideas for increasing income, including marketing our facility as an event destination for weddings, memorials, other celebrations, and possibly having our new office assistant assist with fundraising. Vilma said she will schedule a Zoom meeting explaining the budget to interested members, and there will also be a PowerPoint presentation on the budget during the June 7 the Annual Meeting.
Vilma reported that the revised Communication Policies have been submitted for board review, and a vote on them will be agendized at a future meeting.
Vilma said the CUUPS covenant has also been submitted for board review, a CUUPS charter is in the works, and we are reviewing the requirements for joining the National CUUPS organization. Board members voted unanimously to approve the CUUPS covenant, and Vilma said she will follow up with CUUPS.
Vilma shared that Melinda Ewen has restarted the Accessibility Committee, and is now in process of recruiting at least 3 members. Vilma said Melinda has already started working with Steven De Paul to improve both sanctuary and livestreaming audio.
Reporting for the Stewardship Committee, Eileen shared that pledges are up so far this year, and are still coming in. She reminded board leaders to model both timely pledging and pledge fulfillment. Eileen said the Committee is also currently recruiting members with skills in Planned Giving.
Minutes of the April board meeting, and the Consent Agenda for this meeting were both passed unanimously with no discussion.
Anne reported current Membership of 266, and read new members Nanci Strum and Selina Gomez-Hernandez into the membership roll.
The following Upcoming Events were noted:
- May 30 – Celebration of life for Ron Crane at 11am
- June 7 – Annual Meeting, with lunch and a congregational photo before the meeting. An email about the meeting was sent out on May 6.
- June 14 – Pride celebration
- June 21 – Jeremiah’s last day in the pulpit. Dates for a congregational farewell celebration and a board farewell dinner are still TBD.
- July 1 – New board takes over
- July 25 – Dining for Dollars Pancake Breakfast
- TBD – Congregational welcome celebration for our new settled minister
Minister’s Report
In the introduction to his report this month, Jeremiah wrote, “We are marking this transitional time in our community by emphasizing a ministry of presence, celebrating accomplishments, saying our many goodbyes, and preparing for the arrival of your settled minister!”
“The final months of a long-term ministry,” he said, “are a period when the minister steps back from the world of agendas, projects, and new initiatives to be present to the community and the precious and short time that remains before departure. This setting down of ordinary routines creates space for the new minister’s arrival and it asks us all to slow down to make this a time of mindful appreciation and celebration and memory.”
“This will be the first time I’ve departed a ministry of this length–let alone one that required journeying together through a global pandemic, devastating wildfires, attempts to overthrow democracy, civil uprisings, and the ongoing march of fascism in this nation. I am sitting with thanksgiving over all that we accomplished in developmental ministry, grief remembering the losses of so many beloveds, and curiosity around the many bright possibilities the future holds.”
Jeremiah further reported that:
- We’ve gathered as a congregation for four Sunday morning Worship services since our last meeting. Ministerial Candidate and now called minister the Rev. Diana Smith offered the services The Possibilities of Mattering and The Possibility of Creating Community during her Candidating Week here. Jeremiah followed these with the theme-based service Awakening Curiosity, and Living Love which considered a teaching of the great Sufi Saint Rabia al Basri and Love as the center of our faith. Sunday mornings remain well attended and the spirit of the community is warm and hopeful.
- Our Worship Team met and worship planning continues as usual. Chela will stay on for another year as chair of this important team. (Thank you, Chela!)
- Our Pastoral Care Team and Pastoral Executive Team met and explored ministerial transitions and supporting the community through a period of change. We are also preparing for a goodbye luncheon.
- Jeremiah continues to offer Pastoral Meetings and Spiritual Counseling to members of the community as requested, which helps strengthen trust and healthy relations in our communal practice.
- Jeremiah continues to hold weekly, biweekly, and/or monthly Ministry, Administrative, and Governance Meetings with each of our senior staff members, our president, the executive committee, worship chair, our consulting minister, pastoral co-chairs, and/or other congregational leaders as needed or requested.
- We are in the process of completing Annual Staff Evaluations, which will occur over the next five weeks or so.
- We’ve made progress in our Office Restructuring, with a candidate for the office support role. We hope to make a hire announcement soon!
- We identified and ordered awards for this year’s Congregational Awards honorees. Thanks to Eileen and everyone involved for your contributions to this beautiful celebration of leadership and service in our community.
- Many in our community were busy last month preparing for and then coordinating the Ministerial Candidating Week. Jeremiah expressed gratitude to all who helped to cultivate such a positive week for the community and for Rev. Diana. And while our community was engaged in this work here, Jeremiah was also engaged in the same process in Seattle. “I am so happy with the results of all of these efforts!,” he said.
- We planned and hosted a very successful Special Meeting of the Congregation on April 26 which resulted in the calling of our next settled minister Thanks to Vilma, Alfie, Board Members, and the many volunteers who made it such a successful meeting.
- Our green team hosted another incredible Green Living Fair and Vegan Potluck with delicious foods, educational opportunities, and organizations from the wider community. Thank you Greenies!
- The Leadership Development and Nominating Committee provided the slate of candidates for the Board, which was its last major task of the year. Thank you! In the future, the Committee will be exploring the leadership development component of its work.
- The Intersectional Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression Commission (IARAO) is continuing in its standing work.
- The Board Policies Review Team has completed its developmental work and held a celebratory luncheon to mark the conclusion of this substantial contribution.
