2024 District Meetings
(N-North) Soroptimist District III Meeting 9/27/2024 – 9/28/2024
(S- South) Soroptimist District 1 & 2 Meeting 9/20/2024 – 9/21/2024
Friday Night:
Book Club: “Demon Copperhead” all agreed it was long and interesting. We all were a bit enlightened. The next book will be announced in November for a Zoom book club in January.
Friendship Gathering: (N) Although Hurricane Helene kept us from the Vineyards we had tasty BBQ then our own wine tasting in the hotel lobby. (S) We had a good crowd at La Contesa, the centerpieces were very pretty. and the Mexican food was wonderful. (Both) Lots and lots of good fellowship, Soroptimist building and laughter.
Saturday:
Registration, juice and coffee, Mini-Market: It’s always loud when we start to gather. Friends we haven’t seen for awhile and the anticipation of the day.
Business Meeting – some highlights.
** None of the presenters followed the script and they gave additional pointers for clubs and members. However, you can review the slides and get an idea of the content of the meeting though the links at the end of these notes.
• Welcome and Introductions – (N) Cheryl Bradley, Pres. SI Music City/Nashville introduced all of the Past Governors and there were a bunch! (S) Welcome by Boca Raton Council Member and CRA chair, Fran Nachias. DD1 Kathi Pease introduced the SIA CEO Michelle Burnette; SIA HQ Ilana Hirsch, Fundraising; Past Governors; and the SR Board. It was a special honor to have Michelle B. attend, it gave us all a chance to spend time with her and have better communication moving forward. All of the SR Board was in attendance but our Parliamentarian Pat McCay, who did attend in Franklin.
• Recognition of First Timers – (N) Past Gov. Priscilla Tatarsky introduced our four 1st timers. Always great to meet them, although many of us met Natalie Euley at SIA Convention so it feels like she’s an ole timer. Love the way Natalie describes Soroptimist as” Cool and Awesome”! (S) DD2 Deb Wilde introduced the 1st timers to the District 1 & 2 meeting. There were quite a few. I was lucky enough to sit by 1st Timer Becky Word, SI Pompano. Hope to see more of the Pompano Club at Conference, maybe get them to present some ideas from their club.
• Programs – DD3 Daphne Boswell presented at both district meetings. Her presentation really covered so much; Live your Dream; Dream it, Be it; Big Goal Accelerator; Public Relations. All presented with new ideas to engage more women and girls. She reminded us of the SIA Club Grant program available to add more LYD awards for clubs. Daphne challenged us to get 10 rejections, she knew we couldn’t because if we asked 10 times for donations, someone would say Yes. Some fun facts – Down South she pointed out how the engagement “Matters to that one” and up North she pointed out the saying “Wine for Women and Food for Girls”. Daphne also reminded us to try to always put things in a “Positive Point of View”, good advice.
• Fundraising – (N) Karen McLaughlin presented in Franklin. She reminded us to Engage our donors and to invite them to events. To Repeat Fundraisers that work. Tuscaloosa has been successful with a “Shop to Stop Human Trafficking”. Huntsville’s “Boo Bingo” is so successful (and sells out) that they are repeating in the Spring for Marti Gras. We had a group discussion about asking for donations and that a personalized packet to give out is helpful. It should have info on the club and say how their donation will be used. A member pointed out that business cards printed with info is cost effective. Two applications were discussed – Bloomerang which is approx $1,600/annually but covers donor tracking, emailing, event ticketing so a bunch of things that you pay for already. Also “Give Better” was touched on but not discussed in length. It is a platform to take funds. (S) Marie Kennedy told us to ask for donations, that without asking we won’t get any. Then once we have a Donor to recognize them repeatedly on our websites, social media and all PR. It will start a trend to get more Donors on board after the 1st. She reminded us to use the templates on the SIA website for pre and post events (you can access through Soroptimistsr.org “resources” page). There are News Releases for LYD looking for applicants, Honoring LYD Award recipients and Post event letter to the Editor. There are also News Releases for DIBI and other Soroptimist events.
• Breakout sessions – I can only speak to the Presidents’ meeting that was really valuable at both locations. The Presidents spoke in the meetings more than I did. They are all posed and excited to bring great and positive ideas to their clubs to grow them. (Support them)
• Ruby Lee Minar- (N)Pres. Nancy Los presented where RLM was at this time and ask for more applicants for interest free loans.(S) Paula Austin and Anna McArdle spoke about RLM and discussed the application process. District 1 also nominated Marie D’Amato Rizzi to be voted on at Conference 2025 to join the RLM board. Thank you for volunteering Marie.
• Live Your Dream – (N)Skye Burnett presented some new ideas around LYD. Giving a membership to your SI Club for a year to the LYD Awardee. She discussed need to keep the individual LYD awards at a “Meaningful” amount. If you are a current chair of LYD and need help, please ask for it. Skye recommended having a back and forth with the applicants via email, helping with filling out their applications with a bit more information. To “Pre-judge” the applications and then send a more exact number to a community leader for final judging. Her example was a university professor. (This is important to have new people hear about Soroptimist, a point repeated from the Southern Meeting). Tuscaloosa has name badges slipped in plastic giving them the ability to have a QR code to LYD applications or a link to their next event. (S) LYD Southern Region Chair Wanda Moore presented a power point in Deerfield. “The good Samaritan aka The Good Soroptimist”. She pointed out many ways women and girls can become victims in life and then how Education is the pathway to empowering these same women and girls. That when women learn, families live healthier lives; When Girls go to school, they are more likely to get paying jobs and their financial contributions to their families -and their nations – increase; When Girls have educated Moms, they are more likely to be enrolled in school and to reach higher levels of educations; When Women are Educated their countries are more likely to have greater economic growth. Wanda told us that our SR goal is to increase our LYD awards by 4, from 36 to 40.
