Women’s Volunteers Leadership Looks To The Future

Washington, D.C. – September 8, 2009 – Members of the Board of Directors of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs met in Lexington, Kentucky, last week to discuss membership recruitment strategies and long-term planning for the 119-year old organization that leads 100,000 members in volunteer activities in their local communities. Keynote speaker for the event was Miss Alabama 2009 Liz Cochran, a former GFWC Juniorette (the membership designation for girls 12-18), whose platform of cardiovascular health is well aligned with GFWC’s own Focus on Health program.

GFWC leaders also delivered a platform workshop to introduce the technology and advantages of social media networking for the 4,000-club federation. Additional speakers included Anne Murray, a former dean and assistant to the president at Western Kentucky University, who discussed communication types and women’s leadership traits; and Louisville fashion consultant and Kentucky Derby hat expert Jo Ross, who helped curate the exhibit “Derby Decades: Simply Chic” at the Kentucky Derby Museum.

“GFWC is very much a member-led organization,” said GFWC International President Rose M. Ditto, Ph.D. “Getting together as a Board and making decisions about our future means we can utilize the leadership experience and diverse knowledge of our members to help determine our vision and how we will get achieve it.”

GFWC leaders include appointed and elected members, including officers from all 50 state federations, plus representatives from GFWC’s eight national regions, and individual members appointed to lead activity in one of the Federation’s many areas of service, from arts and education to international affairs and public issues. This meeting of the Board of Directors provides ample information, ideas, and education that leaders are expected to take back to their own states and regions. GFWC’s eight regions hold individual conferences each fall, and state federations convene state conventions in the spring, leading up to the GFWC Annual International Convention each June. In 2010, GFWC’s annual event will be held in Omaha, Nebraska.