The Office of Growth Strategies recently received a request…

Hi Tandi,

This coming <insert date here>, I and my nearest colleagues, Janice Doe  in East Cupcake and Juan Moe in West Cupcake, are going to hold a three-church “UU Revival” in Central Cupcake at a community college ballroom. Our aim is to bring spiritual refreshment and renewal to our current members and also make ourselves very visible as a faith community…….very open and very welcoming. The service will be focused on both of those intents.

We are wondering if there might be any type of grant support for us within the UUA. We can do this on a shoestring, of course, as none of us have money in our budgets for this first event. We plan to have that going forward with what we hope will be an annual event. Where additional support would be helpful is with more expensive items such as local print and other media advertising.

This was our response…

• Create an attractive, electronic flyer, upload to your congregation’s Facebook page. From there, people will be able to share.  Pictures on FB are more viral than mere text posts.  Encourage your congregants to post on their personal pages.  Make a FB event (using the electronic flyer) and invite a blanket of people.
• Also consider creating a MeetUp event.
• Make sure the event is posted on community calendars and the calendars of organizations you have a natural affinity/ partnership.  Often cities have a community calendar on their government site and the local papers.
• Send a press release to the local media.  Sell them the story. (Your District Staff may be able to help you craft an attention-getting angle.)  Send a press release to college radio stations and see if you can get someone interviewed.  Young adults may be especially interested in a UU Revival.
• Feeling especially creative?  Make a YouTube video invitation and send that out far and wide.

The Unitarian Universalist Association website offers more tips on Communication, Public Relations, and Social Media.

About the Author

Tandi Rogers