The Unitarian Universalist Association is an association of congregations. Most things are done through the democratic process; there is no individual who makes decisions for the denomination.  The President (usually a minister) and the Moderator (usually a layperson) are both elected positions, and they represent the denomination "to the world". The UUA also has a Board of Trustees and dozens of committees. Major decisions and elections occur at General Assembly, which is a weeklong gathering of representatives from the congregations. Delegates are chosen in different ways by different congregations, and the number of delegates from a congregation is determined by the size of the congregation's registered membership. Congregations pay dues to the denomination to help support denominational goings-on.

There are two ways a group can be a part of the UUA. One is as part of the UUA's structure, and the other is as an affiliate organization. The affiliate organizations are independently governed, and include the Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network (C*UUYAN) which serves people ages 18-35. Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), the organization for 14-20 year olds, is part of the UUA structure, and as such is governed, funded, and staffed by the continental denominational structure. The Young Adult Ministries Office (YAMs) is a fairly recent development. It is part of the UUA, like YRUU, but serves 18-35's, like C*UUYAN,

The continent is divided into districts for purposes of organization. The distrcits vary in geographical size, based partly on congregational density when the lines were drawn. For example, Massachusetts Bay has the greater Boston area, whereas Prairie Star District includes all of Minnesota, all of Iowa, some parts of Missouri, and sections of assorted other states. The districts funtion much like the continental organization, with boards and facilitators and an annual business meeting. They are also funded by the congregations.

The individual congregations hold almost all of the real power. Not only do they govern themselves, calling ministers, developing religious education programs, and organizing other activities as they see fit; they also contain the congregants who determine the activities of the district and the UUA as a whole. Because congregations are self-governed, their methods vary widely. Most have a Board, but who makes which decisions how is inconsistent from congregation to congregation. Usually there is a Religious Education (RE) committee which is responsible for all religious education for everyone in the church. This includes enrichment for adults and Sunday School for the children. One of the members of this committee is usually the Director of Religious Education (DRE) or Minister of Religious Education (MRE). That position may be paid or unpaid. Youth (high schoolers) are usually supposed to be included in this committee's work, but usually the committee focuses on ages 5-12. Sometimes the committee will choose and recruit advisors for the youth group as part of their teacher recruitment; often they won't. Very commonly, the youth will have to find their own advisor. Usually they do this by targeting an adult from the congregation who seems to have potential and asking him or her. Usually this position, like all RE positions, is unpaid. If the youth choose badly, it is usually up to them to fix the problem, although in extreme cases they may call on a trusted board member or minister to help them. Occasionally a church will hire a Youth Director to serve as youth advisor and/or coordinate the Junior High and Senior High activites. In those cases, the youth activities are moved out of the province of the RE program and into their own little world.

In either case, the only power that the congregation has is the presence or withdrawal of support for the programs. No congregation would think of withdrawing their support for regular church school, but youth activities are a special case, because it is in junior high and high school that the youth stop leading a congregaion-isolated life and begin to have extensive contact with the youth from other congregations. District and continental activities become extremely important. District conferences often draw between 70 and 200 youth, and continental conferences usually have to set registration limits. The youth have much more control over their programs than they did as elementary school students, and the congregation experiences a slight loss of control. The key is to maintain communication with the congregation regarding what is going on at those activities which the adult congregants usually don't see.