Category Archives: Nominating Committee

Our Branch Moves Forward!

Our Branch Moves Forward! By Hedda Smithson

Last month we read about the new structure of our governing body – the board in its new
format. Now we ask you to look at some of the back pages of our membership directory.

Liz Jordan! Donna Holmes! Marty McKnew! Nancy McCabe! Cherril Peabody! Molly
Dugan! Gloria Yost! Barbara Smith! Hedda Smithson! Jane Cooley! Jean Bonar! Linda Sparks! What do all these women have in common? YEP! Each has served as AAUW
Sacramento Branch President! (A couple have done repeat performances!!) AND each is still
active at some level in our current membership year. So – something about that experience
sparked a passion for our branch and a desire to continue being involved.

Guess what – your name could be added to that Presidents list! Sometimes being
president is a bit easier than taking on a director’s responsibility and/or committee chair.
Regardless of the “job”, there are lots of resources available to facilitate your experience. Check
out our branch web site (https://sacramento-ca.aauw.net). Use the password in the back of the
directory to access the Members-Only page.

Here are some of the expectations:
* Be familiar with our governing documents: our bylaws, policies and leadership responsibilities and see that these are followed.
* Have good communication skills.
* Be comfortable using email, texting and Zoom
* Commit to a two-year term.
* Preside during board and business meetings and play a part in general membership meetings in welcoming guests and helping with the program.

Our election will be held early in 2025. Our rules allow for self-nominations.
AND – you would not be alone – the dozen women listed above are more than willing to be your cheerleaders.
Oh! Did we mention that the job comes with a gavel at the beginning and a lovely pin at the end? Tempted? Interested? Curious? We hope so. Contact our president, Nancy McCabe. She will help you get involved.

Leadership Slate Approved

Leadership Slate Approved by Branch By Liz Jordan

At the April 9, 2022, branch meeting, members unanimously approved the partial slate of officers provided by the Nominating Committee. The attending members voted for Susana Mullen as finance director and for Carole Cline as secretary. These members will assume their roles on July 1, 2022 and will serve for a two-year term.

The Nominating Committee was unable to find anyone to serve as president or as program director for the next two years. In addition, the Nominating Committee chair, Liz Jordan, admitted that the committee was distracted with the crises of a leadership deficit, so they overlooked their responsibility to name three new members to the 2023 Nominating Committee. Three members will be named at date to be determined.

Nominating Committee – Slate and Vote

Nominating Committee Report By Liz Jordan
With Two Positions for Membership Vote

The Nominating Committee, Linda Sparks, Vicki Nicholson, Nancy Lawrence, Cherril Peabody, and Liz Jordan, present an incomplete slate of candidates for the Branch vote on April 9, Branch meeting and Author’s Event.

The slate is:

Secretary for a two-year term: Carole Cline.

Carole has just served one year as secretary, completing the previous term left vacant.

Finance Director for a two-year-term: Susana Mullen

Susana has an MBA in accounting and is retiring from an accountant position.

Open and Unfilled: President or Co-Presidents

This position is necessary for branch function. Leads the board action and in decision-making.

Open and partially filled: Co-Directors of Program

One member volunteered with qualification for this position; she needs a co-director. She is very experienced but will not serve as the sole director.

The Branch is slated to vote on April 9 at our branch meeting designated as the Author’s Event. Every member can vote.

Job descriptions for open positions are available on the sacramento-ca.aauw.net website under the Membership tab, Members Only link. Anyone interested in serving in either of the two open positions, please contact Liz Jordan, Vicki Nicholson, Angela Scarlett, or Nancy Lawrence. Phone and email available in the Directory.

What Happened at the Leadership Crisis Meeting?

What Happened at the Branch Leadership Crisis Meeting? By Liz Jordan

On Wednesday evening, March 16, more than 35 members signed into a branch meeting, open to the entire membership. The goal of the meeting was to help solve a leadership crisis: to find members willing to serve the branch.

Who Will Lead? The annual Nominating Committee has not been able to find a volunteer[s] to serve as President or Co-Presidents or as Program Director or Co-Directors.

Other branch leadership needs discussed were for volunteers to lead our Tech Trek Program and one to lead our Public Policy activities.

Job Descriptions are available from Nominating Committee Chair Liz Jordan and/or by clicking on the Membership tab through to the Members Only link of the AAUW Sacramento website sacramento-ca.aauw.net.

