This church year was another great one at the UUCW! It was our second year of experimenting with the policy governance system. Under the new system, the board has been able to focus all of its energy on crafting policies and having productive discussion about major issues that could potentially have a great impact on the congregation and its mission. One example of this is when the board was considering sponsoring a Boy Scout troop. The board had a discussion that carefully considered every perspective on the issue and the benefits and possible problems. After the initial board discussion, the board met with the congregation. At that meeting it was apparent that many congregants had differing opinions about sponsoring a Boy Scout troop. Given the differing opinions, the board decided to form a task force that will gather more information about the congregation's thoughts about hosting a troop. Next year the board plans to use the information gathered by the task force to decide between not sponsoring a troop or having the congregational vote on sponsoring a troop.

 

As part of the new Policy Governance model, the board set annual goals for itself and Aaron at the board retreat in August. Aaron's goal (as chief executive of the church) was to form and begin to implement a plan to improve internal and external communications. Improved communications should help inspire increased membership and pledge units. Aaron, with the help of the staff and many volunteers, has made a lot of progress toward this goal. The biggest achievement is a much improved website. The new site is more easily accessible and has a lot more information about the many things that are happening at the church. The website will make it easier for people outside our church to learn more about the UUCW and our programs. Aaron has also been working to have the website be better connected to various social websites so that it will be easier for information posted on the church website to be available on those social network sites. Starting in June, the board will begin the process of formally evaluating Aaron on his progress toward better UUCW communications.

 

At the August retreat, the board set a goal for itself to develop a communications policy to increase the ease of access to church resources among our current members and the larger community. The board is putting the finishing touches on a new UUCW Communications Policy. It is important that church organizations have a communications policy so that there is a clear understanding of how staff and volunteers interact with the public, members, and the media. At the UUCW, we value the plurality of our opinions and viewpoints on many subjects.  In an official capacity, however, it is important that the church speak with "one voice," and provide a consistent message to the public. Without a clear policy, it would be possible, for example, for a newspaper reporter to obtain two or more different, possibly even opposing, sets of information when writing a story about the church. Another problematic example would be if separate volunteers developed separate social media accounts under the UUCW name. Having a clear policy ensures that the public and our membership gets a consistent message from the church. The UUCW Communications Policy covers the following areas: media relations, social networking, using a cellphone while driving, electronic media, and political contributions and lobbying, an important aspect of political communication.