Through SOIL, you will

• Skills: Assess areas of strength & weakness and develop your skills 

• Organizing Plan: Create & implement a plan to fortify your team

• Interdependence: Lean deeply into team, congregational and partner relationships;

• Collective Liberation:  practice our shared Unitarian Universalist faith, integrating joy, appreciation, celebration, and deepening our understanding and commitment to a just & faithful world

You will leave Tending SOIL able to use Side with Love’s Organizing Framework to guide your local work.   

We believe that when UUs organize using all 5 approaches in our framework, then your organizing will be more faithful, accountable, and impactful. 

• A team of 3-5 people in your congregation (or region) who are doing justice work together - and keep doing that work!  (Check out our Team Recruitment Toolkit for help building your team!)

• An open mind, loving heart, helping hands, and a dose of curiosity and humor

• Attend all monthly sessions, the weekend Intensive, and complete Homework Assignments with your team between each session

Tending SOIL includes:

• 2-hour monthly Sunday Sessions on Zoom @ 3-5pm PT / 6-8pm ET:

  • January 10: Intro to SOIL: Orientation and Welcome

  • February 7: Organizing Framework & Self Assessment

  • March 14: ReImagine Thriving: Your Team Goals

  • May 16: Explore Possibilities: Organizing Plan Action Steps

  • June 7: Graduation & Sharing Progress

• April 9-11: Intensive - Ground in Context & Nourish Community.  The intensive is virtual, but you will meet in person with your team to do some activities. 

• Staff Coaching Sessions with your Team - April, May, and Fall 2027

You will need to use Zoom and UU Institute to access course materials.

The Team Fee is $5 x Total Number of members in your congregation 

For example, in a congregation with 100 members, your team would contribute $5 x 100 = $500.  

Organizing money is part of organizing power – so we invite you to lean into fundraising through a combination of your congregational operating budget, ministers' discretionary fund, fundraising, and/or personal contributions. 

The total cost to run one cohort of Tending SOIL is over $30,000, including all programming and staff costs.

Fees are not due until the April Intensive and we will support you!  

Tending SOIL is an investment in building your individual and team capacity, and it is not a small commitment of time and energy.   

We designed our application process to help you discern if Tending SOIL is right for your team this year — rather than a competition for a mythical “best.” Our hope is that most interested teams will be able to participate in SOIL. Priority will go to teams already involved in Side with Love.

Discernment Process: 

1. Info session: required for all applicants to get clear about what SOIL is and whether it is for you. Invite interested team members to join us on November 15; or watch the recording.

2. Team Dreaming & Discernment Form due Nov 20th 

3. Meeting with Staff for Team formation and discernment - your team will meet with Side With Love staff to get to know you (Oct & Nov).

4. Congregational Leader Endorsement - We want to make sure that you are in relationship with your congregational leadership about Tending SOIL, so we ask for an endorsement from one congregational leader (minister, DRE, or board president if you don't have a minister).

5. Individual Discernment & Intake Form - Once you have a team and have met with our staff, each participant will fill out our intake form.