Zonta International District 12

ZONTA INTERNATIONAL -- DISTRICT 12 CLUB ANNUAL REPORT Reporting Period: June 1, 2012—May 20, 2013

Please email to Governor Sheila Davis ([email protected]) by May 20, 2013 with a copy to your Area Director. Area 1 Director: Reneé Coppock ([email protected] ) Area 2 Director: Deedee Boysen ([email protected] ) Area 3 Director: Debbie Squires ([email protected] ) Area 4 Director: Janet Bergin ([email protected] )

Club Administration 2012-2013: Zonta Club of Boulder Foothills Today’s Date: 05/12/2013

Area: 3

President: Michelle A. Médal (will serve a 2nd year in 2013-2014) President-Elect (if appropriate): Michelle Médal

Vice President: Chris Rhoda (will be President in 2014-2015) Secretary: Chris Rhoda Treasurer: Annette Canfield

Fundraising:

Please list the major fundraiser(s) your Club held during 2011-2012. (Feel free to add additional fund-raisers.)

1. Zing for Zonta-an afternoon of live A Capella music with Silent Auction 2. King Soopers Cards-a portion of purchases donated to Zonta Foothills Club 3. IGive-a portion of purchases donated to Zonta Foothills Club

Total Funds Raised this year: $13,690

Dollars Given Locally: Please list the contribution amounts given by your club during 2012-2013. Local Service Organizations: $8,523.00

Local Scholarships: $500 to YWPA

Subtotal Local: $9,023.00 ,

Zonta International Foundation (ZIF) Dollars Given: Please list the total club & individual contributions given to the Zonta International Foundation during 2012-2013. (Tommie Atanasoff at [email protected] can provide this information to you)

Subtotal ZIF: $4,667 (a little more than a third of what we raised last year was given to ZI projects)

Grand Total (Local + ZIF): $13,690

Scholarship Information:  YWPA-Young Women in Public Affairs Awards Did your club participate in the YWPA program? Yes No Please list the name of the candidate(s) forwarded by your club to the district for this award. America Juarez was the winner for both our club and the other Boulder club. Together, we awarded her a $1,300 scholarship. She was selected as the District 12 winner, and her application has been sent onward to the International level. We are so excited that we have a YWPA scholarship recipient this year!

 Jane M. Klausman Women-in-Business Scholarships (JMK) Did your club participate in the Jane M Klausman program? Yes No

Please list the name of the candidate(s) forwarded by your club to the district for this award.

Please describe any steps your club has in place to contact past YWPA and JMK recipients and to encourage them to join Zonta: None that I am aware of. We have not awarded the YWPA award in several years. This year was a first in a long time.

 Amelia Earhart Fellowships Did your club celebrate Amelia Earhart Day? Yes No If so, please describe how your club celebrated this year. Many of our members attended the Amelia Earhart Luncheon that was hosted by the Golden Zonta Club. This annual event is a fundraiser for the AE scholarship.

 Local Scholarships awarded by your club Name(s) & description(s) of scholarship(s): This is something that will happen in the future as part of our Zonta EducateZ project. We have about $15,000 in a bank account that we are hoping to grow to $25,000 so we can provided an endowed scholarship to a young woman in the coming years. We are therefore planning for a signature club scholarship in the future. Membership: Please describe your club’s recruitment and retention efforts for 2012-2013 in order to meet the net +1 goal as of June 1, 2013. We continue to encourage members to bring their friends and potential members to our lunch meetings. We also invite guests to all of our events, and hold “Zappy Hours” which are social events that include an overview of Zonta while sharing drinks and food. If your club currently has fewer than 20 members, what plans do you have in place to increase membership in 2013- 2014? NA Does your club have a new member orientation program? Yes No If yes, how many sessions did you hold this year? At least one. We also have a mentoring program where we match a new member with a current member to help them learn more about other members and the activities of the club.

The information below will be used to determine the District Service Award to be given out at the 2013 District Conference October 4-6 in Cañon City, CO.

