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If you need to contact a specific Foundation Governor, here is their e-mail address: Paula Peace (Chair), [email protected] Cynthia Davis Hall, (Financial Secretary) [email protected] Rosemary Harman, [email protected] Peter Soley, (NGOs) [email protected] Anne Eagan (NGOs) [email protected] Vertical Divider
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PARTNER WITH US.... FOR JUSTICE!
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Info on 2025 Grants
Current calendar for applications is closed. Please check upcoming dates for new applications.
For information about how to send your gift to our US or Mexican bank, plus other donation options, please contact us at: [email protected]
Founding Donors
In Honor of Ms. Betse Davies
From Paula Peace, February 2024
As one of its top priorities, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Miguel de Allende, MX, has always advanced a high commitment to social justice/action in the broader San Miguel community and its surrounding villages. The educational, health and living condition needs of this city’s marginalized people cannot be overstated. For this reason, the UUFSMA is casting a wider net to generate funds to help meet the needs of carefully vetted NGOs serving these communities. Hence, the establishment of the UUFSMA Social Justice Foundation will succeed the previously locally-funded-only Social Action Committee.
The Foundation has ongoing needs for liaison stewards to these NGOs, for folks with fundraising and grant-writing skills, and for general “hands-on” volunteers to foster a brighter future for underserved citizens in and around San Miguel de Allende.
Why has the Foundation been created?
The UUFSMA Board determined that a Foundation dedicated to fundraising and grant-giving will increase our grant-giving capacity and enable us to be even more generous with our local NGO’s. The Foundation now seeks funds by partnering for justice with UU congregations in the U.S. and Canada as well as from global social justice funding organizations.
Will the Foundation be a separate entity or part of UUFSMA?
The Foundation is part of UUFSMA but - other than oversight by the Fellowship’s Board - will be run independently. The Foundation’s bank account is separate and donations to the Foundation will not be used for the Fellowship.
Who will run the Foundation?
The Board has chosen a five-member Governance Committee serving alternating terms of one or two years. (See below)
The work of this Foundation has begun thanks to the generosity of our Founding Donors. These individuals were the first to embrace the vision and the possibility of how a social justice foundation could expand our reach and improve our work for justice in this community, and they responded with generous gifts to the Foundation. These early gifts were important during the tricky transition time between 2023 funding from the Fellowship and the February 2024 launch of a separate campaign for the Foundation.
In pursuing those early gifts, I was fortunate to find the perfect partner for the ask in the articulate and passionate Michael Murphy. Together we approached each potential donor. But, we needed one beloved social justice leader to give an important blessing, so we went to Betse Davies.
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For the few members who may not yet know our own Ms. Betse Davies, she is one of our earliest members of our Fellowship and is renowned for her numerous long-term contributions to a dozen NGOs here in SMA.
For instance, Betse was one of the five founders of Jóvenes Adelante and a scholarship fund has been established in her honor. She started as a tour guide for Patronato Pro Niños, then served as head of the organization for more than 20 years. She served for years on the UUFSMA Social Action Committee, where she was the steward with Niños Con Autismo and the EEE school for the deaf, among others. Betse was named Rotary Citizen of the Year in 1991. Altruism was built into her life in her college days at Ohio State where Betse, like her mother before, was named into the women’s honor board. She learned to serve at an early age and – today at the age of 97 – continues her active life of service. So, we proudly announce that we did receive that important vote of confidence from Betse – and her partner Jim Harper – along with a generous check. Betse’s leadership was just the inspiring lead gift which we needed. We are proud to have Betse as a decades-long member of UUFSMA and are proud to recognize her by naming the new Foundation’s important Founding Donors project in her honor. |
Betse Davies
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Initial Donors
Betse Davies & Jim Harper, our lead gift Cynthia Claus Bill Dalsimer & Janet Freed Dianne Dailey & Bob Doupe Anne Geyer Eleanor Goodwin Rosemary Harman & Al Alford Michael & Kathy Murphy Mary Murrell & Douglas Zachary Paula Peace & Michael Moore Tom Rosiello & Malcolm Halliday Phyllis Vince & Kim Van Kapel Jane Wilkinson Donn Zellet & Nora Cohen If you want to let us know what you want the Social Justice Foundation to focus on, please answer our brief Survey here! |
Contact the SJF webmaster at: [email protected]
La Conexion, Aldama 3, Box 401k, San Miguel de Allende 37700, Guanajuato, Mexico
[email protected] |