sharing best practices - Together Women Rise

Achieving global gender equality cannot be accomplished alone – and neither can running this organization or sustaining your chapter. Planning for the future of your chapter and sharing chapter responsibilities are key factors in maintaining successful Together Women Rise chapters. At our National Chapter Leader Event on Oct 16, we discussed best practices for continuity planning and inviting members into leadership roles.   Details

Apr 22, 2022

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, Chapters, For chapters, For leaders, For members

best practices, Books, learning, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: A Philadelphia Chapter’s Study Group

Learning is one of Together Women Rise’s key focus areas: we learn together to increase our understanding of global gender equality issues and to fuel our collective action. Our PA, Philadelphia-8 chapter has taken this one step further! About four years ago, the chapter – led by Maryanne Schiller, Cheryl Boyd, and Harriet Williams – created a study group for those members interested in learning more and having deeper discussions about global gender equality, outside of their regular chapter meetings. As one person describes it, this study group has led to more connection and community amongst members. The following blog has been written by Chapter Leader Maryanne Schiller. Details

Sep 23, 2021

Together Women Rise

Chapters, For leaders

best practices, chapter health, chapter leaders, chapter retention, chapters, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: Chapter Leaders Share Ideas at “Together Again Celebration”

Thank you to all the chapter leaders who participated in our special Together Again Celebration on Sept 13. It was a great opportunity to connect with chapter leaders across the country! Our thanks to Dr. Veena Khandke, our Director of Grants and Partnerships, for a great presentation and “sneak peek” of our new, 2022 grantees. And thank you to the Regional Leaders and Mentors on our Chapter Health & Retention Subcommittee for planning another great chapter leader event. Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, Chapters

chapter health, chapter leaders, chapters, coronavirus, covid-19, health and safety, sharing best practices

Ways to Jump-Start your Chapter!

Pictured above: It was a joyous occasion when the CA, Thousand Oaks-1 chapter – fully vaccinated – met in person again after a long absence.

You had an active and thriving chapter … meeting regularly, fully engaged. And then COVID struck and social distancing began. You put your chapter meetings on hold, fully intending to restart when it was safe to do so again. What you thought would be a brief hiatus turned into months and months, and now here we are one year later. How do you get things going again? Details

Oct 15, 2019

Together Women Rise

best practices, chapter fundraisers, Fundraising, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: DFW’s Annual Appeal

By Susan Tocher, co-leader of the CO, Boulder-1 chapter

What do you love about Dining for Women? The women who belong, our connection to the world, and the hope it gives me were responses from my chapter members recently. As we gather each month, we receive these gifts which touch our hearts. The connection we feel with each other and with DFW brings each of us back. The friends we have made here, and those across the globe, enrich our lives. The smiles and laughter on the videos show us the tangible difference our gifts make to our grantees, and bring hope to us. Our interconnection becomes obvious as our awareness expands. It is a reciprocal partnership. We give to them, and they give to us. We are lifting all our members and all our recipients up. Details

Sep 19, 2019

Together Women Rise

Chapters, For leaders

best practices, chapter leaders, sharing best practices, transitions

Sharing Best Practices Transitioning Your Chapter’s Leadership

By Ruth Bates and Leslye Heilig, Northeast Mentors

When you were planning your first chapter meeting, you probably gave little or no thought to how you would transition the chapter leadership in the future. However, leadership transition needs to be a consideration right from the start in order to ensure that your chapter stays healthy and vibrant long into the future. Details

Together Women Rise

Chapters, For chapters, For leaders, For members, Fundraising

best practices, chapter fundraisers, Fundraising, sharing best practices

Have Fun and Support Dining for Women with Chapter Fundraisers

By Betty Purkey-Huck, Rocky Mountain Regional Leader and Chair of the Chapter Health & Retention Committee

Want a fun way to raise money to support DFW? Have a chapter fundraiser. Fundraisers are not only a good way to raise money, they can also be a great way to build relationships and community within your chapter, spread the word about DFW locally, and possibly encourage new members to join. Details

Apr 16, 2019

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, Chapters, Connections, For chapters, For leaders

best practices, building community, Community, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: Building Community in Your Chapter – Do Something Outside of Your Chapter Meetings!

