Updates from the April 2024 Trustee Meeting

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

Operations Overview

Books

Tamara Strumfeld reported that when all reports are received, sales will be up for the quarter. Portuguese sales were strong, as were sales of e-books. The exciting news, of course, was the online publication of the Chinese translation in simplified characters. Following a marvelous two-day conference in Taipei, 142 copies of the book were downloaded.

Education

Joanne Strobel reported that the January session of Urantia Book International School (UBIS) concluded on March 24. Offerings included 19 online courses plus one Zoom study group format, led by 22 volunteer teacher-facilitators from seven language branches. A total of 162 students earned a Certificate of Completion. The monthly Spotlight Series resumed after the holidays, and the recordings were made available on the Foundation’s YouTube channel.

Joanne noted that UBIS has come very far since Georges Michelson-Dupont introduced a nine-year plan four years earlier. A formula for success was developed, and while it has not been easy, progress has been made in adding trained teacher-facilitators in German, Hungarian, and Polish. The Spanish branch manager, Olga López, noted that cultivating a language branch in UBIS is a lot of hard work, but worth doing. Georges thanked Olga for all the work she has done, adding that she has been a shining example of leading a successful language branch for 20 years.

Urantia Foundation’s online “Marriage and Family Symposium” took place June 14 and 15. Brad Garner managed the Zoom Sessions platform. Recordings of the presentations will be available soon.

Tamara Strumfeld reported on the first-quarter activities of the Urantia Book Study Group Directory. The directory is running smoothly, and with so much of the work automated, the committee members mainly respond to reader inquiries. The annual cleanup is almost finished, and they recruited volunteers to help make phone calls to any group hosts who did not answer the emails sent to verify that the groups are still active and meeting. It’s exciting to see that there are now more study groups outside the United States than inside.

Fundraising and Finances

• Q1 unrestricted donations totaled 15% above Q1 of 2023 and 9% above Q1 budget.

• Restricted donations totaled 47% below Q1 of 2023 and 16% above Q1 budget.

• Q1 estate gifts totaled $421,691.

• Total income decreased by 8% compared to Q1 of 2023 and totaled 6% below the projected budget.

• Administrative expenses increased by 11% for Q1 and totaled 5% over budget.

• Total expenses decreased by 11% from Q1 of last year and totaled 11% under budget.

Mustard Seed Grants Program (MSGP)

The MSGP completed its first round of funding for 2024, and eight awards were approved at the April board meeting. Once again, the MSGP committee members worked tirelessly, analyzing and fairly assessing each application. The following were the recipients for the first round of grants.

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1. Urantia Book Teacher Education Program

• Applicant: Urantia University Institute

• Country: United States

• Focus Area: Education

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2. Creating an Academic Presence at the American Academy of Religion

• Applicant: Byron Belitsos

• Country: United States

• Focus Area: Academic Interfaith

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3. Nigerian Urantia Conference 2024

• Applicant: Emeka Anazodo

• Country: Nigeria

• Focus Area: Education

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4. That They May Know

• Applicant: Godwin Uzu

• Country: Nigeria

• Focus Area: Education

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5. Teaching the Fatherhood of God

• Applicant: Lilian Muthui

• Country: Kenya

• Focus Area: Urantia Book Outreach

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6. Urantia Forging Bridges Virtual School

• Applicant: Isabel Reinoso Manrique

• Country: Colombia

• Focus Area: Education

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7. Urantia Book Revelation Channel

• Applicant: Widi Nugroho

• Country: Indonesia

• Focus Area: Digital Outreach

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8. Christ Michael Center Outreach Services

• Applicant: Karo Akamune

• Country: United States

• Focus Area: Urantia Book Outreach in Nigeria

Cultural Advisory Council (CAC)

Newly appointed CAC member Jisoo Han gave a PowerPoint presentation on South Korea and the Korean peninsula, which covered the long history of its dynasties and eventual division into the North and South countries. She noted the various dialects spoken, the high level of literacy, and the value placed on education. The presentation ended with a Q&A session primarily relevant to the state of affairs in Korea regarding The Urantia Book and its study.

Governance

Mo Siegel reported that the expanded board will commence a five-year strategic planning session as part of the October quarterly meeting. The schedule will be similar to the 2019 planning session and will be modified to include more goals and strategy with fewer tactics. Joanne Strobel agreed to facilitate the planning meeting for the board once again.

Standard Reference Text (SRT)

Ken Keyser presented the SRT Committee's recommendations to the board. Of the five items that the committee reviewed, two were recommended and approved by the trustees. Three items were recommended to be rejected, but the trustees referred one of these items back to the committee for further consideration.

If you know of a passage in the English text of The Urantia Book that you would like the committee to review for a possible error, Tamara Strumfeld is the Foundation’s contact for the SRT Committee. You may email your suggestion to [email protected].

Translations

Georges Michelson-Dupont began his 102nd quarterly Translation Report by announcing the possibility of a Swahili translation of The Urantia Book, which will be a topic of discussion by the Translation Committee. Swahili is a language spoken by 120 million people in eight countries in Africa. A group in Kenya is being considered for this project.

He went on to report that, after 15 years, the translation of The Urantia Book into the Farsi language is nearing completion. The Portuguese revision is nearly finished as well and will be coming under review soon.

The Spanish Review Team has been working with the research company IPSOS based in Bolivia. The qualitative phase is complete. Eight focus groups were held to gather perceptions of the Spanish translations from the readership. The quantitative phase will be a survey developed in collaboration with Urantia Foundation and IPSOS. All Spanish-speaking readers will be invited to fill it out, and we hope to receive a broad response.