 Mrs. Caroline
Veatch
The Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program is a
grantmaking program established in 1959 with funds provided by a
gift made from Mrs. Caroline Veatch to the North
Shore Unitarian Society in Plandome, New York (now
Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter
Rock in Manhasset, NY).
The Board of Governors of the Veatch Program are elected members of the
Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. Click
here for more details on the beginnings of the Veatch Program (from
Harvard Square Library).
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The UU Veatch Program supports Unitarian
Universalist organizations that foster the growth and
development of the denomination and that increase the involvement of
Unitarian Universalists in social action.
The UU Veatch Program also supports non-denominational
organizations whose goals reflect the principles of Unitarian
Universalism:
-
A belief in the inherent worth and dignity of
every person;
-
Justice, equity and compassion in human
relations;
-
Acceptance of one another and encouragement of
spiritual growth;
-
A free and responsible search for truth and
meaning;
-
The right of conscience and the use of the
democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
-
The goal of
world community with peace, liberty and
justice for all;
-
Respect for the interdependent web of all
existence of which we are a part.
There is a great deal that is very wrong in the
world as we find it in the first decade of the 21st century. Tremendous wealth and greed exist alongside unbearable
poverty; we find little compassion and almost no greatness among our
national leaders. We believe that fundamental changes are needed,
changes in values, in priorities, in analysis and in governance.
We also believe that those changes will occur only if the people of
this country themselves provide the leadership that is so sorely
lacking. The UU Veatch
Program funds grassroots organizations of people, not of "experts,"
because we believe that it is only by rebuilding democracy in this
country from the bottom up that truly new policies will be envisioned,
demanded and implemented.
The UU Veatch Program funds community initiatives
and organizations working on a wide variety of issues in many different
parts of the country. We
look for organizations that are developing new public policy, and new
ways of organizing at the grassroots level.
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For example, we fund:
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Community
organizing efforts that
build power by and for disenfranchised communities, and that seek to
hold decision-makers accountable to the needs of low-income people
and others traditionally excluded from making the policies that
affect their lives.
-
Environmental justice
groups that are demanding the reduction of toxic production and
dumping in communities of color and poor communities.
-
Organizations that are
building
broad coalitions to inject the interests and needs of
ordinary people into international trade negotiations and other
global economic forums;
-
Civic organizations
fighting to preserve and extend civil and constitutional rights,
including racial and sexual equality, reproductive freedom, and freedom
from all forms of invidious discrimination;
-
Organizations that challenge
the control of corporate money over our political process,
and that seek to return our democracy to its rightful owners.
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We see the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program
as helping to build a movement
for social change. We
focus not only on particular issues but also on the methods being used to
address them. Does an
organization involve its members in decision making? Does the pursuit of justice dictate the organizational practice
as well as the organizational goals? Does the organization trust the
grassroots and understand that political power does not come from polls
or from ignorance but from a politically literate population that clearly understands the alternatives being presented?
Does the organization work cooperatively with other organizations
seeking to build a broader "civil society?"
As an essential part of rebuilding our democracy,
the Veatch Program supports organizations that teach people the skills
that have been lost as we have been systematically excluded from the
political process: the skills of analysis, public speaking, conducting
meetings, raising money, challenging bureaucrats and
"experts," and holding political representatives accountable.
To return to the principles of Unitarian Universalism, we
strive through our grantmaking to encourage "a free and responsible
search for truth and meaning; justice, equity and compassion in human
relations; and the use of the democratic process."
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