Taking Care of Business

One big rock to overcome is transitioning traditional local activities and events from fully locally operated to locally planned/nationally supported. Over the past year the Guild office transitioned the Guild Cake Project (adding Halloween and Valentine's care packages). For the most part, the transition was smooth and successful. With the Guild football stand, that means local members will continue to staff and prepare the stand for operation and the Guild office will pay the bills. We've been working on this transition since January and this fall we test it. Also this year, we're considering how to continue summer events that many cherish.

A Guild Board committee, the Member Originated Activities committee, has worked through some procedures to announce to members in August. We couldn't take on ALL activities at once. With fair and consistent practices in place, EVERY member will have an opportunity to coordinate Guild activities (before only groups with local checking accounts could which alienated Four Winds members). Though it will be a little rocky, I anticipate the members will understand and appreciate this better business practice.

Even with this confidence, it has been difficult to field the doom and gloom members feel about disbanding local checking accounts. I hear, "Well, we will miss not being able to get together." Being more optimistic, I see every reason to continue to gather. A lot of emotional energy has been spent on convincing people that we will work with any Guild member seeking to coordinate an activity that furthers the mission of the Guild. I wish people could see the big picture, have patience and have faith.

Guild Cake Project

For 50 years, Guild members have volunteered to bake and deliver cakes to Valpo students for special occasions. This past year, 293 cakes were baked, resulting in over $3000 profit toward the Guild Endowment Fund. This is a great project, but times are changing. Students don't answer their room phone, they use a cell phone. Residence halls are harder to get into, so deliver must be made in person. I'm wondering how the project will change after the Union is built. This is an easy volunteer opportunity.

Who Stole Monday?

Due to the holiday weekend, Tuesday feels like a major Monday. My son announced that he is "grumpy" today. He occasionally mirrors my feelings. We had a super weekend and I think we're both worn out, missing Daddy (who is in WI with his Dad and coming back tonight), and not quite ready to get back into the swing of things.

This will be a good day. I'm working on a final reminder letter to last year's members who have not renewed. I wonder if they didn't renew because they are out of the loop as to the new renewal process or just not interested. MK and I are having lunch to celebrate her retirement and move. Thank goodness for e-mail so we can stay in touch.

Spring Cleaning

Since moving to Loke, I haven't had a chance to unpack and get organized. A pile has sat on my desk since November 06. Today is the day. One day won't be enough to clean out the files and get organized, but it is a start. Unfortunately, I'm distracted by the news that my mom will be putting her dog, Louis, to sleep. He has been in failing health for 5-6 months. He would have been 13 on June 1. Robby and I are going to her house for the long weekend. Robby loves Louis so I'm carefully breaking the news.

Let's kick it!

My son is learning about racecars today at school (he wore his Lightning McQueen shirt for the occasion). I will act like a racecar today speeding through projects such as updating the webpage, posting the e-update, finishing letters and beginning to work through the details of following up with members who have not renewed their support. In the new structure, members can make their commitment anytime within the fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) which gives everyone more flexibility than when dues were due Nov 1. Off and running!

Early Adopters

The Guild received exciting news that it has been chosen as an "early adopter" of the University's content management system (CMS) for the web. As some of you have probably noticed, we struggle to keep our webpage up-to-date. I take complete responsibility for this since it was often me not checking the site regularly to identify areas for update or not getting it into the students who did the updates. Then, the students had to work the changes into their schedule occasionally running into barriers to making the changes due to overwhelming coursework or technological glitches. The writing, rewriting, rewriting, updating, and rewriting to keep the site up-to-date could be a full time job on its own since expectations of the Guild site are as high as other for-profit sites. With our new site (launched in March), the content is managed by me - however I already see how quickly time slips by and when I go to update the site I kick myself for not doing so earlier. The CMS may not solve all our problems, but I suspect this tool will improve the content on our site putting the tools and information members and guests need more easily into their hands. I'm excited for this opportunity for the Guild and for the opportunity to learn some new tricks!

