Get Out The Vote - 2024
The Fund for UU Social Responsibility has designated $20,000 for grants to UU congregations and organizations working to Get Out The Vote in 2024. Grants of up to $500 will be made on a rolling basis until funds are depleted.
Applications must be received by 2 p.m. (Eastern) on October 31, 2024. Projects must be completed by November 5, 2024, and a final report submitted by December 31.
Please note that funds must go to a UU congregation or organization for the work by UUs of the organization. The funds may not be passed through to another organization. Collaboration and partnerships are encouraged.
To apply visit our UUFP Funding Center by clicking here!
Final Reports for Get Out The Vote projects are due by December 31, 2024.
*For information about what election-related activities congregations may and may not do, please read:
2018 Grant Examples
Abraham Lincoln UU Congregation - To host a series of events and activities within the ALUUC to encourage voting; to encourage voting in the Springfield community by focusing on registering persons of color and millennials, and canvassing. The efforts will be coordinated with the Faith Coalition for the Common Good (an affiliate of Gamaliel) and the League of Women Voters.
All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa - To partner with the local Voting is Power Coalition to train and equip 50 church and community members to hold voter registration drives in their schools, workplaces, civic spaces and churches. Registrars will be provided with registration reference guides, registration forms, a Voting is Power t-shirt, a clipboard, pens and signs. The project has the potential to reach 1,000 people.
Cedar Valley UU - To create a series of events to engage young people, provide voter education materials and encourage them to vote. Ward 4 of Waterloo is a community with the highest concentration of Black people in the state, but it has a record of low voter turnout.
First Unitarian Church of Honolulu - People who have been driven from homes due to financial stress should not lose their right to vote due to the lack of a home address. To increase voter registration in the August Primary, houseless people will get assistance in obtaining ID cards, and on election day, assistance in the form of watching their possessions while they go vote, car service and refreshments.
First Unitarian Church of Memphis - The Church of the River - Members took training and became certified Deputy Registrars of the Shelby County Election Commission. They have held voter registration drives, meetings and are pursuing partnership opportunities with other organizations to help restore voting rights for the formerly incarcerated, connect with young people turning 18 but outside the school and other systems that might influence them to register, and investigate the high rate of invalid voter registrations.
First UU Church of San Antonio - To form a political agenda through focused listening in the church and community, identifying talented new leaders, and encouraging them to build relationships that motivate others to GOTV in what are usually low-turnout elections.
Georgia Mountains UU Church - Working with two civic organizations, training will be provided for members of all 3 groups to assist anyone in registering to vote, to find out if they have been purged from voter rolls and to help people who have successfully completed their parole obtain IDs in addition to registering to vote.
Manatee UU Fellowship - To increase voter registration by young Hispanic voters who are participating in technical education. Technical high schools may not have given their students an understanding of the voting issues, since many are raised in Spanish-speaking households with little or no information about voting. Radio ads will be created for the Manatee Technical College Radio Station, which has a broad reach.
Manatee UU Fellowship - To increase the numbers of minority registered in a party to vote in the Closed Primary and to increase the percentage of voters in the General Election. A brochure will be developed for both the Primary and General Elections and distributed through the NAACP, Tempo Magazine, SunCoast Black Lives Matter, Palmetto Youth Club and the Black Block Vote community organization.
Northwest UU Church - To engage churches, youth, senior citizens and the broader community to attend a voter registration event on September 8th. The event will provide an opportunity to obtain absentee ballot applications. Later, the church will open to the community for a forum on ballot issues. Volunteers will phonebook, canvass and offer transportation to the polls.
Orange Coast UU Church - To team up with congregations, both UU and other denominations, to present a candidates forum for California's 48th Congressional District. The forum will focus on matters of faith, attracting many would-be voters who may not turn out for similar events. Afterward, a one-page summary of the candidates' views will be compiled and distributed within the district, a proven method of increasing voter participation.
River Road Unitarian Church - To galvanize a community of citizens in voter outreach and protection against voter suppression.
Unitarian Church of Harrisburg - In the 3 wards that comprise the Allison Hill community, an inner-city, ethnically diverse neighborhood, there has been a precipitous drop in voting. In one precinct, turnout dropped 78% in a mid-year election. The UCH will offer voter registration drives, educate voters on voting basics and provide practical information to reduce fear and anxiety about voting, offer energetic reminders and assess the need for specific support needed, like transportation and childcare.
UU Church of Sarasota - To organize canvassing efforts against Florida Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment to automatically restore the right to vote for people with prior felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, upon completion of their sentences. Florida is estimated to have 1,686,318, or 10.43% of the voting age population, disenfranchised due to felonies.
