A Message from the President of AAUW

Heather Abushanab

The new year is already upon us! AAUW Redlands branch had a very busy and exciting fall. The 2025 year promises to be just as busy and exciting. Now is a good time to get involved in one of our branch projects or to step up your branch involvement in whatever way makes sense for you. I’m happy to help you figure out how you can be of service to AAUW Redlands and our mission to advance equity for women and girls through education, empowerment and advocacy!

In December, the board completed our work on our strategic plan for 2024-2025.  The strategic plan is a list of goals to make our branch stronger and more impactful, along with some smaller steps and reporting feedback to guide us to meet those goals. Creating the strategic plan is a process that ideally happens every year, preferably in the summer, with the rest of the year used to implement the strategic plan. Like many things, our strategic plan was low priority during our Covid years, or more accurately the plan was reduced to just ensuring the branch survived! We did survive, but it has taken us a bit of time to regain the regular governance routines that help our branch move forward. I’m very excited (and a little intimidated!) by the big plans the board has undertaken with this updated plan.
The most important goals in the strategic plan address the future of the branch by ensuring excellent leadership, good communication, good record keeping, and continued development of the skills of our branch leaders.

The strategic plan charges the nominating committee to fill our three member-at-large board positions with branch members who have leadership potential but may lack experience in how AAUW operates. This one-year board position is an ideal way to gain experience on the board, learn about the policies and practices of the branch, and gain a broader understanding of where to make an impact for our branch. Our current members-at-large, Twillea Evans-Carthen, Lisa McCarty and Ellen Timothy, are using their member-at-large year to support board members in the areas of programs, hospitality and communication. They are already making meaningful contributions to the branch and can see many areas of the branch where their skills are needed. The nominating committee is also looking for a president-elect or co-presidents-elect to work closely with next year’s co-presidents. They will learn the role of president and share some of the work managing the branch and board. They will get to work with Amy Bisek and Kathryn Brown, two of the most dedicated and skilled AAUW leaders we have. We need a treasurer who can pay our bills and help us manage the branch budget. Quickbooks® or business experience is ideal, but anyone who manages their own finances at home can learn to do the job. Current treasurer, Sue Ferguson, will provide training and support. Our program VP, supported by her team, ensures the branch meetings run smoothly, handles communications with the UofR, and leads the committee that finds exciting and meaningful speakers. Eileen Sanborn can answer questions about this position. Hospitality is charged with making sure both our new and experienced members are satisfied with the branch. Joyce Katkov and Keller Iuppenlatz have made some meaningful changes to re-vamp this position and fresh ideas are always welcome. The communications VP oversees both internal and external branch communications, including the website and our newsletter. Keita Wangari has some key support in place for this position, so our new VP can step into her role easily. If you are approached by our nominating committee for a board position, please give their request some serious thought. Our branch is only strong because our members pitch in to make it so. You can learn more about the responsibilities of each board position by reading our policies and procedures manual found on the Redlands branch website.

The strategic plan includes developing ongoing tutorials to improve the board’s ability to use Teams®, read our financial reports, and save our important records in appropriate formats. About two years ago, the branch received a free, non-profit subscription to Microsoft 365®, which gives us access to all the Microsoft software, a domain for branch email addresses, cloud space to store our documents, and many tools to make collaboration among members easier. With this in place, an archives team was established to catalogue and store our past documents, while also establishing standards for retaining our records moving forward. Of course, learning to use these powerful tools has not been straight forward, nor necessarily easy, but all our board members are able to access the common documents that we use for board meetings and use the communications tool Teams® for chat functions and posting of information.

To learn about our additional goals and read the full text of the strategic plan, visit our Member Resources on the branch website.

Thank you for giving to AAUW Redlands Branch as part of Giving Tuesday! Your contributions of $350 helps us pay for the space and technology we rely on for our branch meetings, makes it possible for us to cover meals for our guests at the October membership meeting, and allows us to offer transportation and an honorarium to our speakers. Your board works hard to keep our budget in line and our membership fees reasonable. Thank you for helping us!

Happy New Year

Heather Abushanab
President, AAUW Redlands Branch