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Volume 11, Issue 3. October 2017U R A N T I A F O U N D AT I O N ’ S N E W SO NLINEF REE D OWNLOADS OFT HE U RANTIA B OOKAT URANTIA . ORGelectronic formats. Why somany formats? We constantlystrive to accommodate anever-increasing assortmentof devices, the differentsoftware on each, andconsumer preferences forone electronic format overanother. Which format is bestfor you? Click here.INSIDE THIS ISSUE:Free Downloads ofThe Urantia Bookat urantia.org1Noteworthy Decisions fromthe July 2017 Board ofTrustees Meeting2Urantia Foundation’s Index 5of The Urantia BookDancing with God6The 2018 UrantiaAssociation InternationalConference7The IC’17 Children’sProgram8Signs and Wonders9Ask and You Shall Receive11By Joanne Strobel, UrantiaFoundation, Illinois, UnitedStatesUrantia Foundation has beenproviding free electronicdownloads of The UrantiaBook and its translations foralmost eight years, since2010. The primary reasonwhy we provide them for freeis our commitment todissemination. In Article II ofthe Foundation's Declarationof Trust it says:The concordant objectsfor which theFoundation is createdare to perpetuallypreserve inviolate thetext of The Urantia Bookand to disseminate theprinciples, teachings,and doctrines of TheUrantia Book.Free electronic downloadsare now available in eighteenlanguages and in twenty-sixAnother reason for providingfree downloads is to increasethe availability of the bookaround the world. You’veundoubtedly heard that thenumber of bookstores israpidly declining. Whilethousands of new books arepublished each year, anybook published in prior yearsis considered “backlisted.”That makes The UrantiaBook a backlisted book ofsixty-two years. The likelihoodthat a bookstore will stockThe Urantia Book isdiminishing year by year. Andthat significantly reduces thechance of someonestumbling across it whilebrowsing bookshelves in ashop.While Urantia Foundationdoes its utmost to place thephysical book in brick-andmortar bookstores and onlineretail stores around the world,the challenges are endless.Some corners of the globepresent difficulties―if notimpossibilities―whenattempting to distribute thephysical book. But our effortsare rewarded by knowing that, nomatter where you call home,whether it be Africa, SouthAmerica, Asia, or Europe, if youhave a Wi-Fi connection, then thebook can be downloaded in itsentirety. It is comforting to knowthat neither income levels, norgeographical locations arebarriers for obtaining The UrantiaBook.Cesare Nicoletti of Italy wrote, “Idiscovered The Urantia Bookonline by searching ‘Religions inItaly.’ How wonderful it was todownload the Italian translationfrom urantia.org. Since then Ihave been helping Italians findthe book online throughWikipedia and my Facebook page.I am confident that soon therewill be a reader's group in Italy."The number of downloads fromurantia.org continues to increase.When you combine the number ofdownloads from our website withThe Apple app
URANTIA FOUNDATION’S NEWS ONLINEthose of the Apple (iPhone)App, the numbers exceeded100,000 in 2016 alone.Richard Jernigan is a fan ofthe Apple app and wrote,“The Apple app of TheUrantia Book is beautifullylaid out, closely approximatesthe print version, and hasversatility to fit one'spersonal preferences. I use itdaily.”And the App developer writes,“If you have the app, pleasetake a moment in the AppStore and write a favorablereview. It really makes adifference. Apple uses thenumber and quality ofreviews to decide how oftento show an app in searchresults, among other benefits.A simple yet long-lasting anduseful way to help peoplediscover The Urantia Book isto lend your voice by leavingthoughtful online reviewswherever the book isavailable.”Make no mistake: We are stillselling more than twentythousand physical bookseach year. But when youfactor in the number ofdownloads, you can concludethat slowly but surely thisrevelation is spreading!N O TE W ORT HY D E C ISIONS FR OM TH EJ ULY 2017 B OAR D O F T R UST E ESgetting The Urantia Book andits teachings into the world.Work at 533 and BeyondBy Judy Van Cleave, Trustee,Secretary, UrantiaFoundation, Idaho, UnitedStatesNew Executive DirectorStarting on September 1,2017, Tamara Strumfeldbecame the new executivedirector of UrantiaFoundation. This welldeserved promotion comesfollowing her nearly 14 yearsof service at UrantiaFoundation. During Tamara’stenure she has done almostevery job imaginable,including the implementationof numerous committeeinitiatives and themanagement of a wide arrayof translations, bookdistribution, and outreachprojects. Tamara has been adiligent server of the circlesbecause of her dedication toThe day-to-day work ofUrantia Foundation wentrather smoothly during thesecond quarter of 2017.Tamara, Joanne, and Ashleymade sure