Dear International Neighbors Members:
I hope you enjoyed an incredible Michigan summer with your friends and family!
As I enter my second year as IN President, I would like to thank each of you for helping me grow as your leader and collaborating on so many successful achievements. I would like to take a moment to especially recognize our Executive Board Members including new Executive Board Members Jooyeon and Thara, all Group Leaders, International Day Committee Members, and especially thank Departing Executive Board Members Rebecca D., Robyn K., and Maja R. for their hard work and contributions this past year (thank you!).
In terms of where we stand as an organization, we successfully established new reporting procedures and real-time tracking of Members, ended the most