First Unitarian Church of Omaha Privacy and Communications Practices

PURPOSE

To provide a clearly defined means of communicating information on the business

and events of the church to its members while respecting member’s privacy. All

communications should reflect Unitarian Universalist values; provide information about

First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s ministry, business and activities; and/or encourage

action in keeping with our covenant, vision of ministry, bylaws and UU principles.

SCOPE

The communications team and its practices navigate how to disseminate information

within the established channels for internal and/or external publications. Information that

must be communicated which falls outside of these practices should be addressed to

the ministry team leader and/or the right relations committee. This will be determined by

the communications team.

DEFINITIONS

Publications are defined as any means of conveying information among people and

groups in the congregation or about the church to the larger community.

1. Internal communications have a primary audience of members, friends, visitors and

potential members. They include: The Flame, First Unitarian Weekly News (enews),

web site, email, bulletin boards, posters and other communications within the church.

(i.e. order of service, pulpit announcements…)

2. External communications are targeted to the larger community and shall be defined

as: news releases, interviews with news media on behalf of the church, advertising,

written communication on First Unitarian Church of Omaha letterhead, banners, posters

or displays using First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s name, other communication

publicly representing First Unitarian Church of Omaha.

3. Internal/external communications such as the First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s: web

site, social media, and some other communications may be defined as both internal and

external.

Church communications and media may not be used for political endorsements of

individual candidates.   However, the church and its minister can advocate for public

policy issues as long as it does not appear to endorse a certain candidate.

4. Spokespersons. Authorized spokespersons are the minister, the president of the

Board of Trustees, and other persons designated by the Board of Trustees for a oneyear

period of time. Only authorized spokespersons are allowed to speak for the church

as a whole. Please see bylaws for speaking on behalf of the church on social issues.

PROCEDURES

Practices for all publications are developed by the First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s

Communications Team, approved by the Ministry Team Leader and then posted on the

church’s website. The practices are available by request at the church office for those

wishing to have a paper copy.

First Unitarian Church of Omaha Communications Practices

The Communications Team oversees the development and maintenance of systems to

support effective Internal & External Public Communications. Specific responsibilities

include:

● Recommend one or more volunteers to assist with editing, web administration, or

upgrading current systems.

● Review current publications and research possible changes.

● Approve and create church wide communication methods.

● Recommend emerging technologies and upgrades.

● Help with public relation and marketing projects as needed.

PRACTICES

Order of Service Inserts

Inserts should arrive in the office, formatted and ready to copy no later than 9am on

Thursday. For detailed instructions about formatting, contact the office. Inserts will only

be used if they are for: church fundraising (ex. Heart & Hand Auction), team fundraiser

(ex: Women’s Alliance Bake Sale), sign-ups for a church related event (UU & You),

nominating committee related (UU of the Year Award) and information from the board

(annual meeting announcement). We encourage teams and others to please use the

bulletin boards as opposed to inserts. We have found that inserts are not as effective as

they once were.

Pulpit & Oral Announcements

These announcements must be coordinated with the worship leader on the Sunday of

the announcement.

The Flame (the official newsletter of the church)

1. Deadline: Articles or other submissions must be received by the church office by the

published deadline.

2. Method: Articles should be sent by email to admin@firstuuomaha.org . Written

articles may also be submitted to the church office or left in the Flame mailbox.

3. Length: Maximum length for most articles is 200 words or 1200 characters.

Longer articles may be cut by the editor.

4. Submissions: The author’s name must be included with all submissions. No

anonymous submissions will be accepted. Articles submitted should follow these

guidelines and be respective of the author’s ministry in the church.

5. Changes: All articles are subject to editing for clarity, brevity or style by the editor.

Questions regarding appropriateness or content should be resolved through

consultation with the communications team, then the rights relations committee or

ministry team leader.

6. Priorities: The office administrator gives items priority in the following order:

1. News of Sunday Services, Forums.

2. News of other services.

3. Column by the minister and/or Board president.

4. Board meeting highlights, including a financial summary.

5. Religious Education news.

6. Social Justice news.

First Unitarian Church of Omaha Communications Practices

7. Church calendar.

8. Upcoming approved church events.

9. Church Board and team information.

10.Upcoming events of affiliated or relational groups.

