Celebrating Recruitment Events

This summer, the Membership Development Committee coordinated several wonderful recruitment events at the Clearwater Main Library, Jimmy's Fish House, and home of JLCD members. Thank you Kelly Borota, Diane Gobo, Jenna Franklin and Sarah Miller for opening your homes to members and prospective members.

Members and prospectives enjoyed fellowship, wonderful food and information about membership. The Membership Development Committee provided detailed information through a slide show. Thank you to everyone for making these wonderful events.

These events give us the opportunity to mingle over the summer, and share the value of being a member of the Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin

Salad Supper Success

Kelly Borota, Membership VP, hosted our third and last salad supper to recruit new members to JLCD. The attendance was great last night, and several Sustainers (Pauline Deal, Sara Simmons, Stephany Dawson and Katie Cole) attended and brought prospective members along.

Even though Salad Suppers are now over, it is still not too late to ask someone to join our organization.

The provisional orientation will be August 25 at 6:30pm at Countryside Mease Hospital.

If you know someone that may be interested, please contact
Joanna Rosse or Abby Favali.

Thanks again to Kelly, Lisa and Stefanie for hosting the salad suppers and to the rest of the Membership Development Committee for their hard work!

Board and Chair Retreats

On the past two Saturdays, the JLCD's Board of Directors and Chairs for the 08-09 league year participated in educational trainings. We started the day with a fun ice breaker where we were surprised to learn about our favorite people and things. I personally learned that if you say "Bring it on" is your favorite movie, then you risk ridicule. It is indeed one of my favorites so I guess I deserve that:)

We were excited to have Dr. Linda Andrews-Crotwell teach us many new things. Our serious topics including learning about our individual personalities, how to communicate with others (harder than you may think), team work, conflict resolution, how to facilitate and plan meetings and league operations. Lunch, arranged by Marcy Hawk was brought in by one of our tenants, Picnics-to-Go.

Another important item we discussed was our "Member's Bill of Rights"

The Right to Be Respected
The Right to be Heard
The Right to Try, But Fail

Please remember these as we go forward in a new year!

New Board Holds First Meeting

On Monday night, the JLCD Board of Directors convened for its first meeting. I am often asked, "what exactly does the Board do and what are its responsibilities?". So, I thought I would take a few minutes and explain some basics.

First, Board members have certain fiduciary responsibilities or "duties"to JLCD. Duty of Care requires that officers act reasonably in respect to the management of JLCD's affairs. Duty of Loyalty prohibits Board members from using their position to further their own interests. And, Duty of Obedience requires that Board members ensure JLCD is following By-Laws and Procedures and adheres to applicable laws.

In addition to those duties, the Board also wears two hats (both white or Junior League red in our case): a management one (oversight of committees and councils) and a governance one (like providing strategic direction, ensuring financial sustainability, etc.)

Here are ten basic responsibilities of non-profit boards from http://www.boardsource.org/ to further explain.

1. Determine the organization's mission and purpose. It is the board's responsibility to create and review a statement of mission and purpose that articulates the organization's goals, means, and primary constituents served.

2. Select the chief executive.

3. Provide proper financial oversight. The board must approve the annual budget and ensure that proper financial controls are in place.

4. Ensure adequate resources. One of the board's foremost responsibilities is to secure adequate resources for the organization to fulfill its mission.

5. Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability. The board is ultimately responsible for ensuring adherence to legal standards and ethical norms.

6. Ensure effective organizational planning. Boards must actively participate in an overall planning process and assist in implementing and monitoring the plan's goals.

7. Recruit and orient new board members and assess board performance. All boards have a responsibility to articulate prerequisites for candidates, orient new members, and periodically and comprehensively evaluate their own performance.

8. Enhance the organization's public standing. The board should clearly articulate the organization's mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community.

9. Determine, monitor, and strengthen the organization's programs and services. The board's responsibility is to determine which programs are consistent with the organization's mission and to monitor their effectiveness.

10. Support the chief executive and assess his or her performance.

Oh, and we have fun too!!! If you have any questions or want to learn more, please do not hesitate to ask, and of course, Board meeting are open in case you want to stop by!!