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All about the
UU Funding Program UU Funding Program |
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All about the
UU Funding Program UU Funding Program |
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The UU Funding Program is a program to award grants to UU groups and to support UU interests. Program Director Hillary Goodrich and panel chairs described recent activity and offered advice on applying for grants. The UUFP has four grant panels, each of which gives away about $250,000 per year in grants of no more than $20,000.
Their goal is to provide seed money to start projects that will continue. They don't fund continuing church operations nor capital projects. Often they provide matching grants that the recipient has to match; despite grousing, 90% of recipients make the match.
The Fund for Unitarian Universalism funds all sorts of U-U projects except for social action. Areas include UU history, worship, RE curricula, and membership outreach. A recent grant to the First UU Society of Burlington, VT church funded ministry for the deaf, providing startup money for signing.
The Fund for UU Social Responsibility makes grants to increase involvement in social responsibility, particularly to implement GA resolutions. They want to involve as many UUs as possible in social action.
The Fund for a Just Society funds non-UU organizations for systemic change, again often for subjects of GA resolutions.
The newest panel, the Fund for International Unitarian Universalism helps to build UU institutions world-wide. One grant went to found a mango farm in the Philippines that will support its local UU church. Another support a U.S. tour by the choir of the Unitarian high school in Cluj, Transylvania (Romania.)
Advice for grant seekers includes:
- Clearly describe the action to be supported. The panels read 25 to 50 proposals each, often the first grants the writers have ever made. UUs are skilled at diagnosing problems, but not at proposing solutions.
- Ask for funding for programs you believe in.
- The more local people involved, the better. The UUFP doesn't fund "lone eagles."
- Once a proposal is funded, they'll often accept subsequent requests for a second or third year.
- Submit proposals early, since you can amend them up until the deadline. UUFP staff regularly consults over the phone to help neophyte grant writers.
Reported for the Web by John R. Levine
General Assembly 2001 · Program Grid
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