Renovating our Church Buildings & Campus to better serve our Mission

Our goal is to be complete for church’s 200th anniversary in 2026

We need your help & participation

View a summary about the Visionary Plan HERE

To listen to testimonials made by our Board of Trustees regarding our plans, visit the BOV Testimonial page HERE

Key Milestones

• BOV Team created in Fall 2019
• Church Campus Vision Statement approved by congregation November 2020 (see below)
• Request for Proposal soliciting architectural firms issued September 2021
• Architectural firm selected January 2022 to lead design work
• Starting Design Phase February 2022
• Congregational Vote on Design Selection November 20, 2022 – voted 89% to pursue the Visionary Plan
• Financial Feasibility Study conducted in December 2022
• Board of Trustees recommended a capital campaign with a goal of $2.2 million to pursue most of the Visionary Plan
• Congregation voted on launching a capital campaign for $2.2 million on March 5, 2023
• Capital Campaign launched April 16, 2023 – CLICK HERE to learn about Investing in our Vision
• Thank you to everyone who helped us raise over $2.3 million in Capital Campaign commitments! The next step is to work with our architects on detailed plans for the project, with the goal of starting construction by Spring 2024.

You can read detailed updates about the project by clicking here. 

BOV Team Members

Victoria Agnew, Bob Barry, Frank Grossman, Ellen Fisher, Jon Lasselle, Rev. Allison Palm, Emma Rearick

Our Church Campus Vision Statement

We are a welcoming community of faith that works to dismantle oppression and privilege within our congregation by removing obstacles to entering and using our campus.

To this end, our campus is accessible to all by including the elements needed for our programs and services to meet various accessibility needs.

Our campus provides a clear welcome, offering a sense of warmth, belonging, acceptance, and safety to all who pass by or enter our spaces. 

In our worship spaces we balance honoring our past with the flexibility needed for the diverse use and changing needs of our modern church, while inspiring wonder, authentic connection, courageous community, and love in action. 

We are good stewards of the Earth, helping to combat climate change by working to limit our use of energy, using sustainable materials, and striving to attain carbon neutrality. 

We effectively use technology to provide better access, enable many forms of communication throughout and beyond our buildings, and allow for greater flexibility for all. We have appropriate physical systems to efficiently do the work of our mission.

In order to know our authentic UU Nashua identity, we honor those who helped create our story while embracing change in ourselves as we serve as stewards for our future. We honor the heritage of our campus, which serves as a visible connection to our past and our future. 

Background

With our church’s 200th anniversary rapidly approaching, our church commissioned a  Building Our Vision Team. Their goal was to create a future vision for our church buildings & campus that aligned with our new values, mission and ends. The initial team members included Frank Grossman, Lindsey Hedrick, Jon Lasselle, Kate O’Shea, Rev. Allison Palm, Steve Pugh, Bob Sampson, Rick Spitz, and Lindsey Sylvester.

The team collected inputs from the congregation via a series of five deep listening sessions in January and February of 2020, each focused on different church programs. The sessions built upon the work of the long-range planning committee in 2017 and 2018. About 70 people attended in total, providing almost 400 feedback items. In March we held a joint session of the Building Our Vision Team members and the Board of Trustees to review all of this data and construct a vision statement for our buildings and campus.

At the 2020 Annual Meeting, we  presented this vision statement but delayed a congregational vote on it because of the impact of the CoronaVirus pandemic and the related need for physical distancing. We wanted to better understand the economic impact of the pandemic before proceeding further.

In October 2020, we held  three information sessions to allow the congregation to more fully understand and discuss our vision statement. Then a formal congregational vote on accepting the vision statement was held on November 15, 2020.

Review Draft of Meeting Minutes

With the endorsement of the vision by our congregation, the BOV Team worked to develop specific proposals to achieve our vision. The next major milestone was to develop a Request for Proposal, called an RFP.

Building Our Vision Request for Proposal  September 2021

On September 1,  2021, The Building Our Vision Team issued a Request for Proposal  (RFP) to solicit architectural firms to submit proposals for possible designs and plans which meet our new vision statement.  Proposals were due back  by October 15, 2021.  Click see a copy of the issued RFP. The team received 6 impressive proposals and presentations.. After an in-depth  review of all the submissions, four firms were selected for more detailed follow-up interviews. These were chosen based on how well their proposals and presentations matched our RFP requirements and needs defined by our vision. Following this round of interviews, additional reference checks were conducted. With this background, the BOV team made a final architectural firm selection.

