Letters to the Deputy COO



DIRECT NUMBER: 207-928-3603
                                                                                          E-MAIL:  PRESIDENT@UTOCHANGE.ORG
June  10, 2013

VIA E-MAIL (_President@utochange.org_) AND U.S. MAIL

Director of Missions
The Episcopal Church Center
815 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10017

Re:      Hiring of UTO Coordinator

Dear Sam,
I am writing on behalf of the United Thank Offering (“UTO”) Board of Directors regarding the Mission Department’s hiring of a new UTO Coordinator.  The UTO Board is concerned about this hiring because the current board members were not consulted about the Job Description Form posted April 27, 2012.  The Board is also concerned because it was not involved in the hiring of the new UTO Coordinator. The only participation was during the phone interview. The Board is committed to working closely with the Missions Department and will endeavor to include and incorporate the new UTO Coordinator in its operations as defined by the UTO’s bylaws and Policies and Procedures.  However, the job description posted by the Missions Department raises a few issues the Board believes should be addressed at the outset of this transition. 
April 27, 2012 UTO Coordinator Job Description
The “reporting relationships” section should state the UTO Coordinator shall be responsible to and report also to the UTO Board.  This is a requirement under the UTO Bylaws.  See Article IX, Section 3.
Item 2 of the “principal responsibilities” section refers to a “United Thank Offering Office.”  The Board is not aware of the existence of such an office. The recent reconfiguration of space requires scheduling a shared office space. However, our bylaws require the UTO have an office at the principle location of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.  We would like to discuss establishing such an office.  See Article IX, Section 2. 
Item 3 of the “principal responsibilities” section makes reference to a “UTO Team.”  The Board does not know what this term means.  Could you please clarify the meaning of this term?
Item 7 of the “principal responsibilities” should be amended to clarify that in addition to attending UTO Board Meetings the Coordinator also provides support for the needs of the Board and its members.  See Bylaws Article IX, Section 3.
Item 9 of the “principal responsibilities” section contains a listing of the Coordinator’s responsibilities as a member of the Board’s Grant Committee.  Unfortunately, due to the Boards implementation of an entirely electronic granting process many of the items listed are now outdated.  For example number 10 on this list refers to a “GIFTS” database.  This database is no longer in use.  We will need to discuss how to revise this list to make it compliant with the new granting process. 
Item 9 also states the Coordinator will accurately update and maintain the UTO website with the United Thank Offering Communication Committee Convener.  The Board believes this item is incorrect and should be amended because administrative control of the UTO website is the responsibility of the UTO Board.  The UTO web pages on the TEC website is to be maintained by the Coordinator in cooperation with the Communications Convener.
The “Other Functions and Responsibilities” section of the Job Description form states “Works as a collaborative member of the Global Partnership Team within the Mission Department and under the direction of the team leader.”  Is this function performed as a representative of the UTO or as a representative of DFMS?
The UTO Coordinator position is defined as a full-time UTO position funded 50% by DFMS and 50% by UTO.  This Job Description Form appears to indicate this position is also a DFMS position for the Missions Department.  This was not the intent of the Board and this description should be amended to accurately reflect that the UTO Coordinator position is a full-time position in which the Coordinator will work 100% of the time for the benefit of UTO. 
In the “Required” section there are a couple of references to grant management software and granting programs.  These items will of course need to be modified to reflect the new granting process and UTO’s use of an Apple-based system to run its granting programs. 
Items missing from the Job Description. 
In addition to the items listed above the Job Description Form does not contain several important items from the UTO Bylaws. 
Article IX, Section 4 of the bylaws states “The United Thank Offering Coordinator serves at the will of the United Thank Offering Board and the Officers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, subject to the personnel policies and procedures of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and applicable state laws.”  The job description should be amended to bring it into compliance with this section of the bylaws. 
Article X, Section 4 of the bylaws states “All business of the United Thank Offering Board requires prior approval. No business is to be transacted on behalf of United Thank Offering without the knowledge of the United Thank Offering Board President and/or the United Thank Offering Board Executive Committee. Should a United Thank Offering Board Member deliberately disregard these rules and/or regulations of the United Thank Offering, legal action will be taken.”  The job description does not address this section of the bylaws and the description should be amended to include a reference to this section of the bylaws. 
Finally, there are a few job duties enumerated in the UTO Policies and Procedures Manual that are missing from the Job Description form.  We have attached a copy of the applicable page of the Manual for your reference.  The Job Description should be amended to include at least items 1 through 7 of this list. 
Thank you for your attention to this matter.  We look forward to working with you to resolve the issues set forth in this letter.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Barbi Tinder
United Thank Offering Board President

Applicable Sections of UTO Bylaws and Policies and Procedures enclosed.

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