Development Committee Transitions to Executive Committee
Report for Annual meeting June 25, 2024
Tina Huesing, Chair; members Karen Kortsch, Gizella Nagy, Peg Swain, and Geri Kennedy
ICUUW has had a development committee for many years. Originally, the focus was on financial development. A development committee in a not-for-profit like ours is the committee that develops and executes fundraising programs, explores prospects (future donors), and cultivates relationships with existing donors. They coordinate all fundraising activities.
In March 2020 the committee was made up of the president, a former president, the treasurer, our executive director, a volunteer with expertise in public relations and me, who was asked to chair it.
The committee has met monthly ever since, and with time, priorities and focus changed. The first year, we were busy researching organizations that we might approach for a grant. By the end of the first year, we had developed a strategic approach to our sources of income. Since then, our annual budget is sourced about 50% by grants, and the other half of the needed funds come from fundraising efforts, individual donors, membership fees, and events that generate surplus.
We developed an annual approach to fundraising that helped the organization be more proactive in its efforts. In addition, we realized more and more how important it is to coordinate activities across our various committees and task forces. We added staffing issues to our monthly agenda to ensure that we had volunteers taking the lead for all major efforts.
The committee developed a growth approach that balances mission-driven projects with the volunteers it takes to make them happen and the financial resources to support them. This holistic view has really helped us in our institutional growth. We also developed a governance approach that assists with coordination across the major committees and ensures everyone understands how we work together. Last year, we added the Coordinating Council to better manage internal communications.
The committee has taken on providing annual Board orientations for all members, but especially for new Board members. We also facilitate the process of taking the goals from our Strategic Plan and breaking them down into annual Implementation Plans. Specific tasks can then be assigned to our committees, and individual Board members make their commitments for the year.
Our organization is blessed with wonderful volunteers and has had the great fortune of being supported by an excellent executive director. The development committee shifted more and more to looking at those things that might otherwise fall through the cracks. Today, the committee is made up of the current Board officers, the president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. As such, the committee has become the Executive Committee that ensures our organization continues to soar well above its size. Monthly meetings continue.