Great Ideas
Funded.

Who are we?

We are a funding organization! 

We offer financial and systemic support (networking, strategy, advice) for projects that support UU values* through faith formation and religious education in our congregations, organizations, and communities.  (You can read more about our history here)

What do we do?

We give away money...but not just money.

Historically, we have followed the standard granting model, where recipients get their money and are basically on their own after that.

We looked at the world, and the way that works (or doesn't) and decided we wanted something different.  

We wanted to provide a kind of in-care experience for our recipients, leveraging the considerable resources of our board to find and engage mentors, think strategically about the evolution of the projects we fund, and spread the word about the good work our recipients are doing.

So we renamed and restructured them: they're now fellowships.  

When you get a fellowship, what do you get?

• You get the money (about $7500; we have two or three awards a year).   

• You get mentors that we recruit for you.  

• You get monthly meetings with your mentors and the other fellows.

• You get quarterly meetings with mentors, grantees, and about half of our board. 

• You get support and strategies to spread your work: As your strategies for publicity, sharing your work, networking, and follow-on engagement develop, you get whatever support the board and mentors can provide for that.

• You get to work with the Society about presentations: at which denominational or community events should people hear about this work, and how?  We especially consider GA and LREDA Fall Con opportunities.

• You meet in person at the beginning and end of their Fellowship year (in January).  After the first year, both incoming and outgoing fellows will be invited to that gathering, along with the board and mentors.

With this new model we plan to build community around the fellowships.  We will have a virtual alumni community for past USSS fellows which, over time, will lead to a growing cohort of creative, forward-thinking, faith-formation-focused religious educators who can encourage and support one another in the particular work of figuring out how to spread the word and encourage the emergence of new thinking and needed materials for faith formation.

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