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Noteworthy Decisions from the January 2020 Trustees Meeting

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Judy Van Cleave
Judy Van Cleave
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Noteworthy Decisions from the January 2020 Trustees Meeting

By Judy Van Cleave, secretary, Urantia Foundation, Idaho, United States

1. Books

Urantia Foundation sold 19,101 Urantia Books and gifted 400 in 2019. The top four languages were English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish. Book downloads from www.urantia.org were 88,015 and 23,566 from the Apple app. Because of the increased volume in sales, we printed 21,228 Urantia Books in five languages. Four translations—Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, and Czech—were published online. The development of an Android app and an enhanced e-book were started in 2019 and will be completed in 2020. Urantia Press published its second title, The Untold Story of Jesus.

2. Translations and Revisions

The first draft of the Chinese translation is complete through Paper 152; 138 papers are complete for the first draft of Farsi; the first draft of Hebrew is complete, and the final copyediting is complete through Paper 172; Indonesian is on its fifth review; Arabic is on its second review; the Romanian draft is being proofed; the Greek draft is being proofed; the Filipino translation has just begun. The copy editor has completed the copyediting for the Spanish revision through Paper 191; the final editing for the Portuguese revision is complete through Paper 131.

3. Urantia Book Internet School (UBIS) and Education

At UBIS, 15 free online classes are being offered in April, with topics ranging from the Foreword to the Meaning of the Cross. There are seven in English, three in French, four in Spanish, and one in Portuguese. Volunteers are facilitating courses from their homes in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, England, France, Peru, Senegal, Uganda, and the United States.

Registration begins on Monday, April 20. Click here to view the courses being offered. (https://new.ubis.urantia.org/moodle/?lang=en)

The Education Committee sponsored a Global Cultural Symposium in April and a Science Symposium in November.

4. Fundraising

Thanks to the generosity of 758 people, we were able to receive more money than we spent in 2019. The year-end fundraising match was successful, and the annual fundraising goal was exceeded. Equally important were the estate contributions, and more than $1,000,000 was given to the Foundation last year. Most estate donations go into Revelation Bridge, an endowment fund set aside for future generations. Please put Urantia Foundation into your will. You’ll be able to smile from the mansion worlds knowing that you helped secure the work of Urantia Foundation for future generations.

5. Property Taxes for 533

You might recall that the property taxes on our building increased from $20,000 to $97,000. The increase was crippling and risked the future of the home of the revelation. Fortunately, the tax assessment had been miscalculated. At this point, full resolution of the building tax issue is still pending in the assessor’s office. We expect the taxes to be approximately $35,000 per year.

Most of the January board meeting was spent discussing the Foundation’s five-year goals that were generated during the October 2019 planning meeting. We established seven goals and are now working on how to specifically accomplish them. After that, we will determine the timelines, job responsibilities, and costs to accomplish the goals.

Following are the prioritized five-year goals:

Books: Increase global book sales and distribution by 7% every year.

Fundraising: Increase the endowment funds including Revelation Bridge to $12,000,000.

Global Initiative: Foster a more culturally sensitive and diverse Urantia Foundation that will impact the way we disseminate the book and its teachings globally.

Translations: Initiate and/or complete new quality translations and revisions. Use and fine-tune our translation process.

Education: Focus on 1) inner education and unity within—prayer, worship, and soul work, and 2) outer education—creating opportunities to foster knowledge, enhance appreciation, and promote transcultural understanding of The Urantia Book among the peoples of the world.

Governance and Succession: Implement a five-year succession plan for the Urantia Foundation Board of Trustees. Transition into a more global organization.

Digital Outreach: Triple Urantia Foundation’s digital presence in the world.