This newsletter is intended for 2021 leaders of Women's Council. This important information should be read thoroughly and shared with your local members as needed.
Edition 25 - 2021 | September 7, 2021
Note, this edition of Roadmap is for 2021 network leaders and is being distributed to the six leadership team members who were reported to National.
September is a busy month!
See all of the details below.
September and October: New Member Nudge
This program is already proving to be popular with networks. Since the program has begun, the new member daily count has tripled from its daily average. This is a limited-time opportunity to turbo-charge your membership quickly. More information and marketing templates on the program can be found in the last road map newsletter or the New Member Nudge webpage full of information.
Network Certification Application is Due on October 1 – Start the Process Today
Women’s Council Network Certification recognizes and rewards the most active local and state networks that achieve five key benchmarks of network excellence and exceeds basic charter requirements per its national affiliation and provides outstanding member service. Training videos are available by visiting the certification page. The application deadline is October 1, 2021, so you will want to get to work on the program right away.
Submit Dues Changes by September 30th
Do you have dues changes for 2022? National must be notified by September 30th and the Network Dues Change form must be filled out along with approval notification.
Women’s Council policy is that for any dues changes for the following year, we must be notified using the correct form by September 30th. No changes are accepted outside of that timeframe or with informal notices that do not use the correct form.
Passing the Baton Workshop
Tuesday, September 14th - 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Central
Women's Council Presidents and President-Elects: are you ready to pass the baton? In September, the clock ticks on the leadership journey. This year, even more so, since officer terms move up to mid-November per the recent bylaws changes (see minutes in below item). 2021 and 2022 teams should attend this 2-hour workshop together. Learning objectives include: ensuring smooth transitions, teamwork, and leadership change management. Leaders will leave the session energized and organized as we reach transition times. This program will be delivered by your 2021 National Liaison Team, and pre-registration is required.
Recognizing Your Movers & Shakers at the National Level
We want to celebrate your network leaders' achievements! If you or someone you know has a recent achievement to be shared on social media or eConnect, fill out this form. Our Women's Council Movers & Shakers may be shared on social media and/or future eConnect articles. Not all recognitions will be shared.
Important: Local and State Bylaws Changes Go Into Effect NOW
A special Governing Board meeting was held on Monday, August 30th, and proposed changes were approved. The new local and state bylaws go into effect immediately and next week, the newly updated bylaws will appear on your microsite. Minutes from the meeting can be viewed online. Most changes were deemed to be non-controversial and administrative in nature. The changes were made because over the past five years, numerous bylaws changes had been made at the state and local level, many of which were done in order to comply with the new network model. Additionally, last May, some changes were approved by you at the national level to reflect operational realities and taking into account pandemic-related changes (view updated national bylaws here). In the bylaws task force review of all three levels of the organization (local, state, and national), the intent of this round of changes is to provide uniformity across the three sets of bylaws.
Here is the key summary of recommendations that you as a network leader should know:
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Removal of officers. While our national bylaws have provisions for removing an officer, local and state bylaws do not outline provisions. The proposed changes at the state and local level clarify the procedure per special meetings rules. The process for states and locals was previously too vague and this uniform language is designed to provide more clarity. The intent is that the agreement of the body that chose the officers is the same body required to agree to remove them.
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Date changes. Dates by which networks are required to hold their elections were further reduced to September 30th (end of this month), in order to allow more time for states to hold orientations and for those officers taking office. As this will go into effect this year (2021), the term of office has changed from January 1st to mid-November (or the Tuesday after the National Conference or November 16th). This puts officer timelines in sync with National and allows for more onboarding during the typically quieter holiday times from mid-November to late December. It is envisioned to help with a smoother transition between outgoing and incoming officers, capitalizing on the excitement of incoming officers who are already rolling out plans for events, membership, and while current year officers are typically winding down their term. Important: 2021 officer terms are reduced by 6 weeks. A “passing the baton” workshop (see above) will help the quicker transition in 2021.
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Proxy voting. There is confusion as to proxy voting at the state and national level, and the approved wording was to clarify that local national presidents have a delegate vote on behalf of their network at the state and national level; they are able to delegate that vote to another individual in their network if they are unable to attend. General proxy voting is not allowed and these changes reflect it as such.
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Local and state network model verbiage. Throughout the network model changes, important wording and verbiage was omitted from past bylaws changes, and this version cleans up and harmonizes wording throughout the three levels of the organization.
Note, these bylaws changes were driven by the bylaws task force, which has worked hard this year to streamline and overhaul our bylaws. Our well-experienced and seasoned task force represented two large states (Andrew Bell-FL and Patti St. Louis-TX), a mid-sized state network (Kim Sitton-ID), and a smaller state without a state network (Lindsey Culver–OR). This brain trust was staffed by our very capable Director of Network Engagement, Jamie Saltman (CA), who has a wealth of expertise and insight from having served at all three levels. Thank you all!