Local Service: (Hands on work to help women & girls in the local community) Please name and briefly describe your local service projects including for each item: (a) category: improved the status of women in general (legal, political, economic, educational, health and/or professional) or helped prevent and fight violence against women and girls (VAW) (b) % of club members involved in the project (c) benefit the project has given to women and/or girls in the local community & number of women & girls benefited (d) visibility and credibility to Zonta created by the project (e) sustainability of the project (long lasting results, and could the project continue for a certain period of time) 1. Zonta EducateZ is our MAJOR service project, and serves as an “umbrella” for all of the work that we do over the year. Therefore, I will focus on the details of this project. The focus of this project is education and empowerment for at-risk girls. Most notably, we started a Z Club at Boulder High School, and the 15 girls that are members have helped up with several service projects, and even assisted in running our annual fundraiser. Several members meet with the girls at least once a month to help them plan the activities they want to participate in. We held an induction ceremony for the new Z Club members, and recently, we hosted a party for the girls that are graduating. We gave each graduate a used laptop that they can use at college. We collected these laptops from our club members. This project improves the status of women in every way. Many of the women we are working with are from poor families with low levels of English proficiency and several are undocumented. At least half of our members show up to activities we do with the Z Club girls, but all of our members provide important support to the EducateZ mission. This project has benefitted at least 15 girls. This project has really enabled us to get more press as our support for these young women has been showcased in The Daily Camera newspaper several times. Many of the young women we are working with are in the spotlight: as rising soccer stars, or because they are involved in the fight for in-state tuition legislation. We plan to continue the Z Club, and already have next year’s officers elected. We hope to continue the Z Club and develop more ways to involve these young women in the work we do. We also have plans for a Golden Z Club, since many of our charter club members are graduating, but want to maintain connections with the members of our club. We also have plans to start a “literacy tutoring” program with the mothers of the Z Club members which we hope to start this summer. 2. We collected over 1,000 books which we donated to several local literacy programs. We also set up two lending libraries recently. The Z Club girls plan to oversee the libraries and make sure they are constantly stocked with books. th 3. A group of members volunteered at the AAUW event Expanding Your Horizons, which brings together middle school girls from all over the Denver Metro area to the CU Boulder campus to learn about careers in the STEM fields. This has been an project that we volunteer for on an ongoing basis. 4. We gave a grant of $3,000 to the Boulder Valley Teen Parenting program again this year, and we recently hosted a graduation ceremony for the young women there. We gave each graduate a bag of books to take home so they can read to their children.

(Feel free to add additional projects)

The information below will be used to determine the District Advocacy Award to be given out at the 2013 District Conference October 4-6 in Cañon City, CO.

Advocacy: (The expression of support for or opposition to a cause, argument or proposal. Advocacy may include influencing laws, legislation, or attitudes. Zonta advocacy is an action taken in "the public interest" or for "the greater good" with respect to advancing the status of women and girls and their human rights.) Does your club have an advocacy committee? Yes No Please name and describe your advocacy projects, including for each item: (a) category: improved the status of women in general (legal, political, economic, educational, health and/or professional) or helped prevent and fight violence against women and girls (VAW) (b) how closely the project coincided with the Advocacy definition above (c) did the project reflect one of the District 12 Platform for Advocacy issues which are:  Achieving pay equity  Supporting measures to oppose gender based violence such as trafficking, rape & domestic violence  Ensuring equal rights under the law (d) % of club members involved in the project (e) names of any community partners (f) visibility and credibility to Zonta created by the project

1. Throughout the year: tracked and sent letters to US Senators and Representatives from Colorado urging their support for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and other State issues regarding Health Care for Women and Children 10% VAWA affects women nationally, total number of reported abuse estimated to be over 250,000 per year 2. In October 2012, we participated in the International Day of the Girl, by showing several related videos at our October business meeting, which happened to fall on the exact date chosen by the UN. After sharing this information with the members, the same video was shown the young women in the Z Club at Boulder High, followed by a conversation about what it means to be able to attend school and earn an education as a young woman. That evening, several members attended a Day of The Girl event hosted by the Boulder Professional Women non-profit, where we shared with other attendees the work that Zonta, and our club specifically, do to advocate for women worldwide. This was a great way to raise awareness in the public of the issues women face in regards to accessing education, and how education can forcefully change the future for a woman. 100% club participation This project supported equal rights for women. We partnered with the Boulder Professional Women group, and we were visible to all the other local non-profits that attended the evening event.

