Congregational Partnership Covenant

UUs in a protest march with "side with love" shirts on
 

Thanks to our Partner Congregations!

"Our congregation's partnership with UU Mass Action has contributed greatly to the strength and reach of our social justice program." Alan L, Arlington

All too often, ministers and congregational leaders grapple with how to truly engage their congregations in living out our UU values. Since 2006, UU Mass Action has been organizing and mobilizing more than 100 congregations in Massachusetts to confront oppression in solidarity with our frontline partners. We support congregational leaders in being effective and strategic in their justice work, to support them in building power with our frontline partners and each other instead of acting in silos.

We created the Congregational Partnership Covenant Program in 2023 in order to formalize our relationship with congregations we work with. While we work with many congregations already, this is a chance to identify areas for deepening while acknowledging whatever ways we may already in relationship. Whether you are already an active supporter of UU Mass Action or brand new to our organization, this program provides a structure to deepen our relationship, and tailor our collaborative work with your congregations to where you are at. We invite you to make our connection official with a partnership.

Below are the standard benefits and responsibilities that come with becoming a partner, AND we will be creative to the best of our ability to work with you for any additional/other requests. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to tsmookler@uumassaction.org.

Benefits of Congregational Partnership

  • Investment and support in your staff/minister/leaders 

    • We will prioritize partner congregations for preaching (though capacity permitting will preach in other congregations as well! Fill out this form if you would like to request preaching). 

    • Coaching/mentoring for social justice leaders

    • Training Requests for at least 10 participants: Running Great Meetings, Healthy Conflict, Building Strong Teams, Turn-out, etc.

    • Support your congregation in cultivating a social justice lens through above trainings and coaching, and providing learning resources

  • Partnership in our work

    • Twice a year we will send you an insider update about our campaign work

    • Member congregations will be invited to share input in surveys as we do campaign planning, development and selection, and evaluation so we can take your interests and feedback into account.

  • Promotion of your congregation

    • We will list you as a partner congregation in our materials

    • We will strive to amplify your congregation’s work that aligns with our campaigns

  • Youth Engagement & Intergenerational support

    • We will prioritize inviting youth leaders from partner congregations to join in youth action opportunities

    • Support REs in connecting with our campaigns as opportunities arise

  • Other

    • In our partnership conversations, we want to hear from you what other ways we can best support your work!

Congregational Partnership Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities for all Partners

  • Congregational gift* to be given at the end of the calendar year (See below for more info)

  • Annual Reflection & Renewal on the partnership (we will check-in every summer and winter)

  • Communication if there are any major changes in the congregation or social justice team that may impact the partnership

Pick at least 2 of the following in addition to the Core Responsibilities

  • Social justice committee chairs/leaders attend either Regional Team meetings, or join an issue team (or takes on some other leadership role at UU Mass Action)

  • Promote the annual UU Advocacy Day

  • Invite UU Mass Action to preach

  • Congregational newsletter/website includes a link to sign up for UU Mass Action newsletter, as well as, shares content and action alerts from our newsletter monthly

  • Recruit 10% of your congregation’s membership to become Individual Members of UU Mass Action

  • Explore other tailored possibilities with UU Mass Action staff

*Gift:

We don’t want money to be a barrier to being a partner. If you want to be a partner and the main barrier is funding, we still want you to become a partner!

The work we do with leaders across congregations makes the UU voice for justice stronger, both within and outside of their congregations. We do not charge for our mission driven trainings or programs (while other programs that do similar social justice leadership development work can cost thousands of dollars). In recognition of the value add that we provide to UU leaders across congregations, we invite your congregation to support the time and energy it takes to do our work well. The congregational gift is on a sliding scale based on your capacity, with the recommendation below. Please feel free to reach out to us for further discussion.

NOTE: We know that initially it might be hard to begin at the recommended gift amount. That’s ok! We are excited for you to become an official partner congregation regardless of what you can contribute. We hope that even if the suggested amount is not feasible initially, you will still sign up to be a partner and can work over time to increase your gift as you are able. We truly do not want this to be a barrier. Please reach out if you would like to discuss further.