RELIGION-RELATED INTERNATIONAL NGOs

United Religions Initiative
PRESIDIO BLDG NO1009 1ST FL
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94129
http://www.uri.org/

A San-Francisco based, bridge-building organization founded in 2000 by global community endeavor, “...the purpose of the United Religions Initiative is to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.”  URI includes thousands of members in more than 65 countries.  The concept of “cooperation circles” is one central to the character of URI, which relies on them to sustain local and regional coordination based on the Preamble, Purpose and Principles of the URI Charter.  There are currently 398 Cooperation Circles in 67 countries, and over 100 religions represented.

Programs/Projects:
Global Council: Through its diversity and representation of the Cooperation Circle grassroots network, the Global Council (international board of trustees) is a working model, in microcosm, of the whole URI. With trustees from 18 countries and 14 religious and indigenous traditions, the Global Council brings diverse wisdom and experience to URI's ongoing strategic planning work and global engagement.
Global Community Development: URI is a de-centralized global network made up of self-organizing groups called Cooperation Circles (CCs). Groups or organizations apply to and are approved by a specially designated committee of the governing board of trustees. CCs include people from various religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions who work together to initiate various activities in pursuit of a common purpose and in accord with shared principles of behavior stated in URI's
Peace-building: URI's commitment to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice, and healing is manifest in a diverse array of activities--literally all that we do. Our Cooperation Circles (CCs) are engaging in local interfaith peacc building efforts on a daily basis: working on urban disarmament in Brazil, providing Muslim-Christian conflict mediation in the Philippines, healing inner sources of violence, etc.
Communications: Effective communication--within URI's membership network and to the world at large--is necessary to maintain URI's global network of CCs and to actively contribute to the transformation of cultures of violence to cultures of peace. UR1 communicates internally via special email listserves for URI Cooperation Circles, Global Council Trustees, and other issue-oriented groups, telephone, e-mail, and internet conferencing.

Budget: $1.2 million

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