3. In October 2013, our club participated in the United Nations Association’s birthday party on UN Day.

4. On April 14th, 2013, we participated in the local MESA (Movement to End Sexual Assault) annual fundraiser, the Canine Classic, a 5k walk run. 35% club participation with a team of about 10. Funds are locally administered, providing sexual assault education and prevention programs, and safe haven environments. This helped our club raise money for an organization whose mission is to end violence against women. All team members wore orange “Zonta Says No!” ribbons on their Zonta sparkly shirts. MESA is a group that we plan to partner with in the future, and we will have a team and an information booth at next year’s event. The Executive Director of MESA became a new member of our club this year, so we have the perfect conditions in place for making this a continuing and powerful partnership.

Zonta Says No: Have plans been made for November 25, 2013 to support this campaign? Yes No If yes, please describe. Member Lauren McCutchen is heading up the committee that is making plans for an event on the evening of November 25th. Member Kristine Rose is assisting her with this planning process. Michelle Médal is also on the planning committee. Our club has been asked to “Save the Date” and get artists who might want to participate involved. It is expected to be an art show at a gallery in Denver. The plans also include employing the “empty shoes” campaign that was used by an Italian Zonta club to symbolize the many missing women who have been victims of domestic violence. Does your club have plans to take part in the 16 Days of Activism beginning November 25, 2013 Yes No If yes, please describe. The event on November 25th will serve as a starting point for the activities we plan to hold over the following 16 days.

Zonta's Work with the United Nations: Please describe how your club informed its membership of Zonta's work with the UN through its International Service Projects and ZISVAW Projects. Our club has worked closely with the United Nations Association of Boulder this year. In the past, we have been responsible for providing a cake for their UN birthday party, but this year we went a few steps further. President Michelle Médal was asked to introduce the key note speaker for the day’s event, who is a human rights lawyer who has worked extensively with women in the Middle East. Michelle talked about the long relationship that Zonta and the UN have, and how we have both supported women for many years. The Foothills club had a table with literature about Zonta and also sold fair trade “Shopping for Good” items. This is one small way we raise funds for our club. Many different non-profits for represented at this catered event and the public was invited to attend. Attendance was small, but we hope to improve visibility of the event in the future by holding it somewhere more pubic; such as the CU Boulder campus or Pearl Street Mall.

External Communications/Public Relations: Please check box for the PR tools your club uses:

Brochure Newsletter Club or Individual Business Cards Website Facebook Other (describe) Is your club name &/or logo visible in your community? Yes No If yes, please describe. At every fundraising event, we have brochures, posters and information boards as well as contact information. We also have members available to answer questions. We have a new “pull up” club banner we display at events. Our EducateZ project has established lending libraries at schools and Community Centers that are labeled as Zonta Foothills libraries and each book has a book plate identifying the club as the donor. Our running team for the Moving to End Sexual Abuse fundraiser wore Zonta T-shirts.

We made a big effort this year to get articles in our local paper and had 10 items which were published including awards and honors received by the club and its members and awards given by the club. We were selected for the “Nonprofit Spotlight” article one week. Our Z Club was the subject of a big article with photos that the school submitted. This was the first year we put ads in the local paper for our Zing for Zonta fundraiser. We post our activities on at least twenty local website calendars and keep our website and Face book updated. We host 2 membership drives per year and advertise both by email and website.

We have been working really hard to get our name in print as much as possible. Working with the Z club girls at Boulder High has made this easier. When you have a special project that truly impacts the lives of local women, it makes the press take notice. We have been featured in the local newspaper The Daily Camera more often this year than ever before.

Internal Communications (e.g., newsletter, directory, website): Please describe how your club kept its membership informed & connected this year. We use Airset to provide contact information to all of our members. In addition, Airset has a calendar that we update as much as possible that sends alerts to our members when there is a meeting or event coming up. Our website has been updated to include information about all the work we have been doing, and tells the public when our monthly business meetings are held, and who to call if they would like to attend one of these meetings.

Each month we produce a newsletter called the “Flash” and it highlights the many projects we are working on, as well as upcoming opportunities. The newsletter includes many photographs of our members doing “Zonta” stuff and it is a great record of what we have done. The Flash is always sent out to the membership prior to the monthly business meeting so everyone can be informed and prepared for next steps at the meeting.

