Improving the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment. SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF THE AMERICAS 2018 2020 Biennium Rocky Mountain Region Strategic Plan Soroptimist is a global volunteer women s organization. VISION Women and girls have the resources and opportunities to reach their full potential and live their dreams. MISSION Soroptimist improves the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment. CORE VALUES Soroptimist International of the Americas is committed to: GENDER EQUALITY: Women and girls live free from discrimination. EMPOWERMENT: Women and girls are free to act in their own best interest. EDUCATION: Women and girls deserve to lead full and productive lives through access to education. DIVERSITY & FELLOWSHIP: Women from varied backgrounds and perspectives work together to improve the lives of women and girls. IMPACT Together, we will provide a sustainable impact on the lives of women and girls who face obstacles such as poverty, violence and teen pregnancy. Objective 1: Region will increase the impact of the Live Your Dream Awards. Give more awards to more women through our Live Your Dream Awards. Support the focus on our target population of women. Include on-line applications in club judging. Provide additional resources to Live Your Dream Award recipients. All members including LYD Chairs and Club Presidents attending Fall District Meetings will be trained on using the new LYD Portal. By November 15 th the Region Chair and District Chairs will contact 100% of all
Club LYD Chairs/Club Presidents and get them active on the new LYD Portal. Region Chair will assist and encourage all clubs to increase the number of LYD recipients by at least 10% Region Chair will work with District Chairs to share the applications across clubs in their District to facilitate the increase of number of awarded participants by 10%. Region Chair will assure Rocky Mountain Region meets the 10% increase in Awardees. Region Chair and District Directors will educate Clubs about the on-line applications and encourage Clubs to include them in their judging to reach the 10% increase in Awardees. Region Chair will train at Region meeting (Fall District Meetings and Spring Conference) on new locations and community partners to identify our target population. At Spring Conference the Region Chair will share possible new venues to approach and a presentation to use when approaching new venues and community partners to increase 2019 by an additional 10% over 2018 Awards. Objective 2: Region will increase the impact of Dream It, Be It. Empower more girls through Dream It Be It. Support the focus on our target population of girls. Comply with SIA s Procedures for Working with Youth. Report impact of club projects through the online database. Our Past Governor s have offered a Grant of $500 for 2018-2019 to help Clubs who have not started a DIBI program to start a DIBI program to increase the Club participation from a current 7 Clubs participating to 11 Clubs by end of 2019-2020 biennium. DIBI Region Chair will present a roadshow at each Region Meeting that each Club can use to call on local organization interested in our target populations to build our DIBI Program in Rocky Mountain Region to 11 clubs by end of biennium. Region Chair will continue to communicate the need to follow SIA Procedures for Working with Youth at all Region Meetings while increasing the number of target population from 7 to 11 Clubs. At all Region Meetings the Governor and the Region Chair will ask the Clubs to be sure and report their program on the DIBI Survey tool at the end of each Club year to show the increase in participation by the number of target population as well as to reach the 11 Clubs participating by July 1, 2020. Objective 3: Region will increase engagement in our Live Your Dream Awards. Participate in the Live Your Dream Awards. Cultivate partnerships locally to deliver Live Your Dream Awards. Currently Rocky Mountain Region has 100% participation in the LYD Awards. The LYD Chair will maintain 100% Club participation and increase the actual number of awards given by 10% by sharing ways to identify new partners for Clubs to work with at all Region Meetings. Region Chair at all Region Meetings will encourage Clubs to cultivate these partnerships with local businesses, scholarship/admission departments, and programs to improve the recognition of our LYD Awards and build the opportunity to increase the number of awards Region wide by 10%. Objective 4: Region will increase engagement in Dream It, Be It.
Participate in Dream It, Be It. Cultivate partnerships locally to deliver Dream It, Be It. Region Chair will identify and train Clubs at all Region meetings on how to cultivate, and recommend possible partnerships besides with schools to build participation to 11 Clubs in the Rocky Mountain Region. ENGAGEMENT Members will find value through engagement with our mission. Objective 1: Region will increase new clubs. Charter new clubs. Mentor/develop new clubs. The Region Board has identified three locations to start cultivating possible engagement and chartering. At Region Meetings we ask members to identify people they know in the communities we have identified to help build contacts. Rocky Mountain Region will have two new Clubs by end of the biennium. Committees have been formed to start this process. Objective 2: Region will increase members in clubs. Recruit new members. Retain existing members. Region Membership Chair will communicate the Diamond Campaign at all Region Meetings to build our membership by 10% for this biennium. Breakout groups will be held at all Region meetings to discuss and share ideas about how to orient, retain, and engage members to meet the 10% membership increase. District Directors are designing a contest to encourage Clubs to retain new and tenured members by increasing our attendance at District Meeting and Spring Conference by 10%. Objective 3: Region will increase the quality of engagement within our organization. Create an enjoyable and civil (courteous and polite) member experience. Deliver communicated value to members. Onboard new members. Leverage LiveYourDream.org as an engagement strategy for past and potential club members (North American clubs). The Region has developed a once a month communication to help members know the necessary information for the month and not inundate them with communications. The Region Board is working with Clubs to improve their civility so the Clubs can flourish and grow to meet membership growth of 10% this biennium.
