Now is the Time: 2026 Capital Campaign
2026 Capital Campaign
Nowis the Time
Building the church Baton Rouge will need
$3 million to fund the strategic plan the congregation chose on August 2, 2026.
Why now
For 75 years, the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge has been a place where people have come seeking justice, compassion, connection, and community. Today that calling is stronger than ever.
This campaign to fund our strategic plan is about preparing a sanctuary and creating the congregation Baton Rouge needs for the next generation.
Across the country, fear has sown division. Our neighbors are being told that they don’t belong here. At this moment, our congregation is choosing another path. Now is the time to widen the circle. A time for UCBR not to retreat, but to become more fully who we have always aspired to be: a community that welcomes widely, acts courageously, and stands on the side of love and justice.
Our strategic plan calls us toward preemptive radical hospitality. That means not waiting until someone arrives at our door to ask what they might need. It means doing the work now to become a place of belonging, safety, connection, and action for people we may not even know yet.
We are already learning what that can look like. When increased ICE activity in Baton Rouge left immigrant families afraid, UCBR members joined with Mision Migrante to provide food, legal and notary services, Know Your Rights workshops, and court observation. Our commitment to racial justice calls us to confront racism and work toward a more equitable community. We provide refuge for LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender people, for whom walking into a church can be an act of courage. QUUeer Fête, our annual musical festival, tells queer people they are not merely accepted; they are celebrated.
The strategic plan this campaign funds was not created by consultants or by a committee. It was created by our congregation: more than 100 volunteers, 40 team leaders guiding 20 planning teams. On August 2, 2026, the congregation enthusiastically endorsed that vision.
“Now is our time to realign our building and ourselves to become the church this city and state needs. Now is our time to recommit ourselves to a more inclusive, loving, and intentional community.”Rev. Nathan Ryan, Senior Minister. Read his full letter in the booklet.
Our vision
We are a resilient, radically welcoming Unitarian Universalist community where every person is celebrated, every voice matters, and our actions radiate love, as we serve as a sanctuary within the Baton Rouge area for belonging and a beacon for bold, joyful change.
Our story
In 1948, a small band of visionaries seeking a place for liberal religion that challenged segregation began to meet. Their first gatherings were in the basement of the Old State Capitol, until protests over their “outlandish religion” forced them out. In 1952, the Unitarian Fellowship of Baton Rouge was chartered, with the Rev. Albert D’Orlando of New Orleans as its mentor. The oak planted in his honor still stands on our campus.
For fifteen years the Fellowship gathered in eight different meeting places, held together by conviction rather than a building. The first house they bought stood in the path of the new interstate; its sale to the city for $10,000 seeded the search for a permanent home. Their last stop, a house at 5803 Government Street, carried the “Wayside Pulpit,” whose liberal messages caught the eye of passing drivers. The Women’s Alliance filled the building fund with cookbooks and spaghetti suppers.
In 1964, the Fellowship bought three acres at 8470 Goodwood Boulevard and broke ground. The sanctuary they built, now our Fellowship Hall, was dedicated in 1965. The Fellowship called its first minister, the Rev. Toby Van Buren, in 1969, and became a Church under the Rev. Glenn Turner in the late 1970s.
Three capital campaigns have followed, each an act of faith in the generation to come: a larger sanctuary in 1988, a bigger Religious Education wing and offices in 1998, and the 2012 Great Expectations campaign, our first to raise $1.5 million, which rebuilt the parking lot, created the Peace Garden, and grew our staff. This, our fourth campaign, is built on the shoulders of those who, 75 years ago, started us on our journey as a beacon for others who need what a liberal and progressive faith community has to offer.
Where your gift goes
The strategic plan is big. The ask is simple. Every dollar you give to this campaign does one of four things.
Staff, Systems and Programs
$680,000A building alone cannot do this work. What turns a campus into a community is people: the staff who hold it together, the volunteers who show up, and the programs that make a newcomer feel expected rather than tolerated.