UU Church of Spokane - To present a movie at a local theatre, providing free admission & "bottomless pop corn" to attendees who register, and to already registered guests who bright and registers a guest. Films like "All the President's Men," "Wag the Dog," or "The Manchurian Candidate" are proposed movies. The event will be promoted to previously incarcerated people; seniors in high school, and people in communities with historically lower voter registration/turnout.
UU Church of the North Hills - To promote registration and absentee ballots to make sure congregants are voting, and to go door-to-door in a nearby marginalized neighborhood to get folks registered, and provide transportation on election day.
UU Congregation in Duluth - To collaborate with a diverse group of social justice and social service agencies located in low voter turnout precincts to organize a GOTV festival called "Soles to the Polls."
UU Congregation in Oxford, MS - Recent "listening sessions" in rural areas around north MS indicated wide gaps of misunderstanding about voting rights and procedure, particularly in under-served and marginalized communities. A voting rights document has been created to distribute around the state to increase registration and voting.
UU Fellowship of New Bern - To canvass for intro to the primary vote prices, collect and correct voter data, collect voter pledges and schedule rides.
UU Fellowship of Newark, DE - To work in partnership with 2 local high schools, student groups at the University of Delaware and the Delaware League of Women Voters to create an online voter guide and registration site. UUFN and student groups will work on advertising for the VOTE411 site.
UU Justice Ohio - For congregations in Cleveland and Akron to work with grassroots partner organizations and the UUA's Office of Advocacy & Witness to recruit volunteers and engage in canvassing in targeted neighborhoods to increase voter turnout and educate voters regarding Issue 1 - Safe & Healthy Communities.
UU Society of Iowa City - To partner with other organizations to address barriers to voting, including the state's new strict voter laws. An event will be held in conjunction with the League of Women Voters and the Rhema Church to register voters and request absentee ballots, and to allow voters to talk to their state senator or representative, and the opposing candidates and learn about the issues.
UUs For Social Justice in the National Capitol Region - Building on their voter engagement project from 2016, to expand the outreach of the UUSJ program, adapt the current GOTV Toolkit, and create new support materials that will engage congregations to mobilize volunteers to increase voter registration, education and turnout.
UUs of New Braunfels - To assist persons who desire to vote but are impeded by a lack of transportation to the polling site,in a city with no public transportation, in the upcoming election where fewer than 20% of eligible voters turn up for non-presidential elections.
Unitarian Congregation of Taos - To increase voter registration among youth, voter turnout among young adults and lay groundwork for a stronger voting culture and civic engagement by young people in Taos County, in which over half of the people are Hispanic, and over 7 percent are Native American.
UU Fellowship of La Crosse - To host a series of four non-partisan voter registration and education events, each appealing to a different demographic group.
UU Fellowship of Fayetteville - To leverage the experience of the local League of Women Voters for training, and then to partner with the Arkansas Poor People's Campaign to support their Voter Registration Weekend, led by Solomon Birchfield and Jane Graige. Members of the Fellowship have already participated in the UUA's July 12 GOTV webinar, and are reading Daring Democracy.
2016 Grant Examples
First UU Church of Columbus - For a collaboration of the Justice Action Ministry (JAM) of the church with the Columbus People's partnership and the People's Justice Project to plan a voter registration drive, mobilizing 200 volunteers to register 3,000 voters over four days in Columbus.
First UU Church of San Antonio - Working with the League of Women Voters, members distributed "door knockers," inquiring if people were registered to vote and Voter Information Guides. Both documents were in English and Spanish.
First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor - Partnered with the League of Women Voters and worked with members of the Latinx community to compose radio segments reminding voters to vote and to give them essential information to participate in the voting process.
Manatee UU Fellowship - For a mail campaign targeting registered voters who did NOT vote in the primary elections, which included a stamped, addressed envelope to the Supervisor of Elections and a Vote-By-Mail request, in an effort to help people vote who may be otherwise unable to get to the polls.
Manatee UU Fellowship - For a GOTV effort to register young, Hispanic people who are enrolled in technical education programs.
San Marcos UU Fellowship - For a collaboration with the League of Women Voters to increase voter participation in two traditionally low-performing precincts.
UUs for Social Justice in the National Capital Region - For a collaborative regional voter registration, GOTV and citizen engagement project leading up to the November 2016 general election. This project included voter registration drives for former felons in Virginia.
UUs of Transylvania County (North Carolina) - To partner with the local NAACP to do door-to-door canvassing of African-American voters, hold a phone-a-thon, and offer rides to the polls.
Westside UU Church - To partner with Samaritan House, which provides housing and other resources to people with HIV/AIDS and other special needs, and Pennsylvania Place, a low-income housing complex, to register voters, educate them about Texas' Voter ID rules, and to offer rides to polls during early voting.
