Engage people in their meetings and attract new Friends to join them!
Recently Membership Development Granting Group found joy and fulfillment! Here’s how:
Anytime we disperse money we are joyful, glad that meetings are working toward growing. Grants included support for:
- South Jersey Quakers website:org
- Workshops for Friends on growing meetings
- Supporting many events, new signs, updated websites, and equipment for online and hybrid meeting for worship to bring attention and new attenders to meetings.
This is a current or upcoming project or interesting thing the granting group is working on:
- We are working on an Outreach Thread Gathering for the Fall.
People who participate in this granting group can learn and grow in this way:
- Get to know about and work with all the various meetings in PYM.
- Learn of and often participate in efforts to bring attention and new members to Quakerism
This granting group functions at its best when there are people serving on it who have these skills or experiences:
- Positive and energetic about increasing attendance at PYM monthly and quarterly meetings, with the object to ultimately increase membership.
- Interest in visiting other meetings, either on-site or by Zoom.
- An outgoing personality and able to meet others “where they are”.
- Time to communicate with grant recipients and “shepherd” the grant process.
- Knowledge of Quaker process and some administrative skills to be the clerk and work with PYM staff.
The realistic time commitment of members of this granting group includes:
- Meet quarterly by zoom. The date and time can be set to meet the needs of members
- Prepare to discuss applications by reading the documents ahead of the meeting.
- Discern through group emails when a request is received more than 30 days before the next scheduled meeting. Time needed for thought, discernment, and response may vary, but perhaps 1-2 hours each for an average of one request per month (not usually spread evenly through the year).
- Possibly contact the recipient meeting during the project, which could take a variable amount of time
- Members who are shepherds of a grant may or may not want or need to visit the applicant meeting
- Occasionally work on a project, such as drafting a document, outside of the actual meeting times.
Membership:
- Members of granting groups are appointed by the Granting Committee and must be a member of a PYM meeting or an at-large member of PYM.
- The Membership Development Granting Group ideally has eight to ten members and currenly needs four to six.
What We Do
The Membership Development Granting Group supports Monthly and Quarterly Meetings of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in projects that:
- Enhance the visibility and outreach of Monthly Meetings in their communities.
- Attract new people to attend Meeting for Worship.
- Increase engagement of members and attendees in the Meeting community.
- Strengthen and increase membership in Monthly Meetings.
Provided is a list of recent grants to better understand the scope of projects that the Membership Development Granting Group has supported in the past.
Who We Are
Appointed by PYM Granting Committee.
Members
- Sarah Rose Ennis, At-Large Member, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
- James Tracy, Providence Monthly Meeting
- Carter Nash, Granting Committee Liaison, Harrisburg Monthly Meeting
- Peter Yeomans, Germantown Monthly Meeting
How To Apply
The Membership Development Granting Group going forward will meet in January, March, June, and October to consider grant applications. You should plan to apply at least two months before the start of a project. Proposals are expected to address a concern arising from the Meeting for outreach and membership development. PYM Monthly and Quarterly Meetings should consult the Membership Development Application Form and Guidelines [PDF] for details about the application process; other organizations are ineligible.
Funds
Membership Development Support Fund – Established in 1997 to support projects designed to enhance the visibility and outreach of Monthly Meetings and to bring new members to the Religious Society of Friends. Grants today are made directly from a portion of the unrestricted bequests left each year to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and not from income on investments. These gifts are used to increase and strengthen membership, so that the Society of Friends will remain vital well beyond the donor’s lifetimes and our own.