Survey: The membership was alerted to this meeting by eblast and each eblast contained a link to a survey about branch activities. The survey gleaned responses from about a quarter of the membership and then comprised the focus for the meeting discussion. (See article by Gloria Yost about what members responded). The members attending this meeting were able to see some of the members responses, and then members were randomly assigned to one of five break-out rooms where they discussed one of the questions, as well.

The five questions from the survey, then discussed by the break-out groups, were:

What are your reasons for being a member of AAUW Sacramento?
Our mission is to empower women and girls. How do you think we can motivate our members to participate in mission-based activities?
What reasons do you have for serving or not serving on a committee or as a board leader?
Do you ordinarily participate in Branch meetings and programs? Why or why not?
If we reduced the number of our branch outreach activities, which ones would you eliminate? Or change and in what way? These four activities were discussed:

- Scholarship – women 25 years or older, returning to college
- Speech Trek – high school kids speak to a question about gender equity
- Tech Trek – six middle school girls who have talent but may lack motivation go to STEM Camp on a college campus for a week.
- NCCWSL – National Conference of College Women Student Leaders – conference once a year over Memorial Weekend at University Maryland.

Discussion: Volunteer recorders in each of the five breakout rooms kept notes and reported back to the larger meeting during the last half hour. The discussion was wide-ranging, and all possible ways to restructure branch activity were on the table. A strong possibility of a Strategic Planning Committee to work on streamlining branch activities and leadership positions is under discussion.

Please: Anyone willing to serve in either of the open board positions or on the Strategic Planning Committee is strongly encouraged to call or write Liz Jordan, Nancy Lawrence, Cherril Peabody, Linda Sparks or Vicki Nicholson. Please see the directory for contact information.

March 16th Branch Meeting – Important!

Important March 16th Branch Meeting

7- 8:30 p.m. on Zoom!!

What is the impact of AAUW in Sacramento?

Tech Trek: over last three years, 18 local middle school girls to STEM camp, for total tuition of $16,500. Imagine the impact over the last 22 years!?!
Speech Trek: over last five years, 37 local student speakers won $4,675 in awards.
Scholarship: over past five years, 21 local women have received $42,000 in scholarship money toward a college degree.
NCCWSL: for the past two years, we have sent 5 young women student leaders to a national leadership conference at Univ. of Maryland for $2,400.
Advocacy: last year several members lobbied our state legislators about the impact of legislation on the equitable treatment of women and men all over California.
From 2019-2021 we helped reconstruct a new Sacramento County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.

CALLING ALL MEMBERS TO A BRANCH MEETING TO BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS. March 16, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. over Zoom, we will discuss in small groups, 5 critical questions to help us find answers for the future of our branch.

Why do we belong to AAUW?
How do we ignite interest and motivation among members to continue our mission of empowering women and girls?
What inspires or prevents us from serving on branch board or a committee?
What inspires or prevents us from participating in meetings and programs?
Should we discontinue some of the outreach efforts described above?

Today, the Sacramento Branch of AAUW is in a crisis of leadership. We cannot find volunteers to step forward to lead some of these important outreach efforts. The Nominating Committee has searched for several weeks to fill necessary board positions; some critical positions remain unfilled.

FACTS: A branch must have an executive officer, a treasurer and a branch secretary to exist.

Over several weeks, the Nominating Committee has found two of the three required volunteers to serve for the next two years.
No local students will be attending STEM CAMP this summer from AAUW Sacramento. We have $17,000 in the account to send six girls. We don’t have a Tech Trek Director.
We are not participating in Lobby Week in April organized by AAUW CA because we do not have a Public Policy Director.

FACT: No outreach can occur, no money spent, no beneficiaries awarded without the structure of the branch.

The March 2022 branch meeting is an opportunity to brainstorm some solutions. Please attend! You will receive the Zoom link in an email prior to the March 16th meeting.

AAUW Sacramento: Take me to your leader!

Take me to your leader! By Hedda Smithson

Our governing body consists of elected and appointed positions (Membership Directory p. 8.) In April of 2020, Article X of our Bylaws, (Officers) was modified by defining the term of service (two years or until successors are found) and who is elected when.

