New Zonta Clubs

The Zonta International community extends a warm welcome to four new Zonta clubs - Zonta Club of Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia, Zonta Club of Wiesbaden-Rheingau, Germany, Zonta Club of Engiadina, Switzerland and the Zonta Club of Bodensee-Allgaeu, Germany!

Legislative Awareness and Advocacy

Aloha Ladies –

Legislative Awareness & Advocacy is an important segment of who (Zonta) we are.  LAA is one of the major 3 standing committees in each Zonta Club, which demonstrates its importance.  At the local level, Zonta can influence and effect change by taking an active part in bills in our legislature that impact women in our community.  This can be a daunting undertaking for our clubs that participate in scholarships, community service and events on each of our islands.  But, it can be done.

 

Will you consider, working as a group in Area 7 to select several bills that will be presented to the legislature in January?  If each club took responsibility for one piece of legislation, tracking and sharing justifications who Zonta should or should not support that bill and shared that information with the other clubs, then we can get a lot done with limited woman-power.  These are examples only of how we can do this:

1.      Club volunteers to be responsible for one bill

2.      Club selects bill – tracks amendments, amendments, hearings.

3.      Keeps other clubs informed of progress by email

4.      Drafts sample letters of support for a) individuals and 2) clubs

5.      All clubs take legislation to membership for vote to support or object

6.      Club sends letters (testimony) by email to legislature.

7.      (Optional) If clubs wish, we can also send testimony as an Area.

 

 

If you are interested in this joint undertaking, will you please let me know by August 15, 2011?l zontahonolulu@gmail.com

Committees In Zonta

It is that time again where we should committ to a committee

MANDATORY (STANDING) COMMITTEES

The Zonta International Bylaws require clubs to establish the following committees:

•     Status of Women Service Committee

•     Organization, Membership and Classification Committee

•     Public Relations and Communications Committee

•     United Nations Committee

•     Finance Committee

•           Nominating Committee,

July Meeting information

Aloha, Ladies,

Just want to give you advance notice of our upcoming meeting next week Wednesday, the 27th.  Our speaker will be Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland.  She will share information on the human trafficking bill.  We will also have a presentation of $5,000 as a grant from a client of one of our members, Mei Au.  The funds are to be used by our Foundation.

Hope to see you all there

Words from the International President

The blog today focuses on words from our International President. I would like us to reflect on them as we go forward to put our strategic plan together this year. I really hope to see you all at our next meeting.

Linda Weiland

Zonta Club of Honolulu President

During one of my many visits to Headquarters, I took the opportunity to look at the volumes of past Board minutes.  Each biennium, the Board has addressed the concern of declining membership.  Today, membership is still the most important issue for our organization.  You, the members, have asked for full transparency from the International Board, but are you prepared for the truth? 

This biennium, we set a goal to achieve a net increase in members and asked each club to recruit just one new member.  However, our membership has continued to decline.  In the first year of 2010-2012 Biennium, we have lost 1,183 members which accounts for approximately one member per club. As of 31 May, Zonta International now has 30,171 members.  Please take a look at the membership graph below to see what continued losses in membership mean for Zonta in the coming years.  We must take action now to reverse the trend and revitalize our organization if we wish to continue to make a difference in the lives of women in our communities and around the world.  

The Zonta experience starts within your clubs.  Members' involvement is based on their club experiences and is not in the control of the International Board or Headquarters staff.  To attract and retain members, we need a strong, healthy club environment.  I use the word healthy because like you and your yearly check-up with your doctor, our clubs also need yearly check-ups.  Think about your own club and see if you recognize some of the following symptoms of an unhealthy club:

• Has your club lost focus of Zonta's mission and is attempting to do too many things?
• Is your club locked in tradition and unwilling to change?
• Is your club unaccommodating to the needs, wants and preferences of busy, younger members?
• Has your club forgotten that our members are volunteers?
• Are your club's meetings routine and too lengthy?
• Are you reluctant to invite a potential member to your club because of all the internal fighting?

Successful nonprofit organizations will be those that have the capacity to change in response to the changing environment.  It requires every member at every level of Zonta to take bold steps to address the membership issue.  The Zonta International and Zonta International Foundation Boards address "risk management" at every Board meeting, led by President-Elect Lynn McKenzie.  We have only scratched the surface of risk management, but it is apparent that our biggest risk is membership decline.  Sometimes we have to take risks to manage risks.  I am prepared to dedicate one full day of our October Board meeting to membership.  Are you prepared on the club level to join the International Board and dedicate one meeting to membership?

If you, as individual Zontians, are passionate about Zonta, then you will not hesitate to invite your friends, family and colleagues to join Zonta too.  We must share our passion with new members and support and encourage the next generation of Zontians if we want to see Zonta continue to advance the status of women worldwide well into the future.  Women everywhere are depending on us...imagine what we could accomplish if each of us successfully recruited just one new member!  I hope each and every Zontian will rise to the challenge and help stop our membership decline now.  It is only with 100% member participation that we will be successful in revitalizing our membership and reaching our organizational goals.

Warm regards,

Dianne K. Curtis
Zonta International President
Zonta International Foundation President