Tuesday

Paula Maust begins her work in the Guild office today. Six hours/week. We have a million "summer projects" to work on in June, July and August. Soon we will be compiling the Annual Commitment Plan - the mailing that allows members to vote and renew their support for the Guild.

Class of 2007

Yesterday was graduation. Another academic year has come to a close. It was a cloudy and cooler day (makes for better conditions in the ARC). Though I'm breathing a sigh of relief (Ah! Summer is here!), I quickly begin to hyperventilate thinking of all I have to get done. Lots of summer projects. Here is to the Class of 2007! All the best!

Yippee

A day off! And it is sunny! Robby and I are getting ready for a garage sale. We have also run a few errands - such as go to the library. There are a thousands items on my work "to do" list - but I really need a day to recharge, too. Tomorrow, after the garage sale, we'll drive up to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play the Twins. A great weekend ahead!

Senior Women's Lunch

Jill Lyons, our spring intern has done a fabulous job coordinating today's Senior Women's Luncheon. Nearly 90 women have rsvp'd to hear Dorothy Bass speak on Leading Lives that Matter. It is hard to believe that this will be my seventh luncheon. Yesterday a group of seniors went to the Sox game. Enjoy it now...this time next week they will be in the "real world"! Muh-ha-ha!

50 years!

It was a rainy day to be driving up to Wisconsin, but WELL worth the trip. Milwaukee Suburban members hosted a lovely 50th anniversary party at The Pines Restaurant in Hartland, WI. This is a dynamic group of women, one that I greatly admire. They distributed a survey to determine what members had an interest in doing in the coming year. I appreciate their initiative and drive for serving Valpo. It was fun to see a slideshow showcasing the projects they have worked on over the years. What a fun celebration!

Today is full of meetings and prep for the Senior Women's lunch. I'm out of the office on Friday - which means I have a lot to accomplishe between now and then! Candy is here to meet so I have to go!

Off to Wisconsin

I'm working at home this morning, before driving to Hartland, WI for Milwaukee Suburban's 50th anniversary dinner. It is great when Guild members celebrate milestones. Along the way, I'll drop Robby off at Rick's office in Evanston. Gas prices have really skyrocketed. I'm glad that I can work from home before my roadtrip.

Welcome to Monday

There is a different feeling on campus now that the students are slowly filtering out as they complete their tests, presentations, papers and projects. Seniors remain to enjoy Senior Week. I had a successful weekend of getting organized, so I feel more ready to conquer the world.

Postage rates go up today, which frankly frightens me when I consider the Guild's budget. In the past six years, we've steadied, and often decreased, the amount we spend on operating though costs continue to rise. In 1999-2000, the Guild spent $141, 709 (that includes everything that BOTH the University and Guild funds: operating, salaries, benefits, events, printing). In 2004-2005, we spent $123,611. Last year we were up due to having both an Executive Council and the 75th Convention. This year, we will likely spend about $130,000. Costs are steady, the increase is primarily due to annual wage increases.

If we divided the cost evenly among each of the 671 members, it would cost $193 each to keep the Guild office running! Fortunately, the University subsidizes the Guild by funding the staff salaries, benefits and about $9,000 toward operating. Where in the old structure, 50% of a Guild member's dues went toward operating costs, this year only 20% of all contributions will go toward operating (this percentage will decrease as the endowment grows). In these cautious financial times, the Guild was wise to invest its income into an endowment rather than our previous raise/spend model.

I spend a lot of time considering figures as we get closer to the end of the fiscal year (June 30). I can't believe I'm posting such a boring entry today, but honestly, this is what is currently on my mind.