Secretary and Finance Director are elected in even-numbered years while President-Elect, and the Directors of Membership, Program and Funds are elected in odd-numbered years. To help find candidates as needed, three branch members are elected to a Nominating Committee and two members are appointed by the President.

The nominating committee for the 2020-2021 membership year consisted of Molly Dugan, Donna Holmes and Liz Jordan (elected in April of 2020), plus Hedda Smithson and Linda Sparks, appointed by President Angela Scarlett. They met via Zoom and presented a slate that was announced and elected in April.

Newly elected and continuing officers are listed below. See if you can match the name with a description. For the answers (and all the scoop) , continue to Part 2.

Carole Cline, Secretary A. Testified before Board of Supervisors
Charmen Goehring, Funds Director B. Wanted to be an actress
Donna Holmes, Membership Co-Director C. Wrote the skit for the Anniversary Celebration
Liz Jordan, Finance Director D. Plays Scrabble virtually
Nancy Lawrence, Nominating Committee E. Worked as a newspaper copy editor
Marty McKnew, Membership Co-Director F. Attended AAUW meetings with her mom.
Cherril Peabody, Nominating Committee G. Her grandfather was a state senator
Kim Rutledge, Program Director H. Started an Oral History Project
Angela Scarlett, President I. Was a CA State officer
Linda Sparks, Nominating Committee J. Needed to talk to educated women

AAUW Sacramento is fortunate to have such talented and dedicated members who are willing to accept these very important leadership positions. We ask you to think about this question: “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” Think about it!! Our branch is your branch! How will you lead?

To meet our new and continuing leaders, click here.

Slate of Officers for 2021-2022 By Donna Holmes

Officer Slate for 2021-2022

The following slate of officers has been submitted by the 2021-2022 Nominating Committee (Molly Dugan, Donna Holmes, Elizabeth Jordan, Hedda Smithson & Linda Sparks):

President Elect Vacant
Membership-co # 1 Donna Holmes
Membership-co # 2 Marty McKnew
Secretary Carol Cline
Nominating Committee 1 Linda Sparks
Nominating Committee 2 Cherril Peabody
Nominating Committee 3 Nancy Lawrence

Continuing Officers:

President Angela Scarlett
Programs Kim Rutledge
AAUW Fund Director Charmen Goehring
Financial Director Elizabeth Jordan

Call for Candidates

Call for Candidates – 2021-2022 Board Needs YOU! By Liz Jordan

Without members willing to say yes, we can’t have a local branch of AAUW. We need you; in return, you grow in knowledge, skills and friendship by agreeing to serve on the board of directors.

The AAUW Sacramento Nominating Committee is looking for members to join the fun!

Serving on the board to keep your favorite gender equity organization going is a lot like your favorite interest group – you have fun; you learn new things; you make lots of new friends.

Secretary – One-year volunteer to complete a current two-year term. A good way to learn more about AAUW. An elected position.

Secretary’s most important job is note-taking during the monthly board meetings (plenty of help is offered and template exists for the secretary to use.)
Write up the minutes and correct as input suggests.
Word processing skills are important, but we aren’t looking for perfection – just help!!
To know what actions/decisions the Sacramento board is working on.
Updates website calendar monthly.

Membership Treasurer– position helps new members join and current members renew membership and donate. No term defined. Not elected

Works with the Membership Director to process new members and renewals.
Works with the Finance Director to deposit dues and donations and maintain a data base of donations made to local and national outreach and funds.
Creates, publishes and distributes the Branch Directory

Membership Director –Two-year term, elected position.

To try your hand at recruitment and maintenance of our membership.
You can bring a friend as co-director to help plan new-member events and attend monthly board meetings.

President-Elect – a one-year, elected term; shadows the President before taking on two-year term of President. This position helps the next President to learn the scope of the job.

Angela Scarlett, Molly Dugan and other Past Presidents have proven you can do this job while employed, too!
President leads board meetings, keeps an eye on state and national developments and actions.
Responds to members’ needs and questions.

Nominating Committee – two members needed

Calls members to serve in elected positions.
Meets infrequently November through February

We are an organization of volunteers. Please volunteer to keep our 101-year-old branch moving into the next 100 years.

Contact any of us: Molly Dugan, Elizabeth Jordan, Linda Sparks, Donna Holmes, or Hedda Smithson. Contact email addresses and phone numbers can be found in the Branch Directory.