WILPF Membership Development Committee

By Shilpa Panday, WILPF US Membership Development Chair

A very warm greeting to all the members of our wonderful WILPF US family. Some of you may already know me, or you may have heard of me. I am Shilpa Pandey, the new membership development chair for the US WILPF section.

I have wanted to reach out to all of you for a while, but there was some groundwork I needed to accomplish before I could take this opportunity to seek out your active participation in the new membership development committee that we are in the process of forming.

I was born and raised in India before I came to call the US my new home a few years ago. In India, I had the opportunity to serve on the WILPF India Board.

There are many similarities that bind us together, regardless of any differences in race, age, or national origin. We are all part of the same family called WILPF, and, by virtue of that, we can say that our goal is the same, which is to work toward the realization of WILPF values, mission, and vision.

There are many challenges ahead for WILPF US, both internally, for our organization, and externally, given the current times we are living in. It is more vital than ever before that we, as WILPF, reach out today to the many others who are also on the same journey that we are on and that we invite them to be a part of our WILPF family.

That is exactly what I envision our membership development committee will achieve: an expansion of our organization, an expansion of our vision, and an expansion of the ideals that all of us WILPF members have dedicated our lives to upholding.

I invite all WILPF US members to come forward with your valuable input, your suggestions, your critiques, and, most importantly, your willingness to be part of this committee so that together we can work toward a more enriching membership experience.

We will be holding monthly meetings, via a call Wednesday evenings, 8-9 PM EST.

Some of the issues that we, the membership committee, will take up are:

• Revisiting the way dues are collected, recorded, and shared regularly with branches;
• Revising the processes for welcoming new members in order to do so quickly and by offering support;
• Focusing on solutions for recruiting new members and retaining long-term members;
• Developing help for branch leaders to share leadership and plan for succession successfully.

Please do reach out to me via email, at emailtoshilpa@yahoo.com or by phone at 210-290-3213.