that we did notmiss a beat. Another specialthank you goes to all theboard committees, especiallyto the website committeeconsisting of RichardJernigan, Víctor García-Bory,Lu Schanfarber, and TamaraStrumfeld. Additional thanksgo to Sherry Layton for heroutstanding work on theChinese fundraiser.Some people wonder howour very small staff getseverything done. It is truethat we have a small team onTamara Strumfeldsite, but a much larger teamof outsourced contractorsand volunteers assistingthem. We have become very21st century andvirtual/zoom in our work withoutsourced help. Howfortunate to have such atalented team of readersworldwide working for theFoundation!Here is a list of most of theoutsourced team: Team Zig(website managementcompany); Mary Jo Garasciaand website translatorsworking on urantia.org;Michael Zehr as UBISwebmaster; Bob Soloneworking on reader services;Cece Forrester doingadministrative tasks, editing,and data entry; Larry Watkinson programming of text files;Georges Michelson-Duponton text formatting; JohnStrobel and Ken Keyser onmaintenance, repairs, andoversight of the building; overtwo dozen translators andrevisers; Jay Peregrineassists the TranslationCommittee; Tim Kenny andKnutte and Associatesprovide accounting andauditing; the UBIS board andfacilitators are all volunteers;Bob Purcell provides ourtrademark and copyrightwork; and IT maintenance iscontracted with Geek Squadand Tim Kenny’s IT manager,Paul Kenar. In addition to theTim Kennyoutsourced team, individualboard members work andaccomplish so much for theFoundation.Committee ReportsAs always, the boardreviewed reports from theBook, Education, Finance,Fundraising, Governance andNominations, PublicRelations, and TranslationCommittees. A great deal ofwork continues on all fronts.As new milestones areaccomplished, we will sharethem with you.FinancesThe second quarter of 2017was a “steady-state” quarterin spending with ourinvestments doing well.Expenses were slightly above2016 but below budget. Weexpect that trend to continue.Donations year-to-date are
URANTIA FOUNDATION’S NEWS ONLINEup because of a one-timeestate distribution and anearly 2017 year-end-matchpledge. Normal donationswere slightly above last year.As usual, the winter matchfundraiser will be vital tofinishing 2017 with abalanced budget.BooksYear-to-date physical booksales were down around 9%.Tamara reported, “This iscertainly not due to a lack ofeffort on the Foundation’spart. We all know that thebook industry is changing,and that keeping a 1955backlisted book in thebookstores is becoming moredifficult. Still, I do not feel thatthis is a trend, but rather thenatural ebb and flow ofgrowth.” Hopefully, by the endof 2017, we will be back topositive growth of physicalbook sales. On the brightside, German book sales wereup 277%.The number of Urantia Booksdownloaded fromwww.urantia.org continues togrow. So far 57,349 bookshave been downloaded, whichis up 41% from 2016. Whenyou factor in these downloadsplus downloads from theUrantia Book Apple app,clearly the Urantia Revelationis getting into the world but bya different means than ourpredecessors ever imagined.We live in a new digital age,and our job is to make TheUrantia Book and itsteachings easily available onthe web. With that said, webelieve there remains a vitalneed to keep physical booksreadily available.OutreachUrantia Foundation has adesire and budget to supportoutreach efforts by readersand organizations. Wefrequently provide low-cost oreven free books andsecondary literature to thosewho are sharing therevelation with potential newreader communities. If youhave an outreach project thatneeds our help, please ask.While our budgets are limited,we frequently have enoughresources to support localreader outreach efforts. It isour sacred duty to bring thisrevelation to the truth-hungrysouls of this world.Succession PlanningThe promotion of TamaraStrumfeld to executivedirector signals the truebeginning of transitioning theleadership of UrantiaFoundation to the nextgeneration. Tamara will do anexcellent job, and so will heryounger cohorts. Successionplanning and implementationis the highest organizationalpriority of Urantia Foundation.This bridge to the futureincludes who leads, how wereach younger readers, theservices we provide, and thefinancial legacy we leave forthe next generation. A newfund has been created calledthe “Generation Bridge.” If youwant to invest in the revelationand the next generation ofbelievers, please make outyour wills and specify that youare giving to the “GenerationBridge.” Note in your will thatyour donation is earmarked forthis fund. Of course, you needto provide for your families, butinvesting in the revelationprovides fuel for building amore spiritual and peacefulworld.The New and Improved Trademark PolicyAs we discussed