Planning Guide

• uusc.org/givetoguest: Support Guest at Your Table
  
• How UUSC puts your donation to work

Getting started

It's easy to organize a program! Follow these simple steps, and for assistance contact UUSC by e-mailing volunteerservices@uusc.org or calling 617-301-4366 or 800-766-5236.

Step 1. Review this planning guide

The guide includes all you will need to celebrate Guest at Your Table with worship and religious-education activities. You can also download this Planning Guide in PDF format.

Step 2. Identify a program coordinator, partners, or helpers

In most congregations, the UUSC local representative or the Guest at Your Table program coordinator helps organize activities. UUSC members and supporters can help too, with tasks such as tallying donations or reminding participants during worship service announcements to contribute to their Guest boxes.

Step 3. Partner with your congregational leadership

Your UUSC local representative, minister, religious educators, and worship or social-action committees can all play roles in planning and completing a meaningful Guest at Your Table program.

Collaborate with the director of religious education to plan how religious-education classes can participate — share the resources on religious education with them.

Share the sample worship service with your minister and work together to plan an intergenerational worship service. Start early to reserve a date on the congregation calendar!

Step 4. Plan Guest at Your Table worship services

It is important to schedule Guest at Your Table for a time that best suits your community. UUSC suggests that you begin your program on November 20, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. However, some congregations hold successful Guest programs at other times of the year. Most programs run for about four weeks. Many congregations build meaningful and intentional participation by scheduling one full worship service at the start of the program and celebrating with a special service at the program's conclusion, when donations from participants are returned. Consider including a Moment for All Ages and share from Stories of Hope as a way of educating your congregation about UUSC's work.

Step 5. Gather your materials

All planning materials are available for download. All printed program materials, such as posters, reply envelopes, boxes, stickers, and other supplies for your congregation, can be ordered free of charge by using the materials order form. Be sure to place your order early, at least four weeks before your opening worship service, to avoid rush shipping charges.

Key items for your congregation include a poster and resources for worship and religious education. Key items for each participating family include a Guest envelope or Guest box as well as a copy of Stories of Hope.

UUSC offers additional resources for your pre-and post-service activities, such as sample announcements.

Building the momentum

Step 6. Get creative — plan a few special activities

Make Guest at Your Table a fun as well as meaningful experience for all members of the family. Personalize your program with something special, such as a luncheon featuring the Guest boxes. Youth groups may also get involved, with skits or other creative participation in the service. Consider inviting a UUSC speaker for your worship service. Find more inspiring ideas and creative activities that can help engage people of all ages.

Step 7. Promote Guest at Your Table to inspire participation

Your program will be successful if you drum up interest in advance and keep the excitement high during the program. It helps to set a goal (total amount raised, number of memberships, or next level of congregation award, for example) and set a specific date to culminate the program and return contributions (often four to six weeks after launch). Report on the congregation's progress toward your goal each week until the culmination date. Publish articles in your congregational newsletter as well as on your listserv and website. Make announcements during services. (Here are some sample announcements and articles.) Work in advance with your newsletter or bulletin editor and others to plan printed and spoken announcements.

Prepare a colorful display in your congregation, incorporating the box and highlighting this year's guests. It may help to mount a world map and connect your congregational location to the guests' locations with ribbon or yarn to demonstrate the global impact of your congregation's participation. Organize children to create special posters to remind of the date when the Guest envelopes and boxes are due. Prepare your own communication using Stories of Hope and other online resources, such as sample articles and announcements, and generate other ideas for spreading the word and building participation.

Wrapping up

Step 8. Collect donations, complete the tally sheet, and mail it all to UUSC

Ask all participants to convert cash and coins to a check made out to UUSC, with the congregation name in the memo line. You might ask participants to return their donations during a processional or special collection, to add a special pageantry to the program. Complete the tally sheet (available online) for any contributions that are not accompanied with an envelope, to be sure it is credited to your congregation. To be acknowledged for their tax-deductible gift or to earn UUSC membership, all donors in a family must be listed on the tally sheet.

Send donations to UUSC promptly, especially if your participants want their gifts acknowledged for tax purposes before the end of December:

UUSC, Guest at Your Table
P.O. Box 808
Newark, NJ 07101-0808

Step 9. Celebrate your congregation's good work

Recognize the generosity and activism of your congregation. Announce the congregation's collective total contributions raised during Guest at Your Table. Thank and congratulate the congregation if they increased over the previous year or exceeded your goal for this year. Consider creating a Guest at Your Table "honor roll" of individual donors published in the church bulletin or elsewhere. (Remember to get permission from donors before listing their names publicly.) Celebrate that your congregation put their values into action. Help your audience visualize how financial support translates into real human-rights terms.

Step 10. Plan ahead for next year

While the congregation's energy for UUSC is high, right now is a great time to mindfully plan how you will participate in Guest at Your Table next year. With the program still fresh in your memories, share together what worked well, what you would like to try differently, and determine your most effective timeline, then ask the congregational administrator to confirm the dates for next year's calendar.

This is also a good time to begin discussion of Justice Sunday, March 25, 2012. Justice Sunday is a longer-term program for learning, advocacy, and social action on one key issue, culminating in a worship service. The focus this year is the human right to water, so Justice Sunday is timed to culminate on the Sunday nearest World Water Day (March 22). UUSC provides materials to deepen understanding and invite congregation member to personal reflection and participation; worship resources to help launch or celebrate the congregational Justice Sunday program; and a series of activities for adults to relate and respond to key issues.

Grow UUSC membership!

Participants can become members of UUSC with membership-level contributions to Guest at Your Table:

Individual ($40 per person)
Dual ($75; 2 adults)
Senior ($20 per person, age 65 or over)
Student/youth ($10 per person)

All individual and family unrestricted contributions of $100 or more are eligible to be matched dollar for dollar by the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, N.Y.