PARTNERSHIPS

URI seeks out and develops mutually beneficial partnerships with other organizations in keeping with our belief that the power to transform the world comes from energizing networks of relationships.  Below are listed some of the major partnering relationships.

United Nations
URI is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that has special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations .  This status allows URI to have representatives at the UN as well as to present relevant input to hearings held on topics that are of interst to our global community. The URI Cooperation Circle at the United Nations was instrumental in this great step forward. We are part of a global community of organizations dedicated to supporting the UN and each other in work for a more peaceful, secure future for all life.
URI UN Representatives: Monica Willard, Carol Zinn

URI at the UN Headquarters in NYC
The URI-UN Cooperation Circle helps explore partnership possibilities between URI and the UN. They particularly focus on the vibrant and growing community of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) within the UN, and provide programs focused on interfaith peacebuilding.

Women, Faith, and Development Alliance

URI Executive Director Charles Gibbs leads our involvement with the Women, Faith, and development Alliance as a member of the Leadership Council.  The Alliance was formed in 2006 with the following mission:

Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR)
URI served the Parliament of Worlds Religions, Barcelona, Spain , in August 2004, by organizing an evening plenary on regional networking for the thousands of participants.  Our collaboration is enhanced by The Bridge Cooperation Circle, of the San Francisco Bay Area, begun by participants returning from the 1999 Parliament held in Cape Town, S. Africa , with a commitment dedicated to forwarding both URI and the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR). Expressions of this partnership have been an inquiry into a global ethic, building on CPWR’s groundbreaking work in this area, and pre- and post-Parliament gatherings in the Bay Area.

Habitat for Humanity, International
The URI Cooperation Circle in Washington, D.C. has forged a partnership with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter. Together they are planning an interfaith build in D.C.’s Anacostia area. This local partnership has sparked a process to create a global partnership between URI and Habitat for Humanity International.

Interfaith Youth Core
Interfaith Youth Core seeks to build a movement that encourages religious young people to strengthen their religious identities, foster inter-religious understanding and cooperate to serve the common good. URI has been a supporter and collaborator with IFYC since its inception. 


North America Interfaith Association
URI distributes the bi-monthly NAIN newsletter.  URI-North America Regional Assembly was held in conjunction with the NAIN annual gathering in Las Vegas, Nevada , in August, 2005.

National Youth Violence Prevention Campaign ( USA )
Presented by Students Against Violence Everywhere and The Guidance Channel, URI is a sponsor organization, and has  contributed exercises from the Interfaith Peacebuilding Guide to their materials online.  National Youth Violence Prevention Week will be March 31 - April 4, 2008.

National Days of Interfaith Youth Service (USA)
April, which is National Days of Interfaith Youth Service Campaign Month, will bring together religiously diverse young people in hometowns and academic campuses across the nation to serve their communities and strengthen the civic fabric of America . URI has contributed the services of Sarah Talcott to this program.


Network of International Interfaith Organization (NIIO)
URI is a member in the International Interfaith Organization, a consortium of 14 organizations dedicated to interfaith cooperation on an international scale. This important partnership and membership means that we can network with the following member organizations:

- Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions
- International Association for Religious Freedom
- International Interfaith Centre (Coordinating organization)
- Interfaith Youth Core
- Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders
- Minorities of Europe
- Peace Council
- Temple of Understanding
- United Nations Spiritual Forum for World Peace Initiative
- World Conference on Religion and Peace
- World Congress of Faiths
- World Faiths Development Dialogue
- World Fellowship of Inter-Religious Councils


Social Innovations in Global Management (SIGMA)
One of URI’s earliest and most enduring partnerships, Social Innovations in Global Management Program (SIGMA), is guided by Dr. David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. Grounded in the positive approach methodology for organizational design, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), this partnership guided URI through a 4-year process that built an enduring, global, interfaith community at the same time as it created URI’s Charter.

The Chaordic Alliance
Thanks to leadership from Dee Hock and the Chaordic Alliance and its evolved Chaordic Commons, URI’s chartering process moved from vision to concrete design. Through this partnership, URI’s dream of a globally connected network that connects on essential values became reality. The Alliance also helped us to formulate our Preamble, Purpose and Principles.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
URI and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) are partners in the International Decade for the Culture of Peace and the Manifesto 2000, for which everyone can act in the spirit of the culture of peace in the context of one's own family, workplace, neighborhood, town, or region, by becoming a messenger of tolerance, solidarity and dialogue. We have partnered in Spain, Brazil , and other locations.

UNESCO CC, Barcelona Spain
Associacio UNESCO per al Dialeg Interreligios – CC in Barcelona, Spain, was instrumental in producing the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona in August, 2004, and the year leading up to it.

United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)
The Utah Interfaith Center CC, which has a strong environmental focus, partners with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in programs around the world.

Viva Rio
Since 1997, Viva Rio, a social service agency serving the poor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , has been represented at URI Global Summits and informed us about its social programs and disarmament activities. Like URI Viva Rio works through grassroots groups, creating a network of solidarity and community work. Both organizations share a focus on Human Rights, Culture of Peace, Social Justice and the Environment.  Viva Rio hosted URI for our first Global Assembly in August 2002

World Peace Prayer Society
The World Peace Prayer Society, through the leadership of Rev. Deborah Moldow, has had a significant impact on URI’s development. Deborah designed an interfaith peace prayer ceremony for the world’s religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions. These ceremonies have been powerful centers pieces at URI public gatherings since 1997.  URI groups have partnered with WPPS in dedicating peace poles all around the world, from Salt Lake City, Utah , for the 2002 Winter Olympics to Pakistan, to South Africa. 

Network for Grateful Living  www.gratefulness.org.

A Network for Grateful Living (Gratefulness.org) is a member supported, non-profit organization.

Vision
A worldwide community dedicated to gratefulness as the core inspiration for personal change, international cooperation, and sustainable activism in areas of universal concern.

Purpose
To create a global network of people whose spiritual practice – grateful living – fosters personal fulfillment, ecological concern, and action on behalf of peace and justice.

Mission

• To build up and expand an interactive website as the focus for a global community of people whose spiritual practice is grateful living.
• To translate the universal message of gratefulness to address specific concerns such as world hunger, peace and justice, religious tolerance, and environmental issues.
• To partner with other organizations and institutions who want to explore how gratefulness can transform and energize their own work and mission.
• To demonstrate the interconnectedness between gratefulness and the healthy flow of resources in a spirit of sufficiency.
• To promote through print, radio, and television public awareness of gratefulness as a power for change.