UTO Ingathering
In the late 1800s, the women of The Episcopal Church were gathered for their triennial meeting and reviewing the requests for funding that they received from Episcopal missionaries and their communities. The idea was created to take up a thank offering from the women gathered and give the funds away. That first year, 1883, half of the collection was given to support domestic missions and the other half for those outside of the United States.
MTF in Action
Because of the Memorial Trust Fund, no United Thank Offering (UTO) administrative or staffing costs are paid for by the annual UTO Ingathering. The Trust promotes participation in the spiritual discipline of gratitude, which is the foundation of the United Thank Offering, by funding the creation and production of printed and online materials, videos, social media, smartphone apps, podcasts, and more. Finally, the Trust allows the staff and Board to promote UTO, administer the annual granting process, and respond to the needs of our members and leaders in living more grateful lives.
Give thanks for the special people and events in your life.
In recognition for faithful service in ministry, leadership or friendship.
For special events, such as births, confirmations, weddings, birthdays, and achievements.
In loving memory of a cherished friend, relative, church member or leader.
Your Gratitude Becomes a Gift and Legacy When You Give to the Memorial Trust Fund.
Sometimes, our gratitude needs to last more than a lifetime. By making a legacy gift to the United Thank Offering Memorial Trust fund, your gift will join with the gifts of others to ensure the work of promoting gratitude goes on for generations to come.
Using the form below, you can make a gift in the name of a person (or family) to the Memorial Trust Fund and if you provide us with their address, we will send a card informing them of your generous gift. We have two cards to choose from: one in celebration and one for memorials. (You can see the cards below.) We can also include your personal words of gratitude if you place them in the comments of the online donation form. Your gift is tax-deductible, and you will receive a thank you card that conforms to Internal Revenue Service standards.
Additionally, your name and the intention of your gift will be added to the Memorial Trust Book. The book is available digitally below and is updated in July and January. The printed version of the 1883-2015 book is now in the Archives of The Episcopal Church so the intentions of those donors will never be forgotten.
Thanking and acknowledging donors and their intentions.
The work of the United Thank Offering is made possible through the generous donations of our members who made gifts in thanksgiving or in memory of those whose lives blessed theirs, and those legacies are recorded digitally in the books listed below.
Likewise, you can make a gift as little as $5 today to support the work of UTO and your name and the intention of your gift will be added to the Memorial Trust Book.
The book is available digitally below and is updated in July and January. The printed version of the 1883-2015 book resides in the Archives of The Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas to ensure that the legacy of our donors, and their reasons for giving thanks, live on in perpetuity.
End-of-life Planning
Remember the MTF in your Will
If participating in the spiritual discipline of gratitude has impacted your life, we invite you to consider remembering the Memorial Trust in your will so that this ministry will continue to serve new generations and teach generosity and gratitude throughout the church.
Funeral Planning
As you begin to consider your end-of-life choices, we recommend thinking through those things you would prefer for your funeral. We’ve created a worksheet to help get you started, and we hope that you’ll list UTO as a donation site in lieu of flowers.
Give to the Memorial Trust Fund
To give online, please fill out the secured form below. To ensure your gift is towards the Memorial Trust Fund, select “United Thank Offering – Memorial Trust ” as the designation.