One of the greatest impacts of DFW, in addition to supporting women and girls in developing countries, are the communities which our chapters become. Within those communities come movements and relationships that impact our lives and those around us. For some chapters, their communities are enhanced and strengthened through activities outside of their monthly meetings. Here are two great examples of how we touch more than we ever imagined with the power of DFW: our DC, Washington-4 chapter and our DE, Wilmington-2 chapter. Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices

best practices, sharing best practices

From 9600’ Elevation in Colorado to 98’ Above Sea Level in Rhode Island: Two Unique DFW Chapters

by Susan Prener, Northeast Regional Co-Leader and Member of DFW’s Chapter Health and Retention Committee

Once you read this blog, I bet you will want to visit these two unique chapters yourself! Take a peek at what makes these Dining for Women (DFW) chapters attract and keep members. Details

Together Women Rise

Chapters, For leaders

best practices, Community, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: Building Community in Your Chapters

By Betty Purkey Huck, Rocky Mountain Regional Leader and Chair of the Chapter Health and Retention Committee

Each month in this newsletter, we’ve been giving you ideas on how to make your chapter more active, vibrant, and sustainable — things like trying a new location for your meetings, changing the food, or making the meeting time more convenient for your members. Now we’re going to look at another aspect of making your chapter more sustainable: building community in your chapters. Details

Aug 24, 2018

Together Women Rise

Best Practices

best practices, Growth, sharing best practices

Recruiting New Members to Your Chapter

By Betty Purkey-Huck, Rocky Mountain Regional Leader and Chair of the Chapter Health and Retention Committee

Are you looking to increase the size of your chapter, or replace members who have moved away? September is a great time to recruit new chapter members as many people are looking to join activities in the fall. Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, For leaders

best practices, chapter health, chapter retention, intergenerational, sharing best practices

Making an Intergenerational Chapter Work

By Corinne Blakemore, Central Regional Leader and member of the Chapter Health and Retention Committee

When I first heard about Dining for Women in 2010, I was planning to join a local chapter and get involved in the organization straight away. Little did I know that there were no chapters in Indiana or even within a two-hour driving distance of South Bend, where I live. This stalled me for a bit, but just for a bit. Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, For leaders

best practices, sharing best practices

Change Up Your Meetings By Taking Them Outside

By Ruth Bates, Northeast Region Mentor and member of the Chapter Health and Retention Committee

Do you feel like your meetings sometimes get a little monotonous? Do you have a month when you can’t find someone willing to host your chapter meeting? My chapter had that happen early last summer. Historically, certain members have volunteered for specific months for many years running. Last year in June, we suddenly found ourselves without a host. Our perennial host and chapter leader found herself in the midst of a family relocation. We had to be creative to solve this change in plans. Details

Together Women Rise

For leaders

best practices, chapter health, chapter retention, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: Get Creative to Increase Your Meeting Attendance

By Betty Purkey-Huck, Rocky Mountain Regional Leader and Chair, Chapter Health and Retention Committee

Oh my gosh, there were only three members at my chapter meeting last night! What’s going on?

