Read Our 2015 Annual Report
Thanks to you, and to the support of thousands of other Friends and seekers, hundreds of meetings, and many funds and foundations, FGC is creating and strengthening programs and services that transform, engage, and connect Friends across the US and Canada. Our Annual Report for 2015, Embracing Change, presents some highlights of the past year, as well as news of developing projects.
Message from the Presiding Clerk
Dear Friends,
We are called to change. In August of last year, we learned that FGC needed to be more clear about our core mission and tighten the focus of our programs and services in order to fulfill that mission. We needed to lay down good work in order not to be reliant on periodic special fundraising campaigns. This was not easy to hear, nor to implement.
Barry Crossno and I set about listening. We engaged in many conversations, testing ways forward, trying to understand how Spirit would have FGC serve. After we spent hours on the phone and in meetings with FGC stakeholders and Central Committee members, three areas of focus emerged. In its October meeting, Central Committee approved three fundamental organizational priorities: supporting and promoting collaboration among the Yearly and Monthly Meetings that are FGC, growth in the Religious Society of Friends, and inclusiveness in our communities. In support of these priorities, Central Committee identified a set of ministries reflecting these priorities, and a budget plan creating a path to a financially sustainable future. This required that some of the valuable work of FGC be recognized, honored, and then laid down or released.
I hope you will share my excitement about our new program, Spiritual Deepening, and my satisfaction that collaboration, growth, and inclusiveness are being well nurtured by our other ongoing programs. You have been, and continue to be, an important part of FGC and its work as we answer the call to change.
We continue to benefit from your generous gifts of service, prayers, and financial contributions. Thank you so much!
Frank Barch, Presiding Clerk