11.Denominational and district information relevant to members

and friends.

12.Current issues of concern to organizations of which First

Unitarian Church of Omaha is a member.

eNews

The First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s eNews is sent weekly as an email to all friends

and members who have email addresses on file with the church. The content focuses

on immediate events or concerns. Priorities are the same as for The Flame. People who

specifically opt-in shall be included on this list, and every email will have an easy way

for people to opt-out and will comply with the CAN SPAM act.

Special emails shall come only from the Minister, President of the Board of Trustees, or

the Holland Lecture Series.

Website

First Unitarian Church of Omaha maintains a web site that is informative and useful to

its members, friends, potential members and the public.

Information on the First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s web site should be timely,

accurate, useful and appropriate.

The webmaster and office administrator review all content. The office administrator is

responsible for maintaining the website. The webmaster and other communications

team volunteers assist with this maintenance. Ministry team leaders can also contribute

to the website within these allowed practices and respective to the project or team they

are working on.

Priorities for content include the following:

1. News of Sunday Services, Forums

2. News of other upcoming events and activities

3. Information about church programs, e.g., Religious Education programs and

Music

4. Social Justice opportunities and activities

5. Church calendar

6. Information about the church and directions for finding it

7. Information about the board of trustees, church ministry and teams

8. Sermons

9. History and archival records

10.Contact information and links

Guidelines include:

• No names of minors should be published.

First Unitarian Church of Omaha Communications Practices

• No phone numbers, addresses or email addresses should be published without

consent.

• Personal news of interest only to the congregation should not be placed on the

web. Examples could include items such as "Caring Notes” and New Member

profiles.

• The sermons will be posted to the site as soon as practical.

• A copy of the entire site is backed up weekly to the computer in the church

office, and also copied dynamically to the uutester@gmail.com address.

Bulletin Boards

Bulletin boards are the responsibility of the team whose information is displayed. These

include: Archives, Social Justice, Religious Education, Membership, Board of Trustees,

and Fundraising.

Social Networking and Online Media

Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and other online media that use First Unitarian

Church of Omaha’s name must support the church and its mission. Use of any church

created and maintained social networking sites should adhere to the following:

The office administrator or a designated member of the Communications Team are

responsible for monitoring social/online media. Content, postings or other information on

such sites not in keeping with the mission of the church, church bylaws or practices, the

Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism, or church policy will be edited or removed.

Content should generally be factual and remain supportive of church programs as well

as of individual members.

The following guidelines are intended to protect the privacy of those served by the

congregation:

● No photos of any minors should be used without approval by the parent or

guardian.

● No names of minors should be published.

● No phone numbers, addresses or email addresses should be published without

consent.

● Personal matters concerning individuals and families should only be entered by

(or with the approval of) that individual.

Other

1. Using the name of the church in unofficial communications which imply official

connection with the church is explicitly forbidden.

2. Protection of the membership list and church directory:

• The church directory is an official document of the church and contains

the names and contact information of all members. Non-members are

included at the discretion of the ministry team leader, membership, office and

communications teams.

• Only those persons listed in the directory will receive a copy of the directory.

First Unitarian Church of Omaha Communications Practices

• The information contained in the directory is for use by members and friends,

and is not to be used for private gain or commercial purposes. A disclaimer to

this effect shall appear on the directory.

Generally, the directory should not be used for private groups that are not part of

the ministry of First Unitarian Church of Omaha.

Communications Privacy Practices for

The First Unitarian Church of Omaha

These practices govern the use of personal information of members, friends and

visitors by First Unitarian Church of Omaha in regular operations, on our website at

http://www.firstuuomaha.org and for purposes of publicity both online and in print.

General

Use of Images

We believe that using images of church activities and events is valuable to create

accurate, attractive and relevant on‐line representation of the The First Unitarian Church

of Omaha.

