Introducing Recipes with Hannah

Currents 🌊 is a UUCC communication space as of May 2025—featuring reflections, deeper dives into worship themes, narrative updates from staff and others, as well as insights into our shared life at UUCC.

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Getting Started with Realm Connect

by Hannah Nelson  icon-lemon-o  October 22, 2025
icon-star-o icon-star-o  icon-star-o  icon-star-half-full  icon-star   icon-lemon-o   Most common comment about Realm: “It’s not user friendly!”

 icon-arrow-down Jump to Recipe icon-arrow-down

The word “recipe” here is used to mean “step-by-step instructions” in a humorous nod to recipe blogs. 

Hello, fabulous UUCC! I am starting this series of recipe-blog style posts as a way to keep you all informed about processes here at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia (UUCC). These mock blogs will start off with lots of information about the topic-at-hand that may be useful to people who know very little about the subject, and there will always be a “jump to recipe” button at the top for people who just need to go to the step-by-step instructions on how to access or do whatever the particular process may be.

People often come to me to say, “you may not know the answer to my question, but you probably know where I can find it…” and about 70% of the time I have the answer, 29% of the time I know who to go to for the answer, and 1% of the time I have no clue but we can figure it out together! So, I thought it was time that we address some of these common questions together in a fun, digestible way. Feel free to comment below with questions or requests! You can also email me: Hannah@uucolumbia.net.

What is Realm?

This will be a brief description of Realm, you can view a whole FAQ about Realm here. 

Realm Connect is a database created by ACS Technologies that specializes in church life functions. Each congregant, whether you have signed the Membership Book or not, has a profile. This, first and foremost, functions as a directory for staff and leadership. We use the search functions to find people’s names and contact information so we can reach out to you about upcoming events or contact you about an administrative situation. It is important to keep your profile, and your family’s, updated so we are able to support you as best as possible! When you go to update it, notice that you can also manage the privacy of your account. Keep in mind, ONLY UUCC community members are added to Realm and can see the directory. This is not a public facing social media.

The second most useful facet of Realm is accessing your giving information. You can read a lot more information about Giving in Realm here. But, briefly, you can view record of all giving (online or check: not cash!) on your Realm profile. You can also use this section to set up a one time or reoccurring gift to UUCC.

The third most-used function of Realm is the group communications. Some of our groups at UUCC use Realm to communicate with their membership. We also have a group called UUCC Community Connections, that is used as a way for congregants to ask each other in the community for recommendations, let each other know about community events/initiatives, seek assistance with something, and many other communications between congregants. You can find instructions on how to join Community Connections here. 

Hannah’s easy step-by-step process for logging in and using Realm. If you get stuck at any point, email Hannah for assistance Hannah@uucolumbia.net.

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Recipe

1. Go to onrealm.org/uucolumbia
2. Click “Log in” NOT “Sign Up” or Give Online”
3. Go ahead and try to log in with whichever email you receive UUCC communications to and whatever password you use the most.
   • If logging in does not work, click “forgot password”
     • Enter your email
     • Click “send email”
     • Realm Connect should email you within 5 minutes, check your spam.
     • Follow the prompts in the email to reset your password.
   • If you are still having trouble, email Hannah!
4. Once you are logged in, you should see “news”
5. The top right-hand corner has your name, click on your name
   • Click “My Profile” OR “Connect” (depending on how your account is set up)
6. Once on your profile, you can see a spot for a picture of you, information about your address, phone number, etc.
   • Please click through those and edit them by clicking “Edit Profile” button. More step-by-step for that is here.
7. On the left-hand side there is a menu that has “News,” “Communications,” “Giving,” and other similar menu items. Feel free to click through those!
8. Read this FAQ and if you still have questions, email Hannah at hannah@uucolumbia.net!

And there you have it! You should be all logged in and if you aren’t, I may have to send you a new invitation. So just let me know.

I hope getting logged into Realm today makes your life one step easier.

With love,
Hannah