UU Chicagoland Marketing Initiative
(CMI)
A program of The Chicago Area UU Council
The CMI was formed by a cluster of Chicago-area congregational
leadership, for the purpose of developing marketing and public
relations initiatives involving the several congregations of CAUUC.
This next year, CMI will be engaged in a program of public witness in
the greater Chicago area using news media. A consultant skilled
in public relations and grounded in UU principles will work with
congregations to turn their work promoting UU values into news stories
focusing current social justice issues through a lens of UU values.
The purpose of this program is to support the development of marketing
and public relations events, skills, and programs in congregations of
the greater Chicago area, in order to
*Make Unitarian Universalism more visible in the
world,
*Support values-based work of Unitarian Universalist
congregations, and
*Attract people to our congregations who are
interested in joining our congregations in
order to have a
values-based platform from which to change the world.
The UU Chicagoland Marketing Initiative (CMI) grew out of workshop
offered by John Hurley and Valerie Holton at the Central Midwest
District Assembly in April of 2005. The CMI began meeting
regularly in May, 2005, with representation from 8 congregations in the
purview of the Chicago Area UU Council (CAUUC). The mission of the CMI
was established to raise the visibility of Unitarian Universalism in
the world by developing and sponsoring marketing and public relations
initiatives among the congregations that comprise the Chicago
Area UU Council.
However, it was felt that groundwork needed to be laid and many
more congregations brought on board before an effective program of
marketing or public relations could be launched. Through FY 2006, CMI
staged three workshops in conjunction with a fourth offered
by the District. We brought together marketing and public
relations people from the congregations and offer training in
• readying congregations for visitors through
“Radical Hospitality,” a workshop presented by District Director for
Growth Dori Davenport;
• developing marketing strategies for individual
congregations through the workshop, “Marketing 101:Developing an
outreach strategy for your congregation” presented by Valerie Holton,
UUA consultant for marketing;
• possibilities for public relations and public
witness through the workshop, “Public Witness for UUs:
Engaged Faith, Effective Action,” presented by John Hurley and
Rob Keithan, UUA staffers for public witness and advocacy.
• Direct Mailing, through the workshop “How to do a
Postcard Mailing in 3 Easy Steps,” presented by Dan Ashley, marketing
committee chair of Second Unitarian Church, Chicago.
•
Through these events, CMI now has representation from 19 (of 28) CAUUC
congregations: All Souls Chicago (15 members), Beverly Unitarian
Church (109), Countryside Church (290), DuPage UU Church (301), UU
Church of Elgin (150), Unitarian Church of Evanston (440), First
Society of Chicago (176), UU Society of Geneva (332), Unitarian Church
of Hinsdale (312), First Unitarian Church of Hobart (97), Universalist
Unitarian Church of Joliet (91), New Garden Community Church (20),
North Shore Church (433), UU Community Church of Park Forest (117), UU
Church of Rock Valley (41), Second Unitarian Church of Chicago (223),
Third Unitarian Church (114), Unity Temple of Oak Park (401), and
Woodstock (206).
Congregations in CAUUC have become increasingly vocal about social
justice issues, such as the war in Iraq, civil marriage for all, the
environment, fair trade, fair employment practices, etc. Further,
congregations have participated in processes in which they have agreed
to speak out on issues in the name of Unitarian Universalism and
themselves as a faith community. Much of that speaking out has,
however, been confined to their literal and figurative front
lawns. It seems to be the right time to enhance their
efforts by developing skills to use the media to carry their voices
further than their front lawns. A consultant working with PR
people in congregations will help them develop skills of their own to
carry on the work past their initial experience with the
consultant.
Over the past few years, there have been developed effective public
relations programs in a few of our congregations, most notably Elgin
and Woodstock. Their example has inspired other congregations to
look toward developing a program. The UUA has also initiated
effective public relations programs, especially the work of Meg Riley,
John Hurley, and Janet Hayes, enhancing the priority of UUA president
Bill Sinkford to get the UU voice into the national conscience.
Our CAUUC congregations stand poised to take advantage of this
work. The CMI aims to provide technical support, education,
and opportunity for collaboration; through the consultant, we will also
provide training in the skills and strategies of public relations work.
The first stage of work for CMI has been to arrange educational
opportunities for congregational leadership and to engage their
commitment to increased marketing public relations work through
CMI. The project for which funding is requested is a second stage
of this initiative. We propose to engage the services of a
skilled public relations consultant to work with our congregations to
bring their stories successfully to the news media. To fund
this engagement, we have requested to our constituency that they budget
a line-item of $2. per member to be contributed to CMI through CAUUC
for FY2007. We have requested of the UUA Funding Program that
they match those dollars. Such a match would yield a workable sum
to engage a consultant part-time and would also serve as incentive for
congregational contributions, knowing their dollars are double their
worth.
Goals, strategies, outcomes:
Goal: To raise the visibility/influence of Unitarian Universalist
values at in the world through the work of UU congregations
Strategy: Hire a consultant with public
relations skills and experience, grounded in Unitarian
Universalist values
Strategy: Consultant will
a. implement
public and media relations campaigns,
b. handle media
inquiries by passing them on to UU ministers and other
spokespeople
and advising them how to handle the inquiries.
c. act as
liaison to journalists and editors of leading media.
Outcome: An increase in the number of times
Unitarian Universalism is featured or
mentioned in a news story;
Outcome: The general public will have an
increased awareness of what Unitarian
Universalists stand for through
the issues they are involved in.
Secondary outcome: Potential UU members will be
attracted to our denomination through
their sympathy with the values we stand for in the
world.
Goal: To increase the skills of public relations individuals and
groups in the CAUUC congregations
Strategy: Consultant will work with members of
congregations in developing and bringing
their stories successfully to the media
Strategy: Consultant will train PR individuals
and committees in congregations, in possible
workshop situations
Outcome: An increase in the skills of PR people in
congregations and an increase in the
number of congregations with effective PR
programs.
Project profile:
CMI will hire a consultant to begin July 1, 2006. During
July, CMI will work with consultant to identify stories and set goals
and strategies. Beginning in August, consultant will complete one
media event per month, engaged in work with CAUUC
congregations. On an ongoing basis, CMI with the consultant
will continue to identify stories or issues and develop strategies for
bringing them to the media.
At the end of a year, CMI and the consultant will evaluate the
effectiveness of the media events and the strategies. In
May of 2007, CMI will develop a second year of consultation, focused
more intensely on training congregational leadership in public
relations. Evaluation of the effectiveness of this two-year
program in anchoring public relations programs in the individual
congregations will determine further work. If the CMI has been
successful, they are determined to launch a program more focused on the
strategies of marketing.
This project will strengthen the influence of Unitarian Universalist
values in the greater Chicago area by showcasing the work of UUs in
realizing these values through social justice work. It will
strengthen the organization of individual congregations to do effective
PR work. It will attract people sympathetic to UU values to UU
congregations
The CMI steering committee:
Dan Ashley
The Rev. Brian Covell
The Rev. Jean Darling
Geneva Bishop
Allan Lindrup
Valerie Holton
Ellie Hall
Bob Sandidge
Margaret Shaklee