About the Catalyst Mission and Purpose

Catalyst grants help congregations take a risk, as the members stretch into new good works in partnership with others from your local community.

What is Catalyst?

Catalyst’s mission is to encourage and resource innovative ministries that transform lives.  The Catalyst Team, made up of representatives from all four associations, works to spark and stimulate innovation and creativity in congregations throughout the Wisconsin Conference by providing grant funding for congregations in the Wisconsin Conference.  We get excited by projects that reveal how local congregations are expanding the notion of church beyond the walls of their building by transforming lives in partnership with their local communities.  We also seek projects that further the Wisconsin Conference’s core justice initiatives:  Racial Justice, Immigration and Care of Creation.

See also the detailed Catalyst Statement of Purpose.

Funding for vital and innovative ministries is available

We support initiatives in congregations that:

• Transform lives through community based initiatives (how might you partner with others in your community to meet your community’s needs?)
• Stretch or deepen a congregation’s commitment to working for justice (how might you go beyond study to take action on a justice issue of importance in your local community?
• Expand a congregation’s ideas about what constitutes ministry, who their members are and what their role is in their local community (How might you take steps to reimagine church?)

See which Catalyst grant fits your idea

Learn how to apply for a Catalyst grant

Catalyst Grant Covenants

Catalyst grant recipients agree to the following covenants:

• Telling the story

Please send your stories and information about any publicity you might receive to Mary Kuenning Gross. Where appropriate, the stories the Catalyst team receives will be shared in the Conference and Association newsletters, on Facebook and possibly with the national setting of the UCC.

Telling your story is very important to help the learning network in our conference grow. All grant recipients are encouraged to find as many ways as possible to share the story of their project far and wide. You never know when your story might spark an idea somewhere else that can grow into a new ministry or effort to touch lives. We want to hear stories of great success and also stories of failure and learning. Both are valuable. When considering where to tell your story don’t forget about your local newspaper or the neighborhood newsletter or other community publications in your community.

• Promote Catalyst grants

Please include some or all of this information whenever speaking to your congregation or community about your project.

“This {project/program/etc.} has been funded in part by a Catalyst Grant from the Wisconsin Conference, UCC.”

If you have more space add this: Catalyst Grants are generously supported by the people of the Wisconsin Conference, UCC through our giving to Our Churches Wider Mission (OCWM).  Or this: Catalyst Grant funding is provided through the Catalyst team of the Wisconsin Conference and is an example of our OCWM dollars at work.

• Evaluate the project

At the completion of your project or year you will provide a brief report – mostly a summary of “what happened? who or what was impacted as a result?”, as well as a summary of how you used the grant funds.

In order for the Catalyst grant program to support the conference mission of equipping leaders and congregations to transform lives through innovative ministry for the 21st century, we must be harvesting best practices and learning from the projects we support.