The web is full of valuable information, and you could end up surfing for days, finding great resources. Here is a short list of links you may find useful:
Denominational Website
- The UUA web site: Need we say more? Take some time to check out the links and make use of the SEARCH feature. Lots of good information here.uua.org
- The UUA Congregational Stewardship Network: The current and historical link to stewardship counsel. You can also contact the Stewardship for Us team through this office.
- The FORTH Stewardship Development Program: Includes the popular and free Congregational Stewardship Self-Assessment. (http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/forth)
- UUA Congregational Management>Finance: Here you will find links to the Annual Program Fund/GIFT (http://www.uua.org/giving/apf/index.shtml) and Planned Giving http://www.uua.org/giving/planned/index.shtml through the Office of Stewardship Development, as well as links to the Common Endowment (http://uucef.org ) and a wide range of other advice and resources.
- Break Through Congregations: Good examples and advice from Congregations that are doing well and living their vision. http://www.uua.org/growth/breakthrough
- Staffing Decisions, Design, and Structure: A good overview of the basics on staffing decisions. http://www.uua.org/safe/staffing
Social Media
- The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) maintains a large group of email lists (listservs). The most popular of these for stewardship folks is called “uumoney.” You can find it with this link and sign up. Note: With this list you can sign up to get every posting, or as a daily digest. Once you are a member of the list, you can also search the archive by topic: http://lists.uua.org
- Facebook has an active group called UUStewardship Lab. There are other Facebook groups that sometimes address stewardship, but this is the key one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UUStewardshipLab
- Also check out these FB Groups:
- Unitarian Universalists Exploring Congregations and Beyond
- UU Growth Lab
- UU Worship Lab
- CERG Leadership Development Lab
- Also check out these FB Groups:
- Innovative Learning Circles. We are hoping to start a stewardship Learning Circle (maybe two) in the Fall of 2015. Read about them, and if you are interested, let us know: http://growinguu.blogs.uua.org/
Planned Giving/Endowment
- If you are interested in learning more about how to build an endowment and about planned giving programs, the Unitarian Universalist Association has good resources on the UUA website: http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/plannedgiving/resources
- We at S4Us provide expert advice and assistance to establish strong planned giving and endowment programs. See our page on that support by visiting the Planned Giving and Endowment page.
Courses & Workshops
- The complete content for a couple of courses are on line in the Tapestry of Faith area of the UUA website: http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry
- Wisdom Path. “This program helps participants understand how decisions and attitudes about money can be an effective force for living lives of meaning and value, and for creating positive change in themselves, their congregations and groups, our society and the world.”
- Stewardship: The Joy of Giving. “A five-session program guide in which primary children, intermediate children, youth, and adults can learn about stewardship with their peers, then celebrate it together.”
- Unitarian Universalist General Assembly (GA). Almost every year, GA has educational workshops on stewardship. Attending them live is the way to get the most out of them. And there are materials from past sessions on the web: http://www.uua.org/ga/past
- The UUA Regional websites also have stewardship information, available courses in their areas, and information from past sessions. Check them out:
- Pacific Western Region: http://pwruua.org/
- Southern Region: http://www.uua.org/directory/districts/southern
- Mid-America Region: https://www.midamericauua.org/
- Central East Regional Group (CERG): http://www.cerguua.org/
- New England Region: http://www.newenglanduua.org/
We can create a course, webinar, or workshop for your specific needs. Our Consultants are experienced workshop creators and facilitators. We value participant engagement and wisdom-sharing, while bringing deep knowledge in stewardship. We integrate all forms of media, small and large group processes, and provide informative and interesting presentations. We often partner with other leaders- professional, lay, or clergy- to bring the richest breadth of material to the workshop. For more on this see our Group Workshops and Webinars page and Contact Us.
Other Resources
- The Amazon Affiliates Program: Fundraising potential for congregations. NOT to be confused with the Amazon Smiles program, which provides less revenue.
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ - Café Press: Additional fundraising resources for congregations
http://www.cafepress.com/content/cp-partners/faqs.html