Applications must be received by 2 p.m. (Eastern) on October 31, 2024. Projects must be completed by November 5, 2024, and a final report submitted by December 31.
Please note that funds must go to a UU congregation or organization for the work by UUs of the organization. The funds may not be passed through to another organization. Collaboration and partnerships are encouraged.
To apply visit our UUFP Funding Center by clicking here!
Final Reports for Get Out The Vote projects are due by December 31, 2024.
*For information about what election-related activities congregations may and may not do, please read:
- The Real Unitarian Universalist Funding Program Rules (scroll to the bottom for a PDF or Word version)
2018 Grant Examples
Abraham Lincoln UU Congregation - To host a series of events and activities within the ALUUC to encourage voting; to encourage voting in the Springfield community by focusing on registering persons of color and millennials, and canvassing. The efforts will be coordinated with the Faith Coalition for the Common Good (an affiliate of Gamaliel) and the League of Women Voters.
All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa - To partner with the local Voting is Power Coalition to train and equip 50 church and community members to hold voter registration drives in their schools, workplaces, civic spaces and churches. Registrars will be provided with registration reference guides, registration forms, a Voting is Power t-shirt, a clipboard, pens and signs. The project has the potential to reach 1,000 people.
Cedar Valley UU - To create a series of events to engage young people, provide voter education materials and encourage them to vote. Ward 4 of Waterloo is a community with the highest concentration of Black people in the state, but it has a record of low voter turnout.
First Unitarian Church of Honolulu - People who have been driven from homes due to financial stress should not lose their right to vote due to the lack of a home address. To increase voter registration in the August Primary, houseless people will get assistance in obtaining ID cards, and on election day, assistance in the form of watching their possessions while they go vote, car service and refreshments.
First Unitarian Church of Memphis - The Church of the River - Members took training and became certified Deputy Registrars of the Shelby County Election Commission. They have held voter registration drives, meetings and are pursuing partnership opportunities with other organizations to help restore voting rights for the formerly incarcerated, connect with young people turning 18 but outside the school and other systems that might influence them to register, and investigate the high rate of invalid voter registrations.
First UU Church of San Antonio - To form a political agenda through focused listening in the church and community, identifying talented new leaders, and encouraging them to build relationships that motivate others to GOTV in what are usually low-turnout elections.
Georgia Mountains UU Church - Working with two civic organizations, training will be provided for members of all 3 groups to assist anyone in registering to vote, to find out if they have been purged from voter rolls and to help people who have successfully completed their parole obtain IDs in addition to registering to vote.
Manatee UU Fellowship - To increase voter registration by young Hispanic voters who are participating in technical education. Technical high schools may not have given their students an understanding of the voting issues, since many are raised in Spanish-speaking households with little or no information about voting. Radio ads will be created for the Manatee Technical College Radio Station, which has a broad reach.
Manatee UU Fellowship - To increase the numbers of minority registered in a party to vote in the Closed Primary and to increase the percentage of voters in the General Election. A brochure will be developed for both the Primary and General Elections and distributed through the NAACP, Tempo Magazine, SunCoast Black Lives Matter, Palmetto Youth Club and the Black Block Vote community organization.
Northwest UU Church - To engage churches, youth, senior citizens and the broader community to attend a voter registration event on September 8th. The event will provide an opportunity to obtain absentee ballot applications. Later, the church will open to the community for a forum on ballot issues. Volunteers will phonebook, canvass and offer transportation to the polls.
Orange Coast UU Church - To team up with congregations, both UU and other denominations, to present a candidates forum for California's 48th Congressional District. The forum will focus on matters of faith, attracting many would-be voters who may not turn out for similar events. Afterward, a one-page summary of the candidates' views will be compiled and distributed within the district, a proven method of increasing voter participation.
River Road Unitarian Church - To galvanize a community of citizens in voter outreach and protection against voter suppression.
Unitarian Church of Harrisburg - In the 3 wards that comprise the Allison Hill community, an inner-city, ethnically diverse neighborhood, there has been a precipitous drop in voting. In one precinct, turnout dropped 78% in a mid-year election. The UCH will offer voter registration drives, educate voters on voting basics and provide practical information to reduce fear and anxiety about voting, offer energetic reminders and assess the need for specific support needed, like transportation and childcare.
UU Church of Sarasota - To organize canvassing efforts against Florida Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment to automatically restore the right to vote for people with prior felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, upon completion of their sentences. Florida is estimated to have 1,686,318, or 10.43% of the voting age population, disenfranchised due to felonies.
