By the Rev. Rowan Larson (they/them), UTO Vice President for Grants 

On behalf of the Grant Committee of the UTO Board, I am delighted to announce that our new triennial focus (2026-2029) and annual focus for 2026 have been approved by the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church and are ready to be released to the wider church. 

Over the next three years, UTO will look to Scripture and tradition, two of the three legs of the “three-legged stool” of Anglicanism to determine our annual granting foci. 

In 2026, we will accept applications that speak to justice as defined by Amos 5:24 and C.S. Lewis in “An Experiment in Criticism.”

Justice, in the eyes of the Grant Committee and the UTO Board, comes from bridging divides and moving forward together in new relationship. Projects that simply promote dialogue across lines of difference, while still necessary in some contexts, are not what we are looking for. There has been much dialogue and “thoughts and prayers” for many years, but not much change has manifested. 

We believe that Episcopal and Anglican communities have the imagination necessary to dream up projects that can be undertaken together by those who are different to lead to justice. 

It is our expectation that applications will demonstrate how two disconnected groups will work together on the project to bring about justice in their local context—and that conversations about working together with this group will have already begun prior to the grant application being submitted.