Inaugural Speech

Patricia S. Whitehouse
52nd President, NJSFWC
May, 2010

Think Big, Think Bold   –    Dare ~ Dream ~ Do

Volunteers have pioneered community action and social change through 3 ½ centuries of American life.  In fact, in those early years, had it not been for the citizen volunteers who developed their own rules for self-government, there would have been no government at all. 

However, volunteerism in the United States is much more.  Volunteerism is both reactive and proactive.  Volunteerism is a response to current events, social problems or community needs that volunteers are often the first to recognize.

The White House Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives stated that a volunteer is a person who can see what others cannot see and who can feel what most do not feel.  Seeing and feeling the needs of their communities is what you, the members of the NJSFWC, have been doing for over 115 years.

The ability to challenge the status quo, to voice our opinions, is the core of our democracy, and challenging the status quo is what volunteers do every day.  It is what we do every day.

The value of the hundreds of community service activities undertaken by our clubs and its members is immeasurable.  Whether it is sponsoring youth essay, poetry or poster contest, reading stories to children and shut-ins, collecting books for under resourced schools and libraries, filling First Night Kits for the domestic violence shelters, making Valentines for the patients in the Veterans’ Hospitals, stuffing stockings for our troops overseas or raising awareness within the community about Autism, the members of the NJSFWC are making a difference in the lives of others…..one project at a time.

And in spite of the current economic times, our members have continued to deliver needed community services.  In 2009 our member clubs spent over 940,000 volunteer hours on almost 27,000 projects and donated $3.6 million in cash and in kind donations.    

Our clubs are not the same as they were…….little is as it once was.  Many of our clubs are smaller and there are fewer clubs.  However, smaller does not mean we cannot and do not continue to make a significant impact in our communities. 

As I travel the state, I heard over and over again the positive impact that clubs of all sizes, including the smaller clubs, were having on their communities.  Small is NOT bad.  In fact, I like to think about the wonderful things that come in small packages.  This is the way you need to think about yourselves…..something wonderful in a little smaller package.

The challenges facing volunteerism in the 21^st century are different than those facing volunteers of the past.  It is important for us to remember that the challenges are different…they are not necessarily worse.

In fact, all volunteer organizations face similar challenges….you read and hear things like…..

• Availability of volunteers (the population of NJ is 8.8 million people with 51% being female and 70% or 3 million women are over the age of 18; this means there are plenty of possible volunteers available)
• Aging U.S. population  -- 60, 70 and even 80 are not what they used to be so we need to stop thinking it is old!
• Majority of Americans no longer from European backgrounds – what are we doing to attract new members who do not look like us?
• More litigious society with increased regulation on charities – Guess what?    It is what it is.  However, the NJSFWC will continue to find ways (i.e., 501(c) ( 3) umbrella filing, group liability insurance, Charitable Registration filings, consults with State Treasurer, etc.) to assist our clubs in dealing with the increasing regulations.
• Reluctance of volunteers to make long term commitments – It’s a fact!  Those days of club members being involved in every activity and attending every meeting are behind us.  What is your club doing to make it easier to be a member? 
• Rate of workplace change – For years, club work has helped develop legions of women who became community leaders.  What opportunities are you providing to your members to develop transferable leadership skills?  What programs are you offering that adds to their knowledge?

There are opportunities in every challenge………. So, we need to be asking ourselves what other opportunities exist in each of the challenges presented to us? 

Each one of us needs to adopt the attitude that in every issue, problem or challenge there is an opportunity.  In fact, I want you to remove the words issue and problem from your vocabulary because the impact of such negative words can and does adversely affect our ability to move forward. 

Think about it……….how do you feel when you think or say the words, problem or issue?  However, just saying or thinking about the word opportunity, and what it represents, provides a feeling of hope and optimism.

To help remove those negative words from our vocabularies and to increase awareness, why not institute a simple system that requires a 25 or 50 cent or even a $1 donation to the SSP from anyone who uses the words problem or issue? 

So we have agreed to removed the negative words from our vocabulary and to begin thinking in terms of opportunities…how about adopting a willingness to make adjustments.....to experiment with other possibilities.  Brainstorming, in order to generate ideas to take advantage of the many opportunities presented to us, needs to become so natural for us that we do not even know we are doing it! 

At the state and district level, you are going to see us experiment on a number of fronts.  Some of the experiments will work and others will not, but what is important is that we will be trying things…we are not going to be standing still. 

You, as individual members, are being offered opportunities to participate in many of the experiments.

• The Strategic Plan, unveiled last year, will be updated this summer. 

• A Membership Task Force is being formed to investigate a variety of membership-related needs, including but not limited to, what opportunities exist for our evening groups vs. our daytime groups, and how do we attract and keep today’s volunteers.
• A Grant Team will be aggressively searching for grants.  This source of income coupled with larger statewide fundraisers will be pursued to close our budget gap.
• Partnerships with corporations, businesses and other non-profit women’s organizations will be broadened and strengthened, and
• A long overdue revision to the NJSFWC Bylaws will be undertaken.

There is an opportunity and an experiment for everyone!

You have heard the expression “to feel pretty is to be pretty.” We need to think big and think bold in order to carry on the vision of improving our communities through volunteer service which was the passion of our founding sisters.

Our founding sisters did not let the lack of a right to vote or a Governor, telling them it could not be done, stop them from leading the charge to save the Palisades cliffs from destruction.  Nor did they let the Rutgers Board of Governors’ refusal to admit women, stop them from pursuing their dream of a public higher education for women.  No instead they founded the NJ College for Women.  And we are not going to let the challenges facing today’s volunteers stop us either.

I want you to adopt the following guiding theme….Dare ~ Dream ~ Do.

Dare to have the courage and willingness to take a risk, to experiment.

Dream, imagine, and envision the possibilities, and then

Do what needs to be done.  Put those dreams and goals into action.

Our organization has accomplished much since its founding in 1894, but we still have much more to do.

THINK BIG, THINK BOLD………DARE ~ DREAM ~ DO!