Photographs and videos of church activities may be posted on our website, used in

social media, and printed in our newsletter or other promotional materials.

Adults not wishing to be photographed should notify The First Unitarian Church of

Omaha’s office administrator in writing.

Personal identification information such as names will not be associated with any photo

graph unless identification is warranted and permission of the individual of the person

 photographed has been obtained.

Email addresses are not to be posted without specific permission.

In the case of minors (children under 19 years) no photographs or videos will be posted

or printed without the written permission of the parent(s), including both custodial

parents in the event of a divorce or separation. Consent forms will be collected annually

through the Religious Education program (See Image Release Consent Form);

parent/guardian consent will be on file for all minors shown in pictures. No names or

other identifying information will be posted in association with photos of minors.

However, the following information can be posted without prior written permission of

the person depicted:

● Photographs and full names of staff members for biographies

First Unitarian Church of Omaha Communications Practices

● Photographs and full names of staff members leading or attending a First

Unitarian Church of Omaha event; and

● Photographs and full names of Board of Trustees members of the church

currently serving.

Website Practices

Contact Information:

Personal information about members of The First Unitarian Church of Omaha shall

not be disclosed on public portions of this site except as determined necessary by

the Board of Trustees or the staff of The First Unitarian Church of Omaha,

and then only by permission. Specifically:

• No names are used, other than staff, without permission

The following information can be posted without prior written permission of the person

depicted or described:

● Names, office phone numbers, and extensions of staff persons;

● Narrative descriptions of events which contain the names of staff person;

● Staff‐provided biographical information for publicity purposes

● First and/or last names of adult members when those members are

designated as a contact person for a The First Unitarian Church of Omaha

event or activity

● Descriptive announcements of The First Unitarian Church of Omaha‐

sponsored events that contain the names of persons in a leadership

role, for example, a visiting speaker, musician, author, or local dignitary.

Website Use by Children:

Children under age 13 should obtain their parents’/guardians’ permission to access the

The First Unitarian Church of Omaha website and to send any personal information

(such as name, address, email address, etc.) via our website or anywhere else on the

internet. The First Unitarian Church of Omaha encourages parents to get involved

with their children’s online usage and to be aware of the internet activities in which t

hey are participating. See COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, http://

www.coppa.org/coppa.htm).

Tracking Website Use:

We use google analytics, which automatically gathers information from your browser

and may set a cookie to determine trends. A full explanation of how google analytics

uses cookies can be found here: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/concepts/

gaConceptsCookies.html

It does not harvest email addresses or other personal information . This information is

not shared with any other organizations. We do not employ spyware or adware of any

kind.

Links to Third Party Sites

This website contains links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by

First Unitarian Church of Omaha Communications Practices

The First Unitarian Church of Omaha. The First Unitarian Church of Omaha

is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of other websites. The inclusion

of hyperlinks to other websites does not imply an endorsement of the material on these

websites or any association with their operators.

Information Accuracy

First Unitarian Church of Omaha will make every effort to ensure that the

information presented on our website is accurate. If inaccuracies occur, we will correct

them in a timely manner. To report any web site inaccuracies, contact the office

administrator: admin@firstuuomaha.org

Ownership

This Website is owned and operated by The First Unitarian Church of Omaha. This

Privacy Policy is a living document and may be changed or updated from time to time. If

we make material changes to these practices, we will notify you by email or by means

of a notice on our home page. If you have questions about these privacy practices, you

can contact us at:

First Unitarian Church of Omaha | 3114 Harney Street | Omaha NE 68131

Phone 402-345-3039 | Fax 402-346-2662 | admin@firstuuomaha.org

As suggested by the First Unitarian Church of Omaha’s Communications Team:

Shawna Foster, Barb Herring & Diane Withem

These practices suggestions come after researching the UUA website and finding

example model practices from All Souls in Kansas City, First Unitarian Society in

Minneapolis, and The Unitarian Church in Summit. They were developed in the team

and then received feedback from staff and lay leadership of the church. They are

subject to change and the communication team welcomes feedback from members &

visitors.