PYM Friends connected online and in-person this past fall for Fundraising Friends, Fall Continuing Sessions, and a Friends in Business event. Each of these opportunities brought Friends into clear work; they looked at financial stewardship in their meetings, reviewed the yearly meeting’s two witnesses, and considered how board service supports community as a whole.
Building Stronger Meetings Together Through Fundraising Friends
Strong and stable monthly meetings shape the life of our Quaker community; PYM supports Friends who hold fundraising responsibilities through an initiative called Fundraising Friends. These monthly gatherings create a space for Friends to share stories about the challenges and successes they have experienced in their meetings and to learn from peers and PYM staff.
During the first session in November, participants explored donor privacy, the spirituality of money, and welcoming new members into the life of giving. Friends left with practical tools and resources; sample language for confidentiality policies, helpful software suggestions, and ways to connect with relatives who care about historic graveyards.
Fundraising Friends will keep meeting each month as Friends exchange experience and support faithful care for financial stewardship across meetings.
Follow this link to learn more about Fundraising Friends: www.pym.org/an-invite-before-the-next-fundraising-friends-gathering-comes-together/
Rooted in Spirit, Moving Toward Change: Highlights from Fall Continuing Sessions
Friends gathered at Fall Continuing Sessions to listen for the Spirit and to consider how we are called to live out our meeting-wide witnesses; climate action and addressing racism.
Our witness on addressing racism, approved in 2015, has opened conversations that help integrate anti-racism work into the life of our yearly meeting. This ongoing labor continues as Friends share resources and updates.
The second witness, climate action, was approved in 2021. At Continuing Sessions, Friends described how monthly meetings and PYM operations are reducing their carbon footprint and practicing sustainable habits. These conversations linked Friends across our community as they learned from one another.
As these shared witnesses move forward, PYM staff and volunteers work with Friends by offering coordination, resources, and spaces where this labor can continue.
Use this link to learn what else happened at Fall Continuing Sessions: www.pym.org/fall-continuing-sessions-mott-memo-2025/
Where Spirit Meets Service: Friends in Business Gather at Arch Street
On November 18 at Arch Street Meeting House, business-minded Friends gathered for Friends in Business: Jeanes’ Vision is Temple’s Mission to look at how service on nonprofit boards can support our communities. Friends considered how their gifts, experience, and leadings might support organizations doing needed work.
PYM Friends Martin Ogletree and Joe Evans, with Elly Reinhardt, Matt Shelak, and Jerry Oetzel, described how their involvement with the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation and the Temple University Health System helps address health disparities, widen access to care, and uphold Quaker values inside large institutions.The gathering invited Friends to consider board service; several attendees expressed interest in exploring opportunities. Strengthening connections among business-oriented Friends is a central purpose of Friends in Business, and this event reflected that intention. Attendance passed fifty Friends and showed the rising energy in this network.
Friends in Business offers a place where shared interests, experience, and spiritual commitment meet service. More gatherings will offer Friends ways to keep learning, connecting, and discerning how their leadership can support communities.
Friends can email Joe Kirkenir at jkirkenir@pym.org to learn more about Friends in Business.
