Raising Money to Attend General Assembly Youth Caucus
By Tim FitzgeraldIt's that time again! Time for the Young Religious Unitarian Universalist (YRUU) Nation to scramble, borrow, and beg for the means to get to our largest-ever gathering at General Assembly (GA). It's an exciting quest, depending on your financial situation, but many youth have to make a mission out of getting to GA each year. This resource is designed to be your trusty handbook in this task. Print it out and carry it around with you and it will provide you some sunlight when things seem at their most desperate.
Ah, yeah. All kidding aside—this is a guide to help you raise funds for the purpose of attending General Assembly. There are two main methods of attaining funds for youth wanting to attend GA, aside from building your own savings (which, it should be noted, is important to try to have as a backup). These two methods are: applying for scholarships and doing fundraising.
Scholarships
There are often scholarships available on all three levels of YRUU: Local, District, and Continental, although this can depend on your local and district-level situations.
On the Local Level:
If you're involved in district or continental YRUU, you've probably heard people talk about how important it is to be a part of a congregation. This is a great example of why it can be part of your network of support which you may need at certain times. Being part of a supportive community, and giving what you have to offer to it, means that when the time comes, they are often willing to give to you when you have a need.
But even aside from that, many Unitarian Universalist (UU) adults are very interested in encouraging youth in particular to be more active in Unitarian Universalism, and General Assembly is probably the larger-UU activity they would be most likely to support. Now, this all depends on how youth-friendly your congregation is, and many of you may not have the same luck that other people have in this regard. However, there are a few places to look for funds on the local level.
First, look to your youth group—many youth groups have an operating budget, and many youth groups' operating budgets go underused (which may even mean that those groups get less money next year). If you can get your youth group on board to go to GA (which would be totally excellent), it may decide to use some portion of its operating budget to provide scholarships to the youth who are going to General Assembly. Even if it's just you going, or maybe you and one or two other people, you might still raise the question asking for support. This is probably the easiest way to ask for financial support on the local level, but your youth group probably is also one of the groups within your congregation that has the least resources to offer you. However, this is still a really worthwhile place to try because you never know how much you will get until you ask.
Second, find out if your congregation has other groups with scholarships—if your congregation has a variety of special groups, such as a Women's Alliance, some may have scholarship funds. Also, find out if the larger congregation has a scholarship fund—often these are designed for college students in need of money for school, but you may find if you ask that these funds are underutilized and therefore there may be money that your congregation would like to give to someone—and GA is easy to paint as an "educational experience", because it definitely, definitely is.
Third, find out if there are "delegate" slots open for your church. Delegates are people at General Assembly who represent their congregations in the governing, business meetings—in which they get a vote. This is great for two reasons: first, your delegate status (combined with your youth) will give the youth voice an increased voting influence within these business meetings, and this is very good, particularly if you like business meetings or political causes and might like to dive into the continental government structure of either YRUU or the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Secondly, there are two continental-level scholarships that give increased priority to delegates. We will discuss both of these later.
On the District Level:
Districts also have a governance structure in much the same way that the UUA and churches do. However, this is probably the aspect of Unitarian Universalist governance that YRUUers are least aware of and involved in, because YRUU often tends to exist outside (but linked to) this hierarchal structure on the district level. So, don't forget that adults in the government of your district probably are as eager as any to involve youth more and may be more than happy to help you get to General Assembly.
Many districts have scholarship funds, much in the same vein as those on the local level. Often writing an email or a snail-mail letter to the district's treasurer can yield helpful information about such opportunities. Although it is hard, because each district is very different, to make a generalization about opportunities that districts offer youth, the main thing to do is to try to find out what your district does offer. If you ask the right people, you should be able to find out if any opportunities do exist. Examples of "the right people" include your local district representative, your local DRE (who is probably in touch with the larger district hierarchy), your minister, your district's treasurer or secretary, and even your district's chair.
On the Continental Level:
There are two basic parts of the continental UU structure that have scholarships available: the Office of Youth Ministries, and the larger UUA.
The Office of Youth Ministries provides the Youth Caucus scholarship, which on average awards between $100 and $300 U.S., and which can be used to pay for GA Registration, Youth Housing, food, or travel costs. Anyone who is a youth (ages 14-20) and has a financial need that would otherwise keep them from going to General Assembly can apply for this scholarship. Applying entails writing a letter to the Office of Youth Ministries and including it with your Youth Caucus/Youth Housing registration (you don't have to pay for it up front, so you can apply for a scholarship and find out if you've gotten it before risking your own cash that you probably can't afford to spend). Your letter has to include (1) an explanation of why you want to go to General Assembly, (2) a description of your financial situation, including other sources of GA funds that you have, (3) the amount of money you want to request, and (4) a description of scholarships you have applied for or plan to apply for from the GA Office (which we will discuss in a moment).
