United Thank Offering, the purveyor of little blue boxes for more than a century, has announced deadlines for two grant programs for 2020, along with webinars that will provide information on the programs. Webinars will be held October 15, 2019 at noon and 8:00 pm Eastern and again on January 14, 2020 at the same times.
- The main UTO grants program supports mission and ministry in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The theme for 2020 is Bless: Share faith, practice generosity and compassion, and proclaim the Good News of God in Christ with hope and humility. For 2018, UTO made 35 grants totalling $1.4 million, Application deadline is March 6, 2020.
- UTO’s Young Adult & Seminarian program (YAS) will provide up to 10 grants of up to $5,000 each to adults ages 19-30 and ordination-track seminarians. Application deadline is February 7, 2020.
Applicants must be sponsored by their diocese, and applications will be disallowed from any diocese that is not paying its full assessment to The Episcopal Church, unless a waiver has been granted. TLC reported in July there are about a dozen dioceses paying less than the mandated 15%, although some had been granted or applied for waivers.
More information about the UTO grants program and the Young Adult & Seminarian program is available on the Episcopal Church website.
UTO was started by Episcopal Church Women, then known as the Women’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions, in 1889 to support missionary work. For more information on the organization and its history, visit unitedthankoffering.com/.
Kirk Petersen
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
