Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Our work is grounded in the belief that all people have inherent power and dignity.
- Income
- $11.2 million
- Spending
- $14.2 million
- Spent on programs
- 84%
- Reserves
- 24.1 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 88%
- Employees
- 46
- Volunteers
- 450
- Highest pay
- $350,764, president & lead executive officer
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 85 out of 100. Higher than 71% of charities in its peer group (international, $10m to $100m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 24.1 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 6% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 27% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 4% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1584% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 8 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 93 out of 100. Higher than 27% of charities in its peer group (international, $10m to $100m).
Independent board
25 of 2514 of 14 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (5)
- $5.3 million spent. Human Rights Programs - I. Climate Justice & Environmental Justice: See Schedule O. Environmental Justice UUSC's climate justice work centers upholding the self-determination of communities and Indigenous peoples in the face of climate change and climate forced displacement. We support grassroots organizations in the Pacific and Americas facing displacement due to climate change. We center the right to self determination of communities in the face of displacement and advocate and provide guidance to communities and all levels of government on how to advance community-led processes and meaningful community engagement. We convene and build bridges to support grassroots leaders in advocating for their rights before government and international bodies, and advance narrative change work such that the stories of communities impacted by climate change and their rights are centered and upheld.
- $3.0 million spent. Migration Justice We support grassroots and worker-led movements challenging systemic oppression or pursuing systemic alternatives to the root causes of injustice so they can grow stronger and continue their work for the long-term. We uphold the rights of Human rights and environmental defenders and their resistance efforts, helping to ensure that their rights are protected across the region (including in the US), leading to stronger protections for rights, land, territories, and nature. We contribute to discourse change such that the stories we tell about migration and the region to accurately reflect the systemic roots of human rights abuses and impacts in the region. We advance tactics and support partners who protect and uphold the Freedom and rights of people displaced and in migration.
- $2.8 million spent. Crisis Response When we feel we can make an impact and it is strategic to do so, UUSC develops programmatic work in response to emerging natural disasters and complex humanitarian crises throughout the world. In recent years, UUSC has developed programmatic work in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine; we responded to natural disasters like Hurricane Dorien in the Bahamas; as well as crisis events in Burma, Haiti, and beyond. In crisis response situations, UUSC identifies and supports grassroots organizations that are often overlooked by mainstream humanitarian relief and commits to multi-year support, not one-off approaches.
- $918,026 spent. Activism & Justice Training, College of Social Justice
- UU College of Social Justice The UU College of Social Justice is a program created as an act of radical imagination between the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). UUCSJ is a joint program of the UUA and UUSC and its staff are employees of the UUSC. Mission The mission of the UU College of Social Justice is to inspire and sustain effective and spiritually grounded activism for justice. We do this in alignment with the strategic approaches, prioritized issues, and missions of UUSC and the UUA: UUSC Mission: UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Our work is grounded in the belief that all people have inherent power and dignity. UUA Mission: The mission of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is to equip congregations for health and vitality, to support and train lay and professional leaders, and to advance Unitarian Universalist values in the world. Strategy UUCSJ is a key strategy by which both UUSC and the UUA realize their independent and intertwined missions to advance the justice-centered values of Unitarian Universalism and human rights. UUCSJ provides justice education and leadership development to a wide variety of UU constituents, including clergy, lay leaders, and youth, and UUSC members and partners. Impact Framework The goal of the Impact & Accountability Framework is to discern UUCSJ's contribution to inspiring and sustaining effective and spiritually grounded activism for justice, especially in the work of global solidarity building and the dismantling of systems of oppression. UUCSJ's framework is shaped by both UUSC and the UUA's impact frameworks: For UUSC, "impact" means building movements for systemic change. Impact means using UUSC's power and privilege as a US-based nonprofit to amplify the power of the grassroots by following the leadership of communities directly affected by injustice. It is addressing immediate harms and their root causes, to dismantle oppressive systemsincluding those from which we appear to benefit within empire. In short, our impact can be seen in the steps we take on the way to building a more just, equitable, and regenerative world. These are ambitious goals to be sure. Achieving them takes time, and the work that will make them possible is not always easily quantifiable. For the UUA, the framework of impact is held within the concept of "Meeting the Moment." This framework asks: - What is the shared moment we are in? - What are the most urgent and important needs of this moment? - What is this moment calling us to do and become? UUCSJ Impact Highlights Since its inception, UUCSJ has offered a distinct form of justice education designed to forge lifelong connections to movements for social change. Instead of focusing on theory in isolation, UUCSJ provides opportunities for participants to learn directly from the leaders of grassroots movements working for justice. The themes, stories, and outcomes we choose to highlight in our work, therefore, are chosen because they help us understand whether or not our work is supporting those long-term, systemic impacts, as we strive to make progress on advancing the justice-centered values of Unitarian Universalism and human rights. In all cases, we aim to put our grassroots partners at the center, showing the power of social change when it is led by communities confronting oppression and injustice. A few highlights of our work include: In FY25, UUCSJ developed and successfully led an experiential education program called "Practice the Practice: Experiential Education for Religious Professionals." Religious professionals are a diverse group that includes clergy, directors of religious education, seminarians, and many others. They come from many different communities and are at various stages of their own learning about what it means to be in solidarity with grassroots movements in a responsible way. Many of them, regardless of their stages of learning, are expected to lead experiential education journeys for their work. UUCSJ provided a much needed intervention that allowed professionals to skill up together and not at the expense of community partners. For the practicum for this program, UUCSJ hosted a journey in New Orleans, Louisiana for the Practice the Practice course, called PTP 2024 New Orleans Abolition: Surviving and Flourishing as a Collective (Place- based Justice Education). This experiential journey to New Orleans was the culmination of a series of sessions that began with an online and community of practice components. As one participant of the program shared, UUCSJ "built a practice that enabled us to explore and embody Bernice King's statement that social justice is LOVE applied to systems, policies and cultures." Feedback from the community partners who supported the event celebrated that the program had been experienced locally as generative and not extractive in the ways usually associated with learning delegations. In ongoing work, UUCSJ continues to partner with BorderLinks, which has worked towards transformative change and justice by bringing the voices of people in migration to the forefront and confronting the policies and circumstances that led to a militarized border for over 35 years. By facilitating immersive educational experiences, BorderLinks strives to dismantle systems of oppression through teaching practices of education that honor our wholeness as human beings all while envisioning a world without borders. UUCSJ and BorderLinks know that spiritual learning, taking action, and reflection are key to understanding complex issues facing those in migration. In FY25, CSJ supported delegations to BorderLinks and amplified learning platforms to offer collaborative designed to help people connect the injustice dots and imagine a future of collective liberation. UUCSJ continues to insp
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since November 1969.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.