TGIF

OK, I have recovered from the weekend in terms of gaining back sleep. Now, as I "dig out" I see much work to be done. Time to remotivate! To celebrate his graduation, I'm going to PassTimes with Erik at the end of the day. It is always great to see students we've worked with leave Valpo and become professionals. Graduating from Valpo was one of the darkest and brightest times of my life. I disliked having to adjust to being "on my own" when making decisions, dirt poor ($26 to buy two weeks of groceries?) and the way relationships changed during that time. I loved the independence, lack of studying/tests and really getting to know myself. The first year out of college just can't be described.

Sunny Day

In the past couple of weeks, our house has become a complete disaster. The floors have a film of sand from Robby bringing half the sand box home with him in his shoes. Junk mail has piled up. Clothes hang around our bedroom from the quick unpacking/repacking we've been doing. Fingers-crossed, this weekend I'll devote time to an "Extreme Makeover" of the cleaning kind. My motivation: next weekend we're hosting a garage sale. The work we do now is less work saved for later. To get a jump on the weekend, I did four loads of laundry yesterday (in addition to baking my final "Guild cake" of the 06-07 year), hubby cleaned up the kitchen and we started the pick-up process.

Reading Day

Students study today before finals begin tomorrow. It was advertised that the Guild would offer care packages for finals week. We weren't planning to, but decided to honor the requests we received. Today we will pull that together so students have an extra boost.

The Alumni Association offers an Online Community to connect alumni. I've requested a "Guild group" so members can utilize this to connect. It wasn't hard to sign up. The format isn't as straightforward as facebook.com, but offers lots of possibilities. Invite friends to participate.

Otherwise, today includes interviewing an intern, a meeting with the event coordinator on the University's 150th (how can the Guild be involved), a meeting about the next Valpo Prayer Book (which the Guild is funding), preparing the next monthly e-update and more digging out from the past couple of weeks.

I'm amazed!

It really hit me yesterday how far the Guild has come in one year's time. We revamped our nomination, balloting and tellering processes, redesigned all of our publications (print and online), streamlined our operating budget, launched a new BOD structure, changed our gift processing, restructured the membership recruitment process, attempted to formalize a structure for fundraising (which is well on its way, but not complete), researched national fundraiser options, and started utilizing technology in new ways (webinar, blogs, online forms).

This is in addition to being involved in on-campus events (Senior Women's Lunch, FOCUS, Homecoming open house, Homecoming West, etc.), moving across campus, hosting the Christian Women's Conference, conducting a member survey, overseeing the grant and scholarship programs, and managing the other day-to-day needs of the Guild.

It has been nonstop! This would not have happened without the patience of our volunteer members, the dedication of the office staff (way to go Diane and students!), and the support of the University.

If the Guild can accomplish so much in one year, there is no telling what we can do in the future! Supporting a University "on the go" is causing us to step up our game. So far, the Guild is braced for the challenge and thankful for the opportunity.

This may sound a little sappy (blame: lack of sleep!), however I truly believe in the Guild and frankly I'm both humbled and proud of how we do what we do for whom we do it!

OK, we survived!

No posts for the past few days? Why? Well, working from dawn(6-7 am) to well past dusk (usually to bed about 12 midnight) didn't allow a ton of time to post. On Thursday, the Guild board (BOD) and the Christian Women's Conference (CWC) committee arrived. When I wasn't in meetings, I was troubleshooting in preparation of the Conference and Guild Annual Meeting. The conference - which ran from Friday night until Sunday morning - was fabulous! The committee did a GREAT job pulling it all together. It really is a ministry. The quality of this conference is high and women's lives are truly impacted. What a blessing! On Sunday, the Guild hosted its first annual meeting in the new structure. When I reflect on all of the change the Guild has faced in the past year, I'm both astonished and awe struck. God has been at the center of this change. When I hear about other organizations that are struggling, I feel relief that we took the bull by the horns and changed. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is better than sitting around moaning, asking "what should we do?" We're taking action and moving forward. Whoo-hoo!

Details!

We're down to the wire on Christian Women's Conference planning. People are calling to sign up, cancel, change details. We're running nametags, running copies, giving final counts, crossing the Ts, dotting the Is. Better get back to work!