2007 - 2008 Association Goals for States and Branches

Fresh off the press from AAUW's president, Ruth Sweetser are Association's goals for states and branches (s/b). They include:

1) supporting the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL)
Note: support can take dozens of forms, financial being one of them
Note: about a dozen s/b supported students to the F07 NCCWSL, helping increase attendance from 165 in 2006 to 345 in 2007. To reach our F08 attendance goal of 500, s/b participation is really essential.

2) engaging in theme-based Program (meetings/projects/activities/events) as noted in the AAUW Mission-Based Program brochure distributed at the Association Convention (copies are available upon request to monroes@aauw.org)
Note: s/b can keep a list of all theme-based programming and forward to the Program Development Committee chair, Marcia Capriotti (cinicapr@aol.com)

3) engaging in the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP)
Note: S/B can facilitate identification at the local/state level of STEM programs for girls and ensure that the regional program representative (an AAUW member) receives that information. Details about NGCP are at http://www.aauw.org/education/ngcp/index.cfm

Tips for Attracting Members and Volunteers

There is a vast differences in volunteer retention among the 50 states, ranging from a high of 76.4 percent in Minnesota to a low of 47.2 percent in Mississippi. Thinking that there were probably some solid managerial tools that could be used to get volunteer retention closer to the Minnesota range, Nancy Shoemaker (President, AAUW North Carolina) did some research and found Rober Grimm, director of research and policy development for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

According to Grimm, one out of three people who volunteer in one year don't volunteer at all the next year. "We have a leaky bucket in volunteering," he said. "About 21 million people who volunteered in 2005 didn't volunteer in 2006."

What's to be done? Grimm had a few ideas:

• Volunteers have to be challenged to use their skills effectively; it's just silly to use a trained social worker to stuff envelopes.

• Regular opportunities to volunteer - rather than sporadic ones - tend to keep people interested and engaged.

• Organizations that screen and match their volunteers, provide recognition for their volunteers and have some kind of individual on staff to manage the volunteers do best at retaining these helpful people.

• Volunteers will thrive if they report to someone who demonstrates that they're important to the organization. Many organizations give volunteers to a lower-level employee, which leads them to believe they're not seen as an important resource.

• It can be very helpful to offer some training or professional development for the volunteers.

Meetings - Madness or Sanity?

The worst meetings I've ever seen
Accomplish absolutely nothing.
They last too many hours
And leave us feeling most sour.

The best meetings I've attended
Run quickly, smoothly,
And leave none offended.
Through careful planning,
They accomplish their task,
Even where problems
And solutions are unmasked.

My favorite meeting I'll tell
Was the one not held. . .
It allowed me more time
To handle goals of mine.

Published with permission of author from the meeting management book"R.A.!R. A. ! A meeting Wizard's Approach: by Shirley Fine Lee

First Woman Beefeater

Another male bastion permeated!