Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock

History

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock advertises itself as a “faith community.”⁷ In 1941, four families formed a “liberal religious education program” for their children. This education program became the “North Shore Unitarian Universalist Society” in 1944 and was later renamed UUCSR. ¹

In 1953, Caroline Veatch, a member of the North Shore Unitarian Universalist Society, granted the congregation half of the oil and gas rights that she had inherited from her husband, an oil geologist.¹

Philanthropy

Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock divides its main philanthropic work between two programs: the Veatch Program and the Congregational Large Grants program. The Veatch Program was established using the funds UUCSR receives from the church’s oil royalties. While there is no official timeline for when UUCSR began issuing grants, the Veatch Program began sometime after Caroline Veatch’s death in 1953. UUCSR began its Congregational Large Grants program in 2007, intending to continue funding this program for just seven years (through 2014). However, the program was later extended through June 2019.^{8 9}

Finances

Funding

Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock obtains much of its funding from the oil and gas royalties it received from Caroline Veatch,¹⁰ something that former UUCSR president Arnold Babel acknowledged in 2015, saying, “The congregation gets royalties from the gas wells in Germany.”¹¹

In its peak year, these oil and gas rights brought $20 million in income to UUCSR.¹²

Grants

Since 2007, UUCSR has annually given an average of six $100,000 grants to organizations that support “efforts within the religious and spiritual mission of the congregation.”Past recipients of Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock grants have included National Women’s Law Center, the Peace Action Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and the League of Women Voters. ¹³

In 2017, UUCSR’s Veatch Program gave a total of $8,347,985 in grants to over 190 groups, many of which are left-of-center. Grant recipients include Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Black Lives Matter, Funders for Justice, Transgender Law Center, and labor union-aligned Jobs With Justice Education Fund.¹⁴

People

Joan Minieri was executive director of the Veatch Program at UUCSR as of 2026, a position she had held since September 2016. Prior to joining the Veatch Program, Minieri was the national program director for the Community Learning Partnership, where she created degree programs at community colleges to expand access to social-change careers. ^{15 16}

Minieri previously co-founded Community Voices Heard, a left-of-center community organizing group based in New York City that claims to build political power among low-income people and racial minorities. For her work with the organization, she received the Ford Foundation’s “Leadership for a Changing World” award and the Charles H. Revson “Fellows for the Future of the City of New York” award. She also managed the Catholic Bishops’ Campaign for Human Development for the New York Archdiocese and was founding co-director of the New York City Organizing Support Center. Minieri is the co-author of Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community, a widely used text in community organizing education. As of 2026, she also held an adjunct associate professor of public service position at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. ^{17 18}

Natalie Maxwell Fenimore was lead minister and minister of Lifespan Religious Education at UUCSR from 2013 until her death on April 15, 2026 at the age of 68. Before conducting ministry at Shelter Rock, Fenimore was a religious educator and parish minister in congregations in Maryland and Virginia. She was a past president of the Liberal Religious Educators Association and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association Commission on Institutional Change. Fenimore was the author of Unitarian Universalist Religious Education Curriculum and Renaissance Modules, and a contributing author to Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry. Her Doctor of Ministry research focused on narrative theology and faith identity development for African American Unitarian Universalists. ^{19 20 21 22}

David Carl Olson was associate minister for congregational life at UUCSR as of 2026. Olson joined UUCSR in 2022, having previously worked in UU congregations in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Maryland for over 25 years. Following the death of Fenimore in April 2026, Olson assumed congregational ministry responsibilities alongside interim clergy support. ^{23 24}