• Anti Human Trafficking – Pat McCay SR Parliamentarian and leader of the Huntsville Anti Human Trafficking Task Force, covered a lot about Human Trafficking and things we can do to deter it. (of course, our Mission “offering access to education and training” is a big one.)
• Grant Writing – (S) Mary Anna Giordano SI Davie, spoke about applying for grants. She had presented an in-depth power point last spring and now was asking for any questions. It seems to be a hard thing to get started. Gov Barbara asked for all clubs to apply for 1 grant by Spring conference. Mary Anna would help and look over any applications. Remember that SIA offers Club Grants for our programs like LYD. Also discussed, State Farm has a “Good Neighbor” Grant easy to apply for. (I’ve included both the list of places to look for grants and last spring’s power point presentation below. )
• Lunch – Boxed lunches served at both meetings were simple and delicious. (Keep it in mind for your events)
• Ice Breaker – Gov Elect Kacie, had us all competing for “Dream Bucks”. Keep an eye on Facebook, Newsletters and WhatsApp for fun ways to learn about Soroptimist and earn “Dream Bucks”. Your Bucks can be used during the 2025 Southern Region Conference. Gov Elect Kacie also announced that each club in SR is awarded one free registration for Conference to be used for a 1st timer. The Board wants to encourage attendance because once you come to a regional meeting, you’ll be a stronger member and keep coming back.
• Membership – Both presenters covered Recruitment and Retention. (N) Helen Bailey SI Music City/Nashville reminded us to talk about the benefits of Soroptimist, to have a formal onboarding process so that no one slips through the cracks. Tuscaloosa uses “Soroptimist 101” from the SIA website and customizes it for their club. Helen spoke about the need to engage new members right away and to keep them active. (S) Kristen Rumberger SI Pasco suggested meeting with new members in a small group or one on one, so that Soroptimist membership isn’t overwhelming. Kristen encouraged us to use social media like Facebook to find prospective members, share your events to different Facebook Groups. She reminded us to support each other.
• UpLift Her- Gov Elect Kacie Obradovich covered “UpLift Her” a SIA member engagement initiative. October is up first with the obstacle of Intimate Partner Violence. One project is to offer a shelter clothes for young women to go to interviews in. Clubs need only to share the SIA Facebook posts to participate but the idea is to add recognition to the hands-on activities we are doing on a club level.
• Keynote Speaker – I was inspired by both of the Keynote Speakers that we had at District Meetings. They made you think about things in your own life, which is essential to personal growth. (N) Lael Caldwell – Wow what a presentation we learned about Asking for what we wanted. It was great! Just Ask (S) Maureen Shea is a professional boxer. She was so interesting to listen to. As she shared her journey she asked the question, why do something that you don’t love?
• Public Awareness – Gov Elect Kacie Obradovich presented Public Awareness at both meetings, she discussed the need to have an elevator speech ready to go when asked about Soroptimist and ways to get people to ask you about Soroptimist. Each attendee should go back to their club and practice elevator speeches. Huntsville had already done this a couple of weeks ago. Kacie coved the importance of using the Soroptimist Logo and Branding.
• Dream it, Be it – Mary Ann Searle, SI Stuart presented the “Who, What, Where, When, Why and How” of the Dream it Be program. Some of the examples – Who, Middle and High School Girls; What, rising above obstacles; Where, with partner organizations; When, after school, Saturday or Summer Break; Why, to make a difference in the lives of the girls; How, use the curriculum with dynamic speakers.
• SOLT – Past Gov Kathy Blanton lead us in an exercise to discover what kind of leader we were. It is always eye opening to see how a few questions answered can categorize us so clearly.
• SIA CEO Michelle Burnett recognized SI The Palm Beaches on their 75th Anniversary. She also pointed out that SIA covers North America, South America and the Asian Pacific Rim. I think she said 6 different languages were represented. It is a lot to keep moving forward but like SI The Palm Beaches is starting a New 75 years, SIA is evolving anew.
• Governor Barbara Spyke -(N) Continued Keynote speakers discussion about the 3 questions she gets most. How to engage an unactive member, how to ask for a donation and how to ask a prospective member to join you. ps the answer is to Ask, directly and quantitively. (S) No 2 people have the same history. We don’t know what others have been through or are going through. (Both)The point I wanted to make at both was to be understanding of other members, to be kind to one another and to be open to the ideas of new members. We all make errors when we speak but try to think about how you’re stop lighting the ideas of others or sounding harsh and make adjustments. Focus everything on the Mission “Providing Women and Girls access to education and training to achieve economic empowerment”.
• Raffle Drawing & Announcements- Luau at 2025 Conference May 2nd-4th Deerfield Beach with a 4 day cruise following days.
Meeting Resources – Copies of Power points, Referenced information & Handouts
Google Drive with powerpoints
Grant Writing Resources
Grant Writing Spring 2024 In-Depth PDF
Dream-It-Be-It PowerPoint
Fundraising PDF
Elevator Speech PDF
Membership Engagement PDF
Live your Dream PDF
UpLift Her PDF
Programs PDF
Anti Human Trafficking
Keynote Speaker Lael Caldwell with email
Dream Bucks ! Win yours to get $$ off at Spring Conference!!
2025 Southern Region Conference
Registration coming January 2025
May 2nd, 2025 Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach
Tentative Schedule:
Friday Lunch: Two Events a Past Governors Luncheon and a Member Boxed Lunch on the Beach.
Friday Afternoon: Workshops and Book Club
Friday Night: Meet and Greet – Friendship Dinner – The Cove Restaurant
Saturday: All day agenda, filled with great speakers and informative panels
Saturday Night: Luau with lots of dancing
Sunday: Remembrance ceremony on the Beach