Growing Administrative Confidence, Competence, & Capacity Across Congregations

Led by Jan Gartner and Emily Cherry, this Wave Cohort met through the Spring of 2025 and for three days at General Assembly 2025.

Description: This is a critical time for UU congregations to be at their best, and most congregations make use of employees to help meet essential programming and operational needs. Staff extend congregational capacity, bring specialized knowledge and skills, provide consistency and accountability, and equip and mobilize the members.

Any organization with employees must ensure proficient administration of personnel-related functions such as employee onboarding, worker classification, payroll, and benefits administration. We cannot expect each of our hundreds of individual congregations to independently acquire and maintain the administrative abilities needed to ensure that staff are properly cared for. But collectively? We have the capacity!

Making it easier for every congregation to have strong administrative practices can reduce risk and stress levels, help with integrity of operations, contribute to positive staff experiences, and liberate time and energy for mission. What’s more, addressing the need for robust administration systemically will optimize congregational resources. Join us to learn about ways that existing administrative expertise can be shared across congregational lines. Let’s Meet the Moment through interdependent approaches to Growing Administrative Confidence, Competence, and Capacity!

Facilitators: Emily Cherry and Jan Gartner