Nominating: Please describe the process used by the nominating committee to prepare a slate of officers & committee chairs. Our nominating committee consists of the past-president, president, and president-elect. The nominating committee invited members to sign up for the offices and committees that they preferred to be on. In most cases, members are given their first choices. To fill the officer positions, it is sometimes necessary for the nominating committee to reach out to members and encourage them to serve in such a capacity. The nominating committee met to discuss committee assignments and potential concerns, and once they were satisfied with each members’ roles, the slate of officers and chairs were shared with the full membership via email. This year, there was so much interest in being a Member-At-Large and serving on the board, that the president decided to have four people hold this position. The slate of officers was voted on at the April business meeting, and the new officers were installed at the May meeting.

ZIF Ambassador: Does your club have a foundation ambassador? Yes No How has your club encouraged individual donations this year? Please describe. Tommie Atasanoff hosted a party at her house where we had wine and food, learned about ZI projects and were encouraged to make a donation. I believe all members of our club donated to ZI. We plan to do this again the fall with a film night (showing a relevant women’s film) and invite members and friends/potential members to attend.

Z-Club or Golden Z-Club: Does your club have a Z or Golden Z Club? Yes No If yes, please describe key events held during the year. Please see explanations about Z Club elsewhere in this report.

Archiving & History: Does your club have an archivist/historian? Yes No

We have determined that the club historian post will be held by the past-president. This person already serves as a liaison between the club and foundation boards, and therefor has a great deal of access into all activities of the club.

Please describe your club's progress to date in: (a) finding & listing your club archives. We have been uploading all of our newsletters, business meeting minutes, and other important club documents to our Airset website. This site allows us to save these documents indefinitely, while also providing access to any members who cares to login and view these documents. (b) arranging for safe storage of materials. Saving everything electronically online is a very safe, cost-effective, and space saving method for archiving. In addition to the documents that are stored online, the most important documents are saved to a zip drive that is passed on from one president to the next. This makes accessing information that is used each year very easy. Anything that cannot be saved electronically is stored in a plastic filing box, which currently resides with the current president. (c) using club archival materials to begin writing a 'history in brief' (due to district historian April 2014). I do not think that this project has begun, but it should be relatively easy to put this history together using the documents and photos that are stores online. We are prepared for this project, as most of these materials have been posted online for the past several years.

Bylaws: Does your club have a bylaws committee? Yes No Are your bylaws up to date? Yes No Our club bylaws were updated by President Michelle Médal, with input from club board members, and were unanimously approved at the May business meeting. These bylaws had not been updated since 2008, so we are very happy to say that they are in now in better alignment with the Zonta Membership Manual, and clarify some issues that are specific to the way our club operates.

Other Committees: Zonta EducateZ

This committee works on developing activities for our new signature project: Zonta EducateZ. Started this year, Zonta EducateZ grew out of work we have done with the Teen Parenting program over the last several years. This project focuses on helping at-risk young women reach their full potential. The biggest success of this “umbrella” project in the last year was the establishment of a chartered Z Club at Boulder High. An induction ceremony for the 15 members of this new club was held in March. Currently, the group consists of Latina women, many of whom will be the first in their family to attend college. Some of these young women are undocumented and come from poor families. Since December, our club has invited the members of this club to work side-by-side with us on several service projects, including delivering fruit baskets with Care Connect (one of our recent past partners), volunteering at Share-A-Gift during the holidays, creating Valentine’s Day cards on the National Day of Service to be given to elderly and shut-ins in the community, and more. The Z Club girls even helped out with our annual fundraiser “Zing for Zonta,” where they got a taste of what it means to hold a big event and try to raise money for a good cause.

The Zonta EducateZ committee is responsible for brainstorming where we will focus our attentions next. We have completed several book drives that have allowed us to give the books to graduates of the Teen Parenting program and their children, and we have also set up two lending libraries in town at Sister Carmen’s and Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA); both of which serve low-income families.

Future plans include setting up a literacy tutoring program for the mothers and friends of the Z Club girls, many of whom have very low levels of English proficiency. We hope that the girls will assist us in the process of building trust with our prospective students and serve as translators for our many members who speak only a few words of Spanish!

This committee has really become the “nucleus” of all the work that our club has done in the past year, and acts as the steering committee for the work we want to be doing in the coming year. All the other committees work closely with the ZE committee to help carry out the mission of connecting girls and women with greater educational opportunity and service experiences. We look forward to doing more great work in the coming years.