Begin Design Phase / Architectural Firm Chosen Feb 2022

We are pleased to announce that the UU Nashua Building our Vision project is entering the design phase. We have selected Dennis Mires, P.A. “The Architects” to guide us through the process of translating our vision statement into several proposed designs to be submitted for selection by our congregation. The BOV team selected this firm following a competitive process where six firms submitted proposals in response to our request for proposals. We determined that “The Architects” best met our needs. They have extensive experience working on historic buildings, churches, and many other Nashua area commercial buildings. We are very pleased to have Dennis and his team working with UU Nashua. Click here to see a copy of their RFP Submission and Presentation.

The design phase will be ramping up during February and March 2022. This phase is anticipated to last approximately six months. During this time several different task forces will be launched to work with our architects to provide more details and insights into the workings of our church. The specific categories are still being defined, but shortly, we will be looking for volunteers to participate in some task forces to work with our architects and BOV members to develop design concepts.

Building Our Vision Flow Chart

 Frequently Asked Questions 

Where did this Vision Statement come from?

This was created by the Building Our Vision team and the Board of Trustees based on the feedback received at the 5 deep listening sessions held in early 2020. These sessions were guided by data received from the Long Range Planning Committee 2017-2018.  You can access the consolidated inputs at LRPC and Deep Listening inputs.    

What happened on November 15, 2020?

We held a Special Meeting following the service in which we voted to adopt this Vision Statement. We did NOT vote on a budget or a specific design; that will come later in the process. Why do we need to adopt this to move forward? This vision statement comes from taking in the church members’ input over the past few years and putting it into these statements that speak of how we would all like to feel about our church environment in the future. Approving this vision was a confirmation that we did capture what the church community was thinking. This vision statement will be used to guide us in future changes to ensure we are moving closer to the church we want to become.

What happens now that we adopted this?

Now that the vision statement is accepted, we know we can use these statements to help communicate with architects as to ways we would modify and improve our buildings in order to create the future these statements speak to. This is one step in an ongoing process that we have detailed in this flowchart. The Building Our Vision initiative involves many sub-projects which may occur in parallel. The master flowchart shows those major events and decision points in the process.

When and what else will the congregation get to vote on?

After that special meeting on November 15, 2020, the congregation will next vote on the conceptual design for the church. Throughout the process we will offer opportunities for congregational input and engagement.

I have an idea for a specific room/space/part of the church.  When and how do I get involved?

Now that we have entered the design phase and the BOV has selected an architect, we will need volunteers to serve on subgroups looking at specific aspects of the design. Stay tuned! 

I don’t really know how designing a building works, but I’m really passionate about this vision and goal.  When and how do I get involved?

This is a large project and the BOV will need help with various tasks along the way, including fundraising efforts for a capital campaign. Feel free to contact any member of the Building Our Vision task force.  We will also announce when volunteers are needed. 

What is a capital campaign?

A capital campaign is an opportunity for a congregation to come together and invest in the future. It invites members to dream big about what is possible for Unitarian Universalism in their community and in the world. Capital campaigns are usually conducted in support of a major building program. A capital campaign requires a collective leap of faith on behalf of the members — in one another and in a future in which Unitarian Universalism and their congregation thrive and grow in mission and impact. This is a process separate from our annual pledge drive contributions. Reference: https://stewardshipforus.com/capital-campaigns-and-combined-campaigns/

Will the COVID-19 pandemic affect this project or delay it?

Like everything else, it is uncertain how the pandemic will affect this project.  But we are proceeded forward using a combination of remote as well as a few covid safe in person meetings. 

How much will it cost to renovate our church?  And where will this money come from?

We are not yet sure of the scope of this project. We will meet with financial consultants to forecast how much money we can raise and that will determine the amount.  We will keep the congregation informed as we learn more.

How long will this whole project take?

We will be celebrating our 200th anniversary of the founding of our church in 2026 and hope to be finished on or before that anniversary.