Updates from the July 2021 Trustee Meeting

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

Operations Overview

Highlights of second-quarter operations include: 1) securing printing bids and paper supply (paper shortage due to COVID-19) to print 30,000 English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish books, and preparing text files for this printing; 2) finishing the 2020 audit and annual report; 3) fine-tuning the new Android app that will be available this fall; 4) customizing our internal donor management system; 5) concluding a successful April trimester at UBIS; 6) starting a board study on the interface of evolution and revelation; 7) growing social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn; and 8) continuing the necessary steps for launching the fifth revision of the Russian translation.

Books

Sales and downloads: Total Urantia Book sales for the first six months of 2021 (YTD) were 12,534, up 29%. Total sales—including Urantia Press titles—YTD were 13,153, up 24%. Year to date, English sales are up 15%, Spanish sales up 93%, Portuguese sales up 51%, French sales up 69%, e-books up 6%, and downloads were down 16%.

Perpetual Printing Fund policy: During the 1970s, Urantia Foundation established a Perpetual Printing Fund (PPF). This fund continues to ensure that there will be adequate money to print the English edition of The Urantia Book in perpetuity. Because we lose money on book sales, it is necessary to provide for the future. Subsequently, in 2004, the policy was revised to include the cost of the Spanish and Portuguese printings.

Urantia Book sales and inflation have steadily increased since the policy revision. The board raised the minimum in the PPF from $800,000, set in 2004, to $1,200,000. Additionally, the board voted to include French, German, and Polish printings in the fund.

Finances

The Mustard Seed Fund—a new fund: The Jameson Foundation initiated, with a sizable 10-year gift, a new fund at Urantia Foundation. The purpose of this fund is to “seed” the revelation around the globe through grant funding. The terms of approving grants will be developed over the next 12 months and administered by the staff and trustees. The grants will fund projects that spread the fifth epochal revelation globally. Thank you, Gard and Florence Jameson, for your generosity.

We invite you to join the Jameson family in supporting this education and outreach fund.

2021 YTD financial information: The objective for 2021 operating expenses is staying at or below our $797,756 operating expense budget and $150,000 capital budget (unless book sales increased beyond expectations, which they did). Year-to-date income was up 22% from a year ago. Expenses were 11% below budget at $356,821 and 8% above a year ago. Net operating income was -$41,776, 38% better than -$67,453 in 2020.

Community Relations

Collaboration between Urantia Foundation, Urantia Association International, the Urantia Book Fellowship, and other organizations keeps increasing. Urantia Foundation sponsors conferences, Zoom telethons, and outreach programs.

Both the Association and the Fellowship have elected new presidents this year. Enrique Traver from Brazil was elected as president of the Association, and Sue Snider Seccombe from Illinois was elected as president of the Fellowship. The three presidents continue to meet quarterly. Their first meeting was a meet-and-greet session filled with goodwill and discussion of each organization's goals and higher purposes.

Translations and Revisions

Spanish: An introduction to the Spanish revision occurred at the 2021 Urantia Association International Peru Conference. The launch of the digital and printed book is expected to be complete this winter. The revision team, committed to the highest quality, is doing final editing and proofreading. After thousands of hours and 10 years of work, the team is at the 25¾-mile mark in a 26-mile marathon. The volunteer team who created this beautiful revision has given the Spanish-speaking believers a gift lasting far into the future.

Portuguese: This revision is undergoing a three-round process. In the first round, the team completed 187 papers. The second and third rounds continue with expectations of completion and publication in late 2024.

Chinese: The translation in Simplified text is complete through Paper 193, and the Traditional text is complete through Paper 11. The translation team is working to ensure that terms and meanings are consistent across both sets of characters.

Farsi: The translation is complete through Paper 159.

Tagalog/Filipino: The translation team is working on Paper 12.

Thank you, and congratulations to the translators, revisors, and donors for facilitating the spread of the revelation globally.

Education and Outreach

Urantia Foundation will sponsor its third Science Symposium in June of 2022. The theme is “Science: The Interface of Evolution and Revelation.” The symposium will be held at Urantia Foundation and will be broadcast live.

We will also host the second Global Cultural Symposium, in person and on Zoom, in 2023. People from diverse world cultures will be invited to participate. The objectives are social connections and a deeper understanding of how the revelation can grow in various regions of the world.

Cultural Advisory Council

Urantia Foundation plans to invite the first four members of this council in the next six months. Its purpose is to widen the pool of wisdom and cultural diversity so that Urantia Foundation operates with a deeper global perspective.

Official Interpretations of The Urantia Book

The Trustees reaffirmed the following policy: “Urantia Foundation gives no official interpretation of the book's teachings. Interpretation of the text is left to the individual reader.”

Hamid Mazdeh

Invited Guest—Hamid Mazdeh

The translator of The Urantia Book into Farsi, Hamid Mazdeh, joined the meeting and enthusiastically updated the board on the mechanics and the challenges of the translation. He anticipates finishing by the end of 2024.