UU Board Foundations

Part of Leadership Training by Congregational Role

A building foundation that is part fieldstone and part brick

Serving on a congregational board is an opportunity for both spiritual growth and the development of leadership skills that will serve you at work and other areas of your life!

We suggest that your whole board use this training together to develop your relationships and common language and practices for you as a team and discerning body of the congregation.

Designed and presented by your UUA Congregational Life Staff, this training covers:

  • Spiritual Grounding for board members with a deep understanding of covenant, personal and group spiritual practice, and group discernment.
  • Perceiving Meetings as Ministry, so that we balance the work to be done with the core values that we hold as a religious community
  • Understanding Communication as Relationship, where our practices of interaction as leaders have a deep impact on the congregation as a whole.
  • Leading Our Congregation as a System so that we can make our decisions out of a place of both self-awareness and an awareness of group dynamics.
  • Practicing Governance as Stewardship with accountability to the mission and vision of the congregation through clear and thoughtful policies and procedures that guide decision-making.
This training also includes case studies, and planning and goal-setting materials for your board to use at your annual retreat.
We also offer “next level” training for boards that understand their basic role in the congregation, or for Policy or Strategic boards in larger congregations, The Strategic Board.

Training fee: $15 (Note: Scholarships are available — see the training webpage for details.)

Take the training UU Board Foundations

How to Take Trainings from the UU Institute

(Note: You will redirected to a separate website, UU Institute, an online learning management system [LMS] managed by the UUA.)

Register to create an account at the UU Institute. Once you register you will get an email with a confirmation link that you need to click to activate the account. (You may need to check your spam folder. Please add uuinstitute.org to your safe senders list.)

The “Help” dropdown menu includes FAQs, Group Registration information, and full video tutorials on how register for the site, how to purchase a training, and how to navigate the trainings. There is also an email address and helpdesk link if you experience technical difficulties.