Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc.

These messages are intended to help you understand and speak confidently about the direction our organization is heading.

FY2023-2024 Key Messages

1. Access to Formal Education

Research confirms that access to formal education benefits women and girls, their families and their communities. This is education that can result in a credential and an increase in economic empowerment. Our members have limited time and funds and should invest those resources in the programs that will increase access to formal education and economic empowerment for women and girls: the Dream Programs and Big Goal Accelerator Projects. Awareness raising activities about issues like trafficking, intimate partner violence, or other topics do not increase access to formal education and cannot be counted towards our Big Goal.

2. Investing in Dreams: Our 2021-2031 Big Goal

Together with our clubs and leaders, we defined our 2021-2031 Big Goal of investing in the dreams of half a million women and girls through access to formal education. This audacious goal will continue to increase our collective impact by helping four times the number of women and girls facing obstacles to economic empowerment as served in the prior decade. We remain committed to working together to reach our Big Goal through our Live Your Dream Awards, Dream It, Be It and Big Goal Accelerator Projects. As of the end of club year 22/23, we have reached 58,515 women and girls through increased access to formal education, 11.7% of our Big Goal total.

3. Investing in Sustainability for Today and Tomorrow

To increase our investment in the dreams of women and girls, we must continue to invest in ourselves. Our Dream Big Campaign raised over $4.6 million in funds needed to support and grow our membership, develop our leadership, increase the number of women and girls we serve, and elevate our organization’s brand as a recognized leader in transforming the lives of women and girls. Together we have increased funding allocated for Live Your Dream Awards and Soroptimist Club Grants. We are transitioning from surviving with outdated technology to thriving with innovative technology with a new organizational database, member portal, and website. And we are increasing diversification of our fundraising revenue through new donor acquisition efforts, with a focus on new corporate, cause and foundation partnerships. While we continue to focus on building our capacity for future growth, we must also raise funds for our immediate program needs. Donors are encouraged © Soroptimist International ofthe Americas, Inc. ® to continue or increase their annual support to meet the growing needs of our organization.

4. Building a Unified and Globally Recognized Brand

When clubs and members are asked what they want most, they say more members and to be better known for our impact. The only way to accomplish this is to consistently be the organization we say we are and consistently do what we say we do: SIA clubs will work collaboratively, aligning their activities to support our 2021-2031 Big Goal of investing in the dreams of half a million women and girls through access to education. By unifying our work and visual identity to support our Big Goal we will build a movement capable of generating the funding needed to expand, deliver and sustain our global Dream Programs to build a strong, recognized brand.

5. Providing a Positive Club Experience

Future success relies upon growing SIA clubs and retaining members through an engaging and respectful member experience. We foster a collaborative experience by aligning club activities with our Big Goal of investing in the dreams of half a million women and girls through access to education. We value openness and inclusion of new members and their ideas, leaving interpersonal conflicts aside for the greater good of our life-changing efforts.

6. Volunteer Recognition

SIA surveyed Soroptimist leaders across clubs and regions in early 2021 to improve our volunteer recognition process. Survey results led to changes within the annual Club Roadmap Metrics and our recognition of club anniversaries. An internal project team was also formed to improve the Soroptimist Celebrating Success Awards and the Shaping the Future Awards. Challenges were addressed, including submission quality, activity alignment, bests practices, and operations. As a result, the SIA Board of Directors approved a revised award program to begin in fiscal year 2023-2024. Clubs will now be recognized annually through the Best in Federation Club Awards, and regions will be honored biennially through the Best in Federation Region Awards. To be eligible for these awards, participants must achieve a percentage of the new Roadmap Metrics. Aligning with these metrics is imperative as they support SIA’s strategic plan for building a positive and consistent club and region experience globally, developing our recognition, and aiding in achieving our Big Goal. Applications will be scored by a volunteer committee to determine the winning clubs and regions. Winners will receive a formal certificate and be featured across SIA platforms, including Best for Women, the blog, social media, the SIA website, and during select events.

7. Aligning to Reach Our Goals

SIA’s Strategic Plan highlights our vision, mission, core values, and strategic outcomes. Regions and clubs are provided with the roadmaps and metrics to achieve these goals. By adhering to these tactics, we build a positive and consistent global club experience, increase our recognition, and invest in the dreams of half a million women and girls through access to education. We will keep our organization healthy and vibrant for another 100 years by ©Soroptimist International ofthe Americas, Inc.® working together and optimizing how we use our resources.

Clubs are asked to focus on:

Participating in Live Your Dream Awards
Engaging with Dream It, Be It
Reporting Big Goal Accelerator Projects
Achieving an 85% or better membership retention rate
Adding new club members
Contributing at least 10% of funds raised locally to Club Giving
Donating to Founders Pennies

Regions are asked to focus on:

Increasing the number of women and girls reaching through Live Your Dream Awards, Dream, It Be It, and Big Goal Accelerator Projects
Increasing new members and new clubs
Achieving an 85% or better membership retention rate
Maintaining a minimum of 300 members and 20 clubs
Having a full slate of region officers
Meeting member registration goals for SIA’s Leadership Round Table and ensuring key leaders attend
Increasing percentage of the clubs who participate in Club Giving
Increasing financial support by individual members in their region.

8. The Soroptimist Store is Under Construction

SIA continues to experience the aftereffects of the global pandemic. These include severe shortages of products and materials, businesses downsizing or closing, and other related service issues. As a result, many SIA store products are low or out of stock. SIA is seeking reliable product vendors that offer quality merchandise with reasonable international order times in preparation for the launch of our new online store. In the meantime, while we look for a new online store vendor, you can order Soroptimist swag here. As always, we value your membership, and exceptional service is our priority. SIA will be launching a new online store in early-May and will introduce new items in time for the 48th Biennial Convention in Bellevue, Washington.