Hello All –
We promised a synopsis of our survey that was sent out a couple of months ago, so here are some of the things we gleaned from your responses. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts with us!
We were happy to see that for most who attend regularly, either in person or on ZOOM, your experience at Paths of Heart is a welcoming, uplifting, and fulfilling one and many wouldn't change a thing! Some would like more music, community singing, and meditation (we like those ideas!). Some would like to see more racial and age diversity (we would, too, and welcome ideas for how to reach out to different populations in that respect). We got a question about childcare, which we used to provide, but haven't had a request for in recent years. We would be happy to explore this option again. Please reach out to us (since our survey was anonymous, we don't know who asked for this!) so that we can meet that need.
It is overwhelmingly apparent that this "Covid thing", either directly or indirectly, is still having a great effect on our attendance. Some still need to be extremely careful of being exposed because of health issues; others are happily scheduling all the activities and vacations that they put off for the last 2 years and thus are too busy to attend. Some have just gotten into a different routine after such a long period of self isolation - a few mentioned that after so much seclusion it feels difficult to get out there and be social again (we can relate!).
The folks who engage regularly with Paths of Heart feel invested in the Paths of Heart community and are contributing financially at a level that is comfortable for them. We appreciate that! Quite a few respondents were unaware of the financial resources needed to run our non-profit. All are welcome to review our Profit and Loss Statements and yearly budget proposals and actuals, though we'll mention a few of our major expenses here: We (Colleen and Mark) are paid for orchestrating and presenting each Sunday at Paths of Heart (as are our guest presenters and musicians). Our compensation has always been well below the industry standard for similar organizations and we have recently taken a voluntary pay reduction as well to conserve Paths of Heart's resources at this time. Other expenses are our website (domain name registration and yearly renewal, web hosting, website maintenance and updates), office expenses (newsletter, bookkeeping, copier paper and ink cartridges, etc.), Paths of Heart's financial commitment to other charitable organizations that align with our vision and mission (we support 3 with monthly giving and others through your suggestions or when the spirit moves...), and general upkeep of our gathering space (cleaning and supplies). We hope this gives people a better understanding of the commitment and work that goes into Paths of Heart on a weekly basis.
Most survey participants liked the "2 in-person, 1 Zoom a month" option for frequency, though for now we'll have to stick with just one of each a month until our finances improve. There wasn't enough interest in the weekday evening option to pursue at this time.We trust this synopsis makes our situation clearer to everyone. The future of Paths of Heart remains uncertain in these tricky times. We’ll keep having our gatherings as long as we have the support to do so – we are so grateful for that support and your investment in our spiritual community. Here’s our schedule for the next couple of months:
August 14th – No Paths of Heart
August 21st – in person, potluck after gathering
August 28th – No Paths of Heart
September 4th – in person
September 11th – ZOOM gathering
September 18th and 25th – No Paths of Heart
October 2nd – in person
Have a great weekend everyone!
Love, Colleen and Mark, the POH Board, and our Survey Committee