Development Report: A Bold Plan, New Members

By Marybeth Gardam
Chair, Development Committee

Your Development Committee has been busy this first quarter-year working on a coordinated strategic approach and adding members. We have lots to report!

Welcome to Two New Committee Members

An introduction to our new committee members:

Marguerite Adelman (Burlington, VT) comes with tons of experience leading a branch and she is a recently retired fundraising professional. 

Kim Irish (San Francisco, CA) has strategic planning expertise helping lead a legal aid nonprofit in California. A new member of WILPF US, Kim has some great international experience and plans to contact the San Francisco and East Bay branches to get more involved.

Kim and Marguerite will be joining other Development Committee members:  Robin Lloyd, Nancy Price, Jan Corderman, Shilpa Pandey, Mary Hanson Harrison, and Chair Marybeth Gardam.

“This is shaping up to be a fun and effective committee,” says Gardam.  “We could still use a few enthusiastic folks who know about fundraising or want to learn more about it. It’s a GREAT time to join us!”

To be part of the Development Committee, send an email to Marybeth Gardam at GrowingWILPFChair@gmail.com. 

Third Year Grant

We are happy to announce that we once again were gifted a $25,000 grant from the Craigslist Charitable Fund, through our fiscal sponsor, Peace Development Fund. 

Spring Appeal

The Spring Appeal for WILPF-US is in the works and we hope it will be mailed before the end of April.

The theme this year is “Seeds of Change”. Please consider contributing as much as you can when you receive your appeal. WILPF US is facing lots of costs this year as we prepare to send five delegates to the International Congress in Ghana in July. We are also budgeting dollars so that peace women from the global south can participate through scholarships. 

A Bold Plan for 2018

The WILPF US Board approved the Development Committee’s new Integrated Capacity Building Plan: Strategic Sustainability. This will be a pilot project in 2018 focused on working closely with a selection of participating branches to build stronger strategic planning skills, new recruiting outreach, community and media outreach, and new leadership skills.

This bold plan is a collaboration between the Development Committee, Program Committee, Membership Development, and Leadership Institute, and it will demand full focus and cohesive strategic participation from each of those parts of WILPF. The goals for this project could potentially add between $15,000 to $45,000 to WILPF in new donations within the first year, with additional income and cities targeted in subsequent years.

Six to nine (6-9) branches in the Midwest, California, and the Middle Atlantic states are being offered this opportunity based on their stated needs and the strategic opportunities they offer. Participating branches this first year will be announced once they have formally agreed to participate. If the plan is successful we plan to continue to roll it out with more branches added each year. 

Assisting with this new Development Plan will be professional Fundraising Consultant Mary Dooley and Communication Coordinator Michael Ippolito. 

Mary will work in a temporary part-time position as a Fundraising Consultant to assist with creating a Case Statement for WILPF US, planning and research for approaching foundations for national and community grants, approaching major donors in the 6-9 cities where our participating branches are located, and planning for stepped-up donations among our current donors.

Temporary part-time Communications Coordinator Michael Ippolito will work with Issue Committees and branches to create a coordinated strategic communications for social media, updating our website presence and expanding outreach nationally for increased visibility and collaborataions. 

In the Mid-Atlantic cities Marguerite Adelman will bring her practical experience leading a successful branch to work with those initial program branches on building leadership, strategic program planning, capacity-building, recruiting planning and connecting the branches to WILPF US resources. 

In the Midwest cities Mary Hanson Harrison, Jan Corderman, and Shilpa Pandey will provide the same kinds of support working with fundraising and strategic planning consultant Mary Dooley. 

In the California cities Mary Hanson Harrison, Shilpa Pandey, and Kim Irish will be reaching out to offer the same support to participating branches.  

Membership Development and the Leadership Institute will be working on some training webinars that can be made available to all WILPF US members.

Joint Our Effort in 2018!

“This is the kind of coordinated strategic approach that branches have been asking for and that will support leadership, recruiting and program planning while WILPF US focuses on fundraising with major donor targets in the neighborhoods where we have the greatest presence,” explains Marybeth Gardam, Development Chair. “We are excited about the opportunities and we would really love to have more members working with us this year, even if they don’t want to commit longer term.”

For more information, contact Marybeth Gardam at GrowingWILPFChair@gmail.com.