At Region Meetings the Membership Chair will encourage members to use the LiveYourDream.org and get members signed up on the website and increase our participation by 10% of those attending the Region Meetings. Region Membership Chair will share best practices for orientation at Region Meetings so the membership survey reflects an improvement of 10%. Objective 4: Region will enhance our effectiveness for collective, sustainable impact. Advocate for SIA s strategic priorities. Support and encourage clubs to align the member experience with SIA s brand promise. Celebrate club, region and organizational success and progress. The Governor will provide education and advocate for the SIA strategies at all Region Meetings. By increasing our Region meeting attendance as noted above this will help our Region maintain membership to meet our 10% increase goals. The Governor has made a large sign that will be displayed at all Region Meetings that states the new BIG Goal of 60,000 LYD Awardees and 440,000 DIBI participants. The Governor and Region Board and Chairs will celebrate and share Clubs and Region successes at Region Meetings which will include Club Giving to get our Region 100% participation to build on the organizational success and brand promise of half a million. Objective 5: Region will increase the capacity of members to be effective leaders within our organization. Identify future leaders. Develop future leaders. At Spring Conference the Region will provide Leadership Training for all members attending and future leaders. With increased participation of 10% members at meetings and the leadership traininga we will be able to build a full slate of officers for each Region office for elections. Each member of the Region Board has been asked to identify 1-2 new people in the Region they will mentor and continue to train for leadership in the organization. Region Meetings will include a breakout group on developing new leaders in their Clubs so all Clubs will have at least one candidate for each of their slate of officers. RECOGNITION We are recognized for our efforts to improve the lives of women and girls who face obstacles such as poverty, violence and teen pregnancy through our Dream Programs. Objective 1: Region will increase awareness of our Soroptimist brand. Promote region Live Your Dream Award recipients as appropriate. Develop a web/social media strategy. Our Region Public Awareness Chair identified all Clubs in the Region and shares their posts with all the Clubs in the Region. She sends out ideas so Clubs can post at least once a month.
The Region Public Awareness Chair trains members on Social Savvy and also does specific training for those that have never used Social media. She shares guidelines for using social media. Public Awareness Chair will increase Club use of Social Media so all Clubs post at least once a month during the biennium. District LYD Award recipients are brought to Spring Conference so they can learn more about our organization and all members attending can meet them and encourage them. Clubs are requested to use the Media forms from SIA to know if they can promote the winner or not. When forms are signed all clubs will promote their winners either by picture and story or only by story to build a collective impact for SIA. This promotion will help the Region achieve the 10% increase in application and in awards for Region Clubs. Objective 2: Region will help clubs increase awareness of Soroptimists in local communities Embrace SIA s branding and recognition strategies. Implement SIA s branding and recognition strategies. Promote the impact of their local Dream Programs. Region Meetings promote the use of the branded documents produced by SIA. In two states Rocky Mountain Region has achieved radio announcements about our Dream Programs as a public announcement. Clubs are encouraged to use social media as well as newspaper and other traditional media to promote the Dream Projects so they become better known in their communities. At least 10 Clubs will get promotions other than their own Club Social Media. PHILANTHROPY Donors will fully fund our Dream Programs. Objective 1: Increase financial support of Soroptimist s brand-unifying Dream Programs. Encourage and support clubs and members to: Contribute at least 10% of locally raised funds to Club Giving Make SIA a recipient of their philanthropic intent Contribute Founders Pennies The Region will achieve Club Giving of 10% of net funds by promotions by Governor and Fundraising Chair at all Region Meetings. Fundraising Chair has identified a fundraising activity which will ensure all Clubs in the Region are contributing some funds and will add to those already contributing 10%. o Last year 43% of Clubs responded they were giving 10% Club Giving. During 2018-2020 biennium the number of 10% givers will be 75% of the Clubs. Fundraising Chair presents at each Region Meeting the need to support Laurel Society, Laurel Legacy, Founders Pennies, and Club Giving. The Region Chair has a board at each Region Meeting to encourage participation in all the Laurel Society and award a Laurel Society Member as often as the 100 squares are filled up for $10 each. o There are 11 Laurel Legacy contributors in Rocky Mountain Region for 2017-2018. For 2018-2020 biennium the number will increase by 3 participants.
o o September 2018 report states there are 37 monthly Laurel Society Donors. During the biennium this number will increase by 10%. Last year Rocky Mountain Region had 100% in Founders Pennies and 2018-2020 Biennium will be 100% Founders Pennies participation also. FUTURE We will enter our second century able to serve more women and girls who face obstacles such as poverty, violence and teen pregnancy through our Dream Programs. Objective 1: Region will improve the cultural readiness to shift region and clubs program focus. Ensure the region is prepared to support SIA s next Big Goal: Invest in the Dreams of half a million women and girls through access to education. Mobilize support for our strategic direction. Align club work to focus on the Dream Programs. The Governor, at all Region Meetings, will share the next Big Goal! The Governor has prepared a large vinyl sign that states the next big Goal which will be hung at all Region Meetings. The Governor at each Region Meeting will encourage Clubs to look at where their funds are going and use the funds to increase the Dream Programs. Our goal to have 11 Clubs participating in DIBI and maintain our 100% LYD Award with a 10% increase in money and in number of LYD awards to help build the future. The Governor s theme for this biennium is DREAM so this will continue to inspire Clubs to support the strategic direction of SIA and not other projects as previous Governors have done. The Governor s Project this year will also fund two LYD Awards as an example of how funds can be directed to invest in the future of the Dreams for half a million women and girls.