- The Ministerial Search Process is complete and the amazing Rev. Diana L. Smith has been called as UUSM’s next settled minister. Thanks to the Ministerial Search Team and our whole congregation for seeing this immense effort through with wisdom, skill, and grace.
- The Committee on Shared Ministry that was reconstituted a few months ago is preparing to have an orientation meeting before the summer break.
- The Communications Team’s work is ongoing.
- UU Animal Ministry took members of the community to the Farm Sanctuary and they are planning to host one final Dining for Dollars fundraiser and event with Jeremiah later this month. He said he is “so grateful for their ministry to all beings.”
- Jeremiah met with the Santa Monica Area Interfaith Council Leadership Team and will be meeting soon with the Council. There is also a special dinner planned to mark the transition in our leadership.
- Jeremiah will be rolling off of the UCLA Medical Center Ethics Committee following 5+ years of service to the larger community.
Finally, Jeremiah said, “Words cannot express how grateful I am to have had this opportunity to serve with you or how much I am going to miss you.”
Treasurer’s Report
In her report this month, UUSM Treasurer Sue Bickford reported that we are in month 11 of our 12-month fiscal year, and that with 83.3% of the year completed, our year-to-date pledge receipts ($312,955) are higher than what we budgeted ($288,333). Our pledge income for the month of April ($26,456), however, was lower than our monthly projection ($28,833). So that means our YTD pledge total is currently 109% of what we budgeted, and the monthly amount for April is 91.8% of what was budgeted.
Next, our year-to-date fundraising ($31,530) is also currently higher than we projected ($26,250), and our fundraising in April ($4,067) was higher than projected ($2,625) as well. This equates to YTD fundraising at 120% of our budgeted amount, and April’s monthly fundraising was 155% of the amount budgeted.
Meanwhile, our year-to-date rental income ($83,623) is higher than projected ($80,000), while our rental income for the month of April ($7,779) was slightly lower than our ($8,000) monthly projection. This puts our YTD rental income at 104.5% of our budgeted amount, and monthly rental income at 97.2 % of the amount budgeted for the month of April.
Given all of these income streams, our total Income so far this year (10 months out of 12, or 83.3% of the fiscal year) is $539,713, which equals 103% of the $523,916 we budgeted so far for this point in time…or 86.9% of the income we budgeted for in the full 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Finally, however, our total expenses so far this year are $551,213, which is 103.8% of the total $530,807 budgeted for the fiscal year…putting us almost $11,500 into our projected deficit of $20,677 for the fiscal year, instead of the $6,891 deficit we expected to be at at this point.
DMRE Report
DMRE Jessica TenHave-Place wrote in her report to the board this month that “April was an exciting month for CYRE,” especially its involvement, along with the rest of the congregation, in welcoming our incoming minister, Rev. Diana. “Getting to meet her, individually as well as with the CYRE committee and the young families of the church,” wrote Jessica, “has helped me feel confident that this transition of leadership will be a positive experience, even as we anticipate a bittersweet farewell to Rev. Jeremiah.”
Also, said Jessica, “Rev. Diana seems like an honest and open-hearted person with the wisdom and experience necessary to navigate the growing pains of leadership transition and the unique challenges and opportunities that will come up at UUSM. I was excited to hear about her initial ideas for Multigenerational Services, rites of passage for children and youth, and ways to keep building community for young people – I’m sure UUSM will be heading into an exciting chapter under her new leadership!”
In addition to CYRE’s meet-and-greet family picnic with Rev. Diana, Jessica reported that CYRE also partnered with Animal Ministry this month to promote its event at a farm animal rescue as one of our “Multigenerational Field Trips.” “Two families with young children joined in along with other members,” she said, “and enjoyed meeting the animals and hanging out together outside of the RE classroom. These off-campus excursions have been great opportunities for neurodiverse children to do hands-on learning together, and I’m looking forward to both our Westside Food Bank service day and our Multigenerational Field Trip to the UCLA Botanical Gardens in May. Many thanks to the Animal Ministry leadership for reaching out about cross-promoting their event!”
Jessica said we also held a Multigenerational Service in March, focused on Earth Day. “There was participation from the kids and youth in creating art for the service, reading an earth-based prayer, and interacting through music and storytelling. We discussed the connections between our value of interdependence, care for the earth and her creatures, and the need to end the violence to the planet and its people caused by war. It was a privilege to use story and art from the children’s book Everything Is Connected by Jason Gruhl, who gave his blessing to show the artwork, saying “I write books I wish I had had when I was younger,” and thanking us for supporting his work and message.”
Finally, Jessica reported that Sunday RE for Pre-K through Middle School “continues to go strong, with a slight decrease in attendance as some of the older kids are getting more involved in school extracurriculars and the younger ones face some end-of-school-year fatigue.”
“This follows our typical pattern of attendance slowing a bit as summer approaches,” she said, “but this creates opportunities for more one-on-one connection in a smaller classroom. We finished our unit of Lessons from Science this month, and will be moving on to a series of Lessons from the Arts, focusing on how human expression through artforms like poetry, dance, architecture, and music is good for the soul, creates connections between people, and can be used to promote justice and peace.”
Gratitude, Announcements, and Adjournment
Vilma shared that she emailed various groups in May reminding them to Pledge. She said we should expect a revenue bump in July, which is the beginning of our new pledge year.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 pm.
Draft minutes used to prepare this story were provided by board Secretary Linda Van Ligten. Documents and reports used at the meeting can be found here.