You are most likely to get the Office of Youth Ministries scholarship if you are: looking for financial aid in other places (so don't toss the rest of this resource out the window just yet), a first-time GA attendee, a delegate, or willing to volunteer to support Youth Caucus events. However, if you don't fit into all these categories (you should at least be able to pull off the first one), you should still apply, especially depending on the direness of your financial scenario.
The larger UUA also offers scholarships through the GA Office.
First, there is the previously mentioned GA scholarship, which gives priority to delegates (but which also awards some to non-delegates) and which offers a hefty award.
Being a delegate of your local congregation, and thereby a representative to GA, makes you by far the most eligible for this scholarship. But don't let that discourage you—try to be a delegate! And then score the mad cash. But please don't forget the responsibility that comes along with being a delegate: as a voting representative of your congregation at GA, you have to attend plenary (business meetings) and you should feel obligated to attend district-specific functions or other delegate-friendly occasions. Really though, it shouldn't really detract from your Youth Caucus experience, and it will add a larger dimension to your whole-GA experience. Being a delegate is an experience I fully recommend.
Secondly, you can apply to be a volunteer at GA. For youth, volunteer positions involve 14 hours of work during the course of GA. Volunteers at GA have their registration fee waived.
Fundraising
Fundraising is another very important method of raising money for General Assembly. Fundraising can be done on your own, or it can be done with your Youth Group, which will probably be a lot more enjoyable.
Often, many Youth Groups decide to set as a goal each year the raising of funds for a Youth Group trip to General Assembly. Planning and executing fundraisers can be a strong community-building activity, and it can be really fun. Here are some fundraising ideas that you might put to use in your attempts to attain the funds to go to GA.
First of all, the simplest fundraisers are often the most successful. There is something to be said for being original, but the more complicated things are, often the less profit you will make. And often many of the simplest fundraisers are the most appreciated by the people whose funds you are "raising"—and are most likely to come off as professional and respectable.
Your congregation is probably the best place to start fundraising. This is for two reasons: first, fundraising events are often a valuable whole-congregation community building activity. Pancake breakfasts or spaghetti dinners are great opportunities for the congregants to bond and chat while supporting you, their valuable youth, in your endeavors. The second reason is that Unitarian Universalists tend to be one of the most economically elitist religions, having a lot but not giving that much. Your gentle prodding will shake some of that money loose from the money tree, especially when you are offering them a nice, warm pancake or some tasty pasta in return, along with some valuable community bonding time (which adults tend to be very conscious and appreciative of).
Next, if you do decide to do something slightly more innovative than a pancake breakfast or a spaghetti dinner, try to optimize your profit margin. That doesn't mean be cheap and rip people off, but rather use things that are inexpensive to mass-produce but which people are willing to pay a bit more for—in the same way as pancakes and pasta. However, don't be afraid to just stick to those mainstays. You can even do like two or three a year between those two methods without the congregation getting bored, probably.
Here is a really excellent trick: if your church has popular groups that meet on Friday or Saturday night, or has other congregational events (like karaoke or Christmas carols or things like that) on those nights, exploit them. Have a spaghetti dinner right before people are planning to be at the church anyhow—people will stop by a bit earlier, hit up your smorgasbord for dinner, and then do their thing. The same thing works with Sunday-morning pancake breakfasts—people will get up just a bit earlier and come eat breakfast with their fellow congregants before going to the sanctuary for worship.
Be sure to publicize your event! Put it in the weekly Order of Service, put it in your church newsletter, make fliers and post them around the Church. If it becomes a known community event, it will be better attended. I cannot emphasize this enough: if no one knows about it, no one will come. You can even pull this off last-minute: get a church phone directory, split it up among your Youth Group, and get calling. All people need is a little advance notice, and it is easy enough to give it to them, especially if your whole YG is teaming up on this.
Other tips: Charge enough to make some funds. Make it clear to the congregation why you are having your event (to help raise money to attend General Assembly). Never underestimate adults' soft spot for youth attempting to make their way to something that the adults in question respect. Be straightforward, be professional, and be appreciative. If you follow these guidelines, you will be just fine in your fundraising.
Hopefully this resource has been helpful. If you have any questions you would like this resource to address in future updates, or additional tips and ideas for fundraising for scholarships (including district-specific advice) please email them to The Office of Youth Ministries with the subject "GA Scholarship Resource". Rock on, and happy money-makin'.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
