Collaborative Growth Initiative

The Prairie Star District Board of Directors is pleased to announce the Collaborative Growth Initiative, a special opportunity for multi-congregational initiatives that promote the growth of Unitarian Universalism within Prairie Star District. The District is funding this initiative using the resources created through the UUA Association Sunday fall 2007. Prairie Star District will receive a grant equal to 25 percent of the resources contributed by participating Unitarian Universalist congregations in the Prairie Star District.

Minimum Criteria

The Board welcomes proposals from multiple congregations collaborating for growth that meet the following criteria:

• Includes at least two congregations in Prairie Star District working together to implement a growth initiative
• Includes at least one congregation that participated in 2007 Association Sunday
• Includes at least one congregation that is formally affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association
• Commits the congregations to report back to the PSD Board on quantitative and qualitative outcomes from their efforts.

How to Apply

To apply, submit a proposal that shows your collaborative effort meets the above criteria and

• Describes a detailed plan to use the funds to promote growth, which could include growing the number of members in the congregations, starting a new congregation, bringing an emerging congregation into formal affiliation, or deepening the connections of members to Unitarian Universalism (maturational growth)
• Describes the readiness of the initiative to proceed, including an adequate governance structure for the initiative
• Describes how the plan will leverage other dollars
• Includes the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of the primary contact persons for the proposal.

Proposals should include no more than two pages of narrative and one page of budget.

Amount of Grants

At this time, the Board does not know the total amount of resources that will be available for the Collaborative Growth Initiative although we anticipate that the total money will be in the range of $10,000. The maximum grant will be $5,000, but we anticipate that most grants will be in the range of $1,000 to $2,500. Funds can be disbursed beginning on July 1, 2008.

Deadline

Proposals must be submitted via e-mail to the District Office info@psduua.org by 5:00 p.m. on March 15, 2008.

Grants will be announced at the Prairie Star District Annual Meeting in Omaha in April 2008.