Fundraising, Generosity and our DVD

A DVD containing six humorous skits. Share them with your Board, share them in small groups, like Covenant Groups, to talk about generosity and stage them yourself in Stewardship campaigns. These simple skits can change the future of your Unitarian Universalist congregation, church, or fellowship.

How? By naming the elephant in the room when it comes to pledging, the canvas, and financial support for your church. And by making the elephant tell jokes at the same time.

A commentary by Marilyn Hartman, a long-time volunteer fund-raiser, testifies about the effectiveness of using these skits, and a commentary by the author, Paul Baerman, provides some insights into how these skits have struck people in our congregation, along with tips and advice about producing the skits yourself.

Dramas To Provoke Generosity contains videos produced by Jim McQuaid (Turnip) of six skits that the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF for short) has used to focus members' attention on things that matter, starting with generosity. The DVD also contains the complete scripts of these skits (and two more recent ones).

Net proceeds from sales of this DVD are donated to the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Durham, North Carolina.

Click the Disc Image to view the Creative Commons License.

Purchase the DVD: $20

The DVD is a kit for fostering generosity in your congregation. Here's an overview of the six skits:

  • In Barber To the Stars we watch a Yankee barber in Heaven cut a newcomer's hair while discussing generosity and hairstyles of the immortals.
  • In Call Tackling a gay couple deal with the implications of the call from a canvasser. One partner is open and supportive, the other "giving-impaired." It's a great conversation.
  • In The First Circle Virgil is our tour guide to Hell and we are his first busload of Unitarian Universalists!
  • The Vision Thing imagines Socrates in line to shake the Minister's hand after the service as he questions the assumptions of the hard-boiled guy in front of him whose daughter attends religious education classes.
  • A Taxing Weekend portrays a couple weighing charitable contributions against tax deadlines. Does it matter whether they pledge on time as long as they plan to eventually?
  • The Jesus Christ Philanthropic Consultancy PLLC shows us Dorothy, who is "spiritual, not religious" seeking advice from an unusual quarter.

You don't need a PayPal account - any major credit card works fine.

Use this button to purchase the DVD. You will need to enter your zipcode. The charge will include $2.00 for shipping and NC Sales Tax if you are a North Carolina resident. If you are an ERUUF member, we can deliver the DVD at church (and we will refund the $2.00 shipping charge, but PayPal seems to want to charge it anyway).

After you've used the DVD, send us an email and share your experience.