Ministry fund created in Courter's honor
Courter got the idea for the fund from work being done by Peter Bowden and the Rev. Naomi King, who are active in bringing UUs together through social media and in promoting Unitarian Universalism through electronic means. Bowden, a ministry and media consultant, explained that the fund will allow “innovative ministries to connect with innovative UUs.” The first $10,000 will be used to create a website. Additional funds will be made available to applicants who apply.
Bowden emphasized this fund does not replace the Chalice Lighter fund that many districts have to support ministry projects. “This is crowd-fund sourcing to promote innovative projects that might otherwise have difficulty in finding support,” he said. Added the Rev. Sue Phillips, the district executive for the Clara Barton/Massachusetts Bay District. “This is the future of Unitarian Universalism. This is synergy at work. We are about to launch the only denominationally funded crowd-funding platform, that we know of, in the world.”
The website will be available for anyone to browse, to follow projects under development, and for supporting them.
Photograph above: Announcing a fund to honor Gini Courter that supports experiments in UU growth. (© Nancy Pierce)