2026 Pledge Drive

Rev. John Riley, Senior Minister
650-849-1105
revJohn@UnityPaloAlto.org

Dear Friends,

We started 2025 with a powerful intention: Come Alive and Thrive in 2025! And wow, has that intention turned into a reality at Unity Palo Alto!
That seed grew into powerful energy, activity, and connection here at Unity Palo Alto. You can feel it the moment you walk onto campus. There is a warmth, a glow, and a sense that what we are building TOGETHER truly matters. People tell me all the time that they notice it too.

Unity Palo Alto has come alive everywhere:

• Over forty volunteers are creating a warm, welcoming space, supporting you spiritually and socially, and supporting me operationally.
• Our Women’s Group is on fire!
• Our courtyard and bookstore buzz with connection after every service.
• Our social calendar is packed!
• People who found us online love what they hear and are showing up in person.
• I continue to hear about how LET THEM has brought you confidence and peace.
• New friends are arriving every week, and old friends are returning.

At a time when spiritual communities everywhere are shrinking, we’re expanding, not just in numbers, but in depth, in joy, in impact.

I’m in awe of the creativity we have in our community. I’m so grateful for your commitment to our spiritual principles. I’m overwhelmed by how you give of your time, talent and treasure.

And I’m proud. This community practices what it wants to see in the world, which creates a ripple effect that extends far beyond our campus:

When you find your center and balance here, you bring it to your workplace, your family, your grocery store interactions. When you practice curiosity instead of certainty here, you model it everywhere you go and encourage others to do the same.

Beyond building a spiritual community, we’re seeding a different way of being in the world, one person at a time. That’s how we are co-creating a world that works for all.

We are building momentum, the type of momentum that grows when people are aligned in heart, purpose, and possibility. We are doing it together, step by step!

2026 – Our Breakout Year!

I see 2026 as a defining year for Unity Palo Alto. Our message and tools have a magnetic quality right now: they are positive, empowering, and practical. And our community instantly wraps around people to make them feel connected and supported. We are a powerful force!

Our priorities for 2026:

More programs that serve you – mind, body, and soul – and strengthen our community ties. Whether you’re deepening a 10-year practice or exploring a Unity practice for the first time, there’s a way to engage that fits your life.

 More pathways that lead newcomers from discovery to belonging. Our marketing plan will 1) help improve visibility so more people discover us and 2) create more entry points—workshops, groups, online content—that let them try us on for size and keep coming back. Because when all of this works together, the awkward first visit becomes “I think I found my place. I think I found my people.”

 A campus that matches our spirit. Warm, welcoming, accessible spaces that feel as good as the community that gathers in them.

 High-value youth and parent programming. Our goal is to enhance our offerings for Sundays and during the week, and create programs that build social-emotional strength and well-being in kids and support and help parents. We’ll also dial up how we spread the word so families know we are here for them.

Our 2026 Offering Goal: $265,000

In 2025, the community contributed $250,000 via general offerings and the summer Thrive Together campaign, which underwrote 75% of Unity Palo Alto’s operations. The remaining 25% came from rentals and other sources of revenue. I am filled with gratitude for your generosity and love.

Your 2026 pledge towards our goal of $265,000 in donations, which will support 77% of operations, enables us to invest in the priorities outlined above and, together, create our breakout year.

Our long-term vision: 100% of operations supported by donations and a community where everyone participates at whatever level feels meaningful to them. Right now, 90% of our donations come from 10% of our donors. Your pledge, whatever the amount, helps us build a more sustainable, broadly-supported foundation. As we say – divine love multiplies!

I invite you to take a moment to go within and think about what Unity Palo Alto has meant to you – how a Sunday talk sparked something in you, how LET THEM transformed your outlook, how a social event filled your soul with joy, how a connection in the courtyard touched you when you needed it most.

I invite you to envision 2026, where we continue to thrive, and our magnetic energy creates an even bigger ripple effect on the larger community and world.

Enclosed is a pledge card, and at the end of this letter is a QR code that you can use to share your giving intentions for 2026.

This is Our Moment

We are living in a time of fast change, deep uncertainty, and so much noise. It’s easy for people to feel disconnected and overwhelmed. Our community stands for something different.

I look around and see you demonstrating what it looks like to meet the world with curiosity instead of reactivity, meeting difficulty with compassion instead of judgment, meeting one another with generosity instead of fear.

Your pledge and your support ensure that more people can experience that shift.

Together, we affirm that 2026 will be a year of growth, connection, and joyful impact.

With gratitude,