Has that ever happened to you? You may be used to 12 members attending your meetings and suddenly only three or four are showing up. You haven’t been paying attention and all at once you notice and realize that attendance at your meetings has been declining over the last six months. Maybe you need to look closer at what is happening. Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, Chapters, For chapters, For leaders

best practices, chapter health, chapter leaders, chapter retention, co-leaders, sharing best practices

Sharing the Workload of Running Your Chapter

By Judy Bacon, Volunteer Mentor, Chapter Leader of WA, Spokane Valley-1, and member of DFW’s Chapter Health and Retention Committee

You are a fantastic and devoted Dining for Women chapter leader. In fact, you’re Wonder Woman! You do it all, and you do it well. You schedule the meeting, you plan the meeting, you invite everyone, you find a hostess and a presenter, you run the meeting, you deposit the checks– you’re amazing. But wait! You are beginning to feel exhausted, and no one else knows how to do what you do. Your chapter would fold without you. For your own sake and for the sake of your chapter, you need help. Details

Together Women Rise

For leaders

best practices, chapter leaders, chapter retention, sharing best practices

Do You Have a Plan for Chapter Leader Succession?

By Betty Purkey-Huck, Rocky Mountain Regional Leader and Chair of DFW’s Chapter Health and Retention Committee

You just found out that your spouse/partner is being transferred to another city and you are moving. Your first thought isn’t about your DFW chapter and it shouldn’t be, but what is going to happen to your chapter when you move? Details

Together Women Rise

For chapters, For leaders

best practices, chapter retention, sharing best practices, weather

Cloudy with a Chance of Sleet and Snow: Keeping the momentum going in every sort of weather

By Susan Prener, Co-Leader of our Northeast Region and member of our Chapter Health and Retention Committee

As we shared in last month’s issue, chapter health and retention is very important. We want all our chapters to stay healthy, active, and engaged long into the future. Our volunteer Chapter Health and Retention Committee is focusing on best practices for chapter longevity and sharing these practices with you through a series of monthly blogs. Our goal is to bolster existing chapters, even as we grow more chapters throughout the country. This month we are talking about the importance of holding regular chapter meetings and the challenge of winter weather! Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, Chapters, For chapters, For leaders, Fundraising

best practices, International Day of the Girl, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices – Celebrating International Day of the Girl and Supporting DFW Too!

By Cynthia Sawtell, Mentor in our West Region, and Chapter Leader of CA, San Anselmo-1

On Oct. 9, the three chapters of Marin County, CA (San Francisco area) hosted a public event in honor of the International Day of the Girl Child. The concept was to share with a broader circle of women the work that DFW has done for girls. We had three goals in mind: 1) to spread the word that investing in girls is critically important for spreading peace and prosperity in the developing world; 2) to do this outreach in hopes of gaining new members; and 3) to raise a little money for DFW. We called the event “Celebrate The Girl”. Details

Aug 15, 2016

Together Women Rise

Best Practices

Annual Appeal, Annual Campaign, best practices, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices: Annual Appeal is Coming Soon!

It’s almost time for our 13^th Month Annual Appeal, and many chapters are already getting geared up and pumped up! There are many ways that you can bring your chapter members together to support DFW while having some fun along the way.

Chapter Fundraisers
Last year, we raised close to $38,000 from more than 50 chapter fundraisers. If your chapter is considering a fundraiser for the 13^th Month Annual Appeal, be sure to check out our Chapter Fundraising Guidelines and complete the online Fundraiser Approval Form before you get started. Details

Together Women Rise

Best Practices, Chapters, For chapters, For leaders

chapter leaders, Mentoring, sharing best practices

Sharing Best Practices – The Joys of Mentoring

By Peggy Smith, Regional Leader for the Mid-Atlantic Region

Let’s hear it for our DFW Mentors. These are our foot soldiers, they walk the talk.

So what does it take to be a mentor? It takes a commitment to DFW and its mission, and an interest in sharing that passion to inspire and motivate others.

Mentors play an important role at the grassroots level of DFW by answering inquiries from people who want to join an existing chapter or start a chapter of their own. They have to know their territory well so they can match up potential new members with the most appropriate chapter within their geographic area. They also help launch new chapters, which includes educating potential Chapter Leaders about how to start and manage a DFW chapter, helping them organize their first meetings, attending the new chapter’s first meeting where possible, and answering any questions that arise.

Details