- Racial justice and beloved community: the UUA Mosaic platform, art and symbols that reflect our community of communities, programs that build interracial, intercultural, and interfaith goodwill, and a campus audit to lower barriers.
- An Operations Director to run day-to-day administration and support our volunteers. Staff pay moved toward UUA-recommended levels.
- Faith formation that is multigenerational and year-round, and social justice programming: comprehensive sexuality education (OWL), reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ support, and speakers worth traveling for.
- Music: new instruments and more ways to take part at every age. Systems: a full administrative platform with a church app, a modern website, and mobile giving.
Transforming Grounds
$350,000 est.Our grounds should say what our sign says: welcome. Today too much of the campus is plain grass, standing water after a hard rain, and pavement that has cracked and heaved.
- Drainage that finally works, connected pathways, and the old playground repurposed.
- Native and edible plantings throughout: a food forest for people and wildlife, rain gardens, and privacy plantings for the sanctuary and music room.
- The central courtyard turned into a shaded gathering space, an open-sided pavilion, and swings and a play structure with safe surfacing.
Restored and Reimagined Interior
$2,500,000 est.Few things are as frustrating as not being able to hear the speaker. Our kitchen has not been remodeled in more than thirty years. Our restrooms are showing their age. And a member who cannot manage stairs still cannot join the choir or step onto the chancel.
- Accessibility for every body: updated doorways and thresholds, a welcoming entrance with inclusive signage, a covered dropoff, wheelchair-accessible classrooms, and smooth paved paths.
- Live transcription of worship, streamed to a second room, and hearing assistance in the sanctuary.
- The kitchen and kitchenette remodeled. Restrooms upgraded, plumbing fixed, and single-stall rooms that carry dignity for all.
- New flooring and furnishings, a larger Fellowship Hall, rooms for reflection and low-sensory quiet, and office space that fits our staff.
- The sound booth relocated, acoustic panels, a cohesive chancel with an ancestor memorial, and hybrid-meeting technology for classrooms and the Fellowship Hall.
Built to Endure
$200,000 est.Are we safe? We live in times that ask us to think about it, from the classrooms to the sanctuary. And when the next storm takes the grid down, a church with power becomes a refuge for the whole neighborhood. These repairs and safeguards are not extras. They are the roof, the water, and the power that let every other gift last.
- A comprehensive repair and preventive maintenance plan, with a team to carry it out.
- HVAC and energy savings, so cooling holds through longer, hotter summers.
- Backup power during disasters, then a permanent source: a natural-gas generator or a 20 kW rooftop solar array.
- Communication channels that work when broadband does not, remote fire monitoring, and the measures in our comprehensive safety plan.
How giving works
This fall a Visiting Steward from the congregation will sit down with you. The conversation has two parts: your annual pledge, and then your commitment to the capital campaign.
First, your annual pledge
Your pledge funds the day-to-day life of the church for the coming year: worship, staff, programs, and keeping the doors open. The annual budget comes first. A capital campaign only makes sense on top of a fully supported yearly budget.
Suggested fair-share pledge, as a share of net income, by your financial capacity and level of engagement:
| Core | Active | Casual | Resting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup is low | 1–2% | 1–2% | 1–2% | 1–2% |
| Cup is adequate | 8–10% | 5–8% | 3–5% | 1–3% |
| Cup is full | 13–15% | 10–13% | 7–10% | 5–7% |
| Cup runs over | 15%+ | 13%+ | 10%+ | 7%+ |
A starting point, not a rule. The full guide, with its reflection questions, comes in your steward packet.
Then, your capital commitment
Purpose: To fund the strategic plan the congregation endorsed on August 2, 2026, so that it happens rather than waits.
The goal: $3 million, given over and above your annual pledge.
How it works: Commitments are made this fall and fulfilled over time, up to three years, in payments at any frequency. For many households this gift comes from savings or investments rather than income.
Ways to give
- Cash or check, monthly, quarterly, or yearly over time, up to 36 months.