UU Church of Spokane - To present a movie at a local theatre, providing free admission & "bottomless pop corn" to attendees who register, and to already registered guests who bright and registers a guest. Films like "All the President's Men," "Wag the Dog," or "The Manchurian Candidate" are proposed movies. The event will be promoted to previously incarcerated people; seniors in high school, and people in communities with historically lower voter registration/turnout.
UU Church of the North Hills - To promote registration and absentee ballots to make sure congregants are voting, and to go door-to-door in a nearby marginalized neighborhood to get folks registered, and provide transportation on election day.
UU Congregation in Duluth - To collaborate with a diverse group of social justice and social service agencies located in low voter turnout precincts to organize a GOTV festival called "Soles to the Polls."
UU Congregation in Oxford, MS - Recent "listening sessions" in rural areas around north MS indicated wide gaps of misunderstanding about voting rights and procedure, particularly in under-served and marginalized communities. A voting rights document has been created to distribute around the state to increase registration and voting.
UU Fellowship of New Bern - To canvass for intro to the primary vote prices, collect and correct voter data, collect voter pledges and schedule rides.
UU Fellowship of Newark, DE - To work in partnership with 2 local high schools, student groups at the University of Delaware and the Delaware League of Women Voters to create an online voter guide and registration site. UUFN and student groups will work on advertising for the VOTE411 site.
UU Justice Ohio - For congregations in Cleveland and Akron to work with grassroots partner organizations and the UUA's Office of Advocacy & Witness to recruit volunteers and engage in canvassing in targeted neighborhoods to increase voter turnout and educate voters regarding Issue 1 - Safe & Healthy Communities.
UU Society of Iowa City - To partner with other organizations to address barriers to voting, including the state's new strict voter laws. An event will be held in conjunction with the League of Women Voters and the Rhema Church to register voters and request absentee ballots, and to allow voters to talk to their state senator or representative, and the opposing candidates and learn about the issues.
UUs For Social Justice in the National Capitol Region - Building on their voter engagement project from 2016, to expand the outreach of the UUSJ program, adapt the current GOTV Toolkit, and create new support materials that will engage congregations to mobilize volunteers to increase voter registration, education and turnout.
UUs of New Braunfels - To assist persons who desire to vote but are impeded by a lack of transportation to the polling site,in a city with no public transportation, in the upcoming election where fewer than 20% of eligible voters turn up for non-presidential elections.
Unitarian Congregation of Taos - To increase voter registration among youth, voter turnout among young adults and lay groundwork for a stronger voting culture and civic engagement by young people in Taos County, in which over half of the people are Hispanic, and over 7 percent are Native American.
UU Fellowship of La Crosse - To host a series of four non-partisan voter registration and education events, each appealing to a different demographic group.
UU Fellowship of Fayetteville - To leverage the experience of the local League of Women Voters for training, and then to partner with the Arkansas Poor People's Campaign to support their Voter Registration Weekend, led by Solomon Birchfield and Jane Graige. Members of the Fellowship have already participated in the UUA's July 12 GOTV webinar, and are reading Daring Democracy.
2016 Grant Examples
First UU Church of Columbus - For a collaboration of the Justice Action Ministry (JAM) of the church with the Columbus People's partnership and the People's Justice Project to plan a voter registration drive, mobilizing 200 volunteers to register 3,000 voters over four days in Columbus.
First UU Church of San Antonio - Working with the League of Women Voters, members distributed "door knockers," inquiring if people were registered to vote and Voter Information Guides. Both documents were in English and Spanish.
First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor - Partnered with the League of Women Voters and worked with members of the Latinx community to compose radio segments reminding voters to vote and to give them essential information to participate in the voting process.
Manatee UU Fellowship - For a mail campaign targeting registered voters who did NOT vote in the primary elections, which included a stamped, addressed envelope to the Supervisor of Elections and a Vote-By-Mail request, in an effort to help people vote who may be otherwise unable to get to the polls.
Manatee UU Fellowship - For a GOTV effort to register young, Hispanic people who are enrolled in technical education programs.
San Marcos UU Fellowship - For a collaboration with the League of Women Voters to increase voter participation in two traditionally low-performing precincts.
UUs for Social Justice in the National Capital Region - For a collaborative regional voter registration, GOTV and citizen engagement project leading up to the November 2016 general election. This project included voter registration drives for former felons in Virginia.
UUs of Transylvania County (North Carolina) - To partner with the local NAACP to do door-to-door canvassing of African-American voters, hold a phone-a-thon, and offer rides to the polls.
Westside UU Church - To partner with Samaritan House, which provides housing and other resources to people with HIV/AIDS and other special needs, and Pennsylvania Place, a low-income housing complex, to register voters, educate them about Texas' Voter ID rules, and to offer rides to polls during early voting.