February 2017 Pillar Post

Pillar Posts ~ From Sierra Pacific Region Chairs

February 2017

(Please read as correspondence at your next business meeting & email to your club’s Committee Chairs.)

FUNDRAISING PILLAR POST by Barbara Giambastini, SPR Chair

As we enter into the second month of 2017 have you made a genuine and dedicated effort to support the dreams of women and girls by making Soroptimist “YOUR” Charity of Choice by becoming a monthly donor to the Laurel Society?

MEMBERSHIP PILLAR POST by Amory Elizondo, SPR Chair

Tip of the Month: Invest in yourself!

If I could recommend one thing to assist your club in Membership Recruitment it would be to host a Membership Drive Event.  As your club begins to review the budget for the upcoming year, look for ways to set aside $100-150 for Membership Recruitment.  Plan your year ahead and find ways to invest in the growth of your club.

February Challenge: Choose from the following….

1. Send a member a Valentine!
2. Invite me to your next committee meeting or event
3. Either start a budget for Membership Recruitment or add to your existing budget for next year (you will have until April to complete)

Submit report to Amory Elizondo (spmembership@soroptimist.net) for your prize!

PROGRAM PILLAR POST by Gail Dekreon, SPR Chair

In 2015-2016 8,634 girls participated in Dream It, Be It through 443 projects hosted by Soroptimist clubs. Of those projects, 239 were conferences and 204 were a series of small group mentoring sessions. Clubs contributed 24, 825 volunteer hours (27% increase from 2014-2015) and $ 264,579 (107% increase from 2014-2015) in support of local Dream It, Be It projects.

PUBLIC AWARENESS PILLAR POST by Kate McGuire, SPR Chair & the Public Awareness Team

Increasing your social media market: It’s important for clubs to post at least once a week or a few times a month on club Facebook (FB) pages to keep the public engaged/interested in the club’s activities. This will increase your market share in the large FB world and will provide more visibility with future postings.

If your club only posts once a month or once a quarter, FB sees your page as not as active as other pages and won’t feature your pages as much in the FB-created logarithm. It is a frustrating method to try to figure out, but there are ways to get “seen” by FB and the public, if you do it properly.  Posting more often is a start to be seen more often by others who are not yet following your page.

A big topic of interest is what’s happening with human trafficking, but you can also post your own inspiration, club event or re-post (or share) items of interest from the SPR page. You can also celebrate club and member anniversaries and birthdays with a quick post each month or other items of interest to women and girls in your local community (something you’ve seen in the local newspaper?) and from around the