- Appreciated stock, transferred directly, which avoids capital gains tax.
- A qualified charitable distribution from an IRA, for donors 70½ and older.
- A grant from a donor-advised fund, or a gift of real estate or other property.
Please consult your financial or legal advisor. The church office can help with any transfer.
Cost and gift chart
| Bucket | Projected cost |
|---|---|
| Staff, Systems and Programs | $680,000 |
| Transforming Grounds (est.) | $350,000 |
| Restored and Reimagined Interior (est.) | $2,500,000 |
| Built to Endure (est.) | $200,000 |
| Campaign goal | $3,000,000 |
Interior and resilience figures are early estimates from our architect. The first $2 million funds the Foundational plan; the full $3 million funds the Sustainable plan the congregation chose.
Essential gifts chart: $3 million over three years
| Gift range | Gifts | Expected |
|---|---|---|
| Major gifts | ||
| $100,000 and above | 3 | $525,000 |
| $75,000 to $99,999 | 4 | $340,000 |
| $50,000 to $74,999 | 6 | $360,000 |
| $40,000 to $49,999 | 7 | $315,000 |
| $30,000 to $39,999 | 9 | $306,000 |
| $20,000 to $29,999 | 12 | $288,000 |
| Subtotal, major gifts | 41 | $2,134,000 |
| General gifts | ||
| $15,000 to $19,999 | 14 | $238,000 |
| $10,000 to $14,999 | 16 | $192,000 |
| $7,500 to $9,999 | 17 | $144,500 |
| $5,000 to $7,499 | 18 | $108,000 |
| $3,000 to $4,999 | 22 | $83,600 |
| $1,000 to $2,999 | 28 | $50,400 |
| Under $1,000 | Many | $49,500 |
| Subtotal, general gifts | 189 | $866,000 |
| Total | 230 | $3,000,000 |
Your gift over three years
| Gift | Yearly (3) | Monthly (36) |
|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | $33,333 | $2,778 |
| $50,000 | $16,667 | $1,389 |
| $25,000 | $8,333 | $694 |
| $15,000 | $5,000 | $417 |
| $10,000 | $3,333 | $278 |
| $7,500 | $2,500 | $208 |
| $5,000 | $1,667 | $139 |
| $3,000 | $1,000 | $83 |
| $1,500 | $500 | $42 |
Commitments made this fall may be fulfilled over time, up to 36 months, at any frequency. Every gift counts.
In their words
“UCBR gives my queer family a safe and inclusive place to build community and explore our faith without having to subscribe to any particular doctrine. We love having a community that shares our values and grows alongside us.”Lanee Hughes
“This church is where we raised our children, where I’ve made some of the most meaningful connections of my life, and where I’ve watched people find community, purpose, and belonging. I give my time and my financial support because I want to help ensure this oasis remains here, not only for those of us who love it today, but for the people who haven’t found us yet and the generations still to come.”Marla Elsea
“UCBR is an oasis in a troubled world. I give to the church, not because it’s perfect or because it is untouched by the greater problems of the city. I give because it tries to be better in thought, word, and deed over and over again.”Canova Smith
“Of all the spaces in my life, this is one of the few where I always feel welcome, and where my family does too. It is where I feel most comfortable, most safe, and most seen. When I became a member, I knew I was committing to the church I wanted in the future, not only the church as it is today. That is why this capital campaign matters to me.”Jane Mitchell
Now it is our turn
Every generation of this congregation has left a gift for those who followed. Our founders met in borrowed rooms. The generation before us built this campus.
To care for what we have inherited
The sanctuary, the campus, and the community that founders and members before us built and sustained.
To strengthen what sustains us now
The programming, the staff, and the spaces that make belonging possible as the church grows and matures.
To prepare a home for those who will follow
A child not yet born, a grieving elder, a family still searching, a lonely person looking for connection, a young person wondering whether they are loved exactly as they are.
The future is already calling us. Now is the time to answer.