Last fall, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting received a grant from the Thomas H. and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund to support hybrid meetings and meeting outreach. A portion of the grant provides $13,000 as financial support to PYM’s quarterly meetings. Each of PYM’s 13 quarterly meetings is eligible to apply for a $1000 grant. Quarterly and monthly meetings do excellent work that taps into Friends’ talents and meetings’ needs, so it is a pleasure to be able to support them through this Shoemaker funding.
These Quarterly meeting grants will fund two areas of activity
- Outreach: Sample projects that can be funded include programs on a topic, website renovation, event publicity, meeting publicity, or developing outreach plans.
- Technology: Quarterly meetings may purchase necessary technology for hybrid or virtual worship/programs.
Grant recipients’ are expected to attend a planned workshop on virtual/hybrid best practices.
Funds received will need to be spent no later than August 31, 2022. At that time, Quarterly meetings that accept the grant will need to provide a brief outcomes report. PYM will use this information to develop a grant report on all initiatives for the Shoemaker Fund.
Quarterly meetings have talked about their needs related to Covid-19 and new forms of virtual and hybrid worship, and many quarters are excited about creative outreach efforts to new communities or emerging cross-quarter partnerships.
Our partnership with meetings and quarters across PYM matters greatly to our Quaker faith. We are stronger for working together, and warmly invite both quarterly meeting and monthly meeting leadership teams to post their events on the PYM website.
Q: Who determines the grant project?
Quarters themselves decide what their project priority might be.
We envision some will ask for support for an outreach program on a topic, others might renovate websites, choose to advertise events or meetings, or develop outreach plans, while others may want to purchase needed technology for hybrid or virtual worship/programs.
Q: Can Quarters pool their resources and work together on shared projects as teams?
Yes, we expect that some will do this, others will not.
If some quarters decide to work on a shared project, this could strengthen PYM’s overall work on that issue and build relationships between the quarters (especially if the quarters are located close to each other).
Examples of collaborations among quarters are already in play. The three South Jersey quarters have been busy with joint outreach projects for a few years. Abington Quarterly Meeting is doing joint work on website development and a monthly meeting in Haverford Quarter is joining that project. We expect that there could be others.
Q: Do Quarters need to apply?
Yes, a Quarter representative needs to apply by filling out the application form below to receive this grant support.
Q: What are the reporting requirements for each Quarter?
PYM will send out an electronic survey to collect data on how the grant was used. This will track how funds are spent and establish positive grant outcomes.
Q: What are PYM’s expected outcomes?
We hope for:
- Strengthened meeting and personal relationships within and across quarters.
- Enhanced self-determination and self-advocacy within quarters and a greater sense of belonging in PYM community.
- Increased knowledge about each other’s capacities, knowledge, gifts, and outreach skills.
- A sense of fun and relationship building.
Q: Anything else?
We will have some additional, more limited, funding for similar projects with Monthly Meetings that we will share information about on January 26th.
Additional questions?
Questions about this grant may be directed to Zachary Dutton at zdutton@pym.org
Apply Here
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Photo credit: Under the Weight of Technology by P. Cooke