after theApril meeting, UrantiaFoundation has passed thefollowing new trademarkpolicy.2017 Usage Policy for UrantiaFoundation’s RegisteredTrademarks:Urantia, Urantian, and theConcentric Circles SymbolUrantia Foundation’s newpolicy for trademark usagewas approved by the Board ofTrustees on April 22, 2017. Itwas revised from the 1998policy due to the manychanges brought about bydevelopments with theInternet, smartphones, socialmedia, blogs, and theexpanding global distributionof The Urantia Book. This newpolicy expands the safeharbor and fair-use rights forthe name Urantia, Urantian,and the Concentric CirclesSymbol (consisting of threeazure blue concentric circleson a white background).This policy is based on thefollowing guiding principlesthat protect UrantiaFoundation’s trademarkswhile providing fair use andsafe harbors.1. Preserve the text of TheUrantia Book inviolate byusing the circles and thename Urantia Foundation toidentify The Urantia Book andtranslations published byUrantia Foundation.2. Empower others to expandthe awareness, education,dissemination, andsocialization of the good newsof The Urantia Book.3. Safeguard the nameUrantia to protect it frombeing preempted. The nameUrantia should lead people toThe Urantia Book.If you have any questionsabout this policy or other usesof the registered trademarks,please contact UrantiaFoundation by telephone at 1 (773) 525-3319, by emailat urantia@urantia.org, or byletter addressed to UrantiaFoundation, 533 W. DiverseyParkway, Chicago, Illinois60614, USA.Fair Use andSafe HarboredRights1. The term“Urantia” maybe used inreference to the planet earth.The terms “Urantian” or“Urantians” may be used inreference to inhabitants ofthe planet earth or to personswho read The Urantia Book.Both “Urantia” and “Urantian”may be used as an expressionof a person’s faith and beliefsystem.2. The Concentric CirclesSymbol and/or the wordUrantia may be used inconnection with non-profit andnon-commercial activities(other than in connection withcopies of significant portions ofThe Urantia Book). Theseinclude events celebrating therelationship between humansand God, such as prayersessions and worship groups;Urantia Book conferences andstudy groups; and ceremoniessuch as baptisms, weddings,and funerals. Publishedmaterials in print and on socialmedia postings for theseactivities may include theConcentric Circles Symboland/or the word “Urantia.”There should be no suggestion
URANTIA FOUNDATION’S NEWS ONLINEthat Urantia Foundationapproves, sponsors, orendorses an activity or isaffiliated with the activityunless Urantia Foundationagrees in writing to suchparticipation. The trademarksymbols “TM” and “ ” maynot be used in print or webbased materials inassociation with theseactivities.3. The Concentric CirclesSymbol and the word“Urantia” may be displayedon any page of a websiteprovided that:The word Urantia is used 1)as an identifier of anindividual’s beliefs, 2) as areference to The UrantiaBook, or 3) in reference tothe name of planet earth.The symbol is not used asthe website identifier butrather to convey othermeanings associated withthe symbol as described inThe Urantia Book such asthe banner of Michael, thesymbol of Melchizedek, orthe material emblem of theTrinity government. Thesymbol may also be used asan identifier of a person’sbeliefs in the teachings ofThe Urantia Book similar tothe way Christians use thecross. The circles and theword Urantia cannot be usednext to each other as anidentifier or like a trademarkunless licensed by UrantiaFoundation. There should beno suggestion that UrantiaFoundation approves,sponsors, or endorses thewebsite or is affiliated withthe website unless UrantiaFoundation agrees in writingto such participation. Thetrademark symbols “TM”and “ ” should not appearwith the Concentric CirclesSymbol or the term “Urantia”on a website.4. An individual person mayuse the Concentric CirclesSymbol and the words“Urantia” and “Urantian” asan indication of his or herpersonal faith in God and hisor her respect for theteachings set forth in TheUrantia Book. This includesusing the circles and/or theword “Urantia” on personalsocial media pages, such asFacebook. The trademarksymbols “TM” and “ ”should not appear with theConcentric Circles Symbol orthe term “Urantia” on asocial media page.5. Jewelry, drinking utensils,shirts, headgear, key chains,ID tags, tote bags, bannersand flags, license plates,writing
22.04.2017 · download the Italian translation from urantia.org. Since then I have been helping Italians find the book online through Wikipedia and my Facebook page. I am confident that soon there will be a reader's group in Italy." The number of downloads from urantia.org continues to increase. When you combine the number of downloads from our website with The Apple app . URANTIA FOUNDATION’S
