Unrestricted Fund

Every day, people walk through UCM's doors looking for different things. Some come for a hot meal. Others come looking for community after feeling isolated or unwelcome. Students stop by to organize around issues they care about. Volunteers gather to prepare food, set up tables, or plan the next community event. Faith groups, neighborhood organizations, and grassroots movements all find a home here.

None of that happens by accident.

While many grants and designated gifts help support specific programs, the day-to-day work of keeping UCM open depends on flexible funding. Unrestricted gifts make it possible to respond to changing community needs, care for our historic building, support our staff, and ensure that our doors remain open to everyone who needs them.

Over the past year, UCM has served more than 3,000 free meals, hosted the Emergency Warming Center during periods of extreme cold, launched a Legal Support Fund for people participating in nonviolent direct action, helped coordinate advocacy around Senate Bill One, expanded partnerships with local organizations, and welcomed dozens of community groups into our building for meetings, educational programs, celebrations, and mutual aid. These efforts are only possible because there is a place where people can gather, organize, eat, learn, and care for one another.

Your unrestricted gift helps make that possible.

It keeps the lights on during community dinners. It pays for internet access used by students organizing educational events. It helps repair aging parts of our building, replace worn-out kitchen equipment, maintain our meeting spaces, and ensure that volunteers have the supplies they need to serve others. It also supports the dedicated staff who coordinate volunteers, build partnerships, write grants, manage programs, and respond when new needs emerge in our community.

Some of the most meaningful work we do cannot be predicted months in advance. When the Ohio University Pride Center closed following the passage of Senate Bill One, UCM was able to step in quickly to provide affirming spaces, organize community conversations, and support students. When community members identified the need for meal delivery, we partnered with Purple Fireflies to make it happen. When organizers needed space to meet, equipment to borrow, or guidance on planning safe public demonstrations, UCM was ready because supporters had invested in the organization as a whole.

An unrestricted gift gives us the flexibility to respond in moments like these.

It allows us to say "yes" when a new partnership begins, when an unexpected repair cannot wait, or when someone walks through our doors needing support that was never included in a grant budget.

For nearly sixty years, UCM has adapted to meet the changing needs of Athens and Ohio University while remaining rooted in the same values of hospitality, justice, service, and community. Every generation has faced new challenges, and every generation has found new ways to care for one another.

By giving to the Unrestricted Fund, you are investing in everything that makes UCM possible. You are helping sustain a place where people are fed, welcomed, challenged, supported, and empowered to build a more just and compassionate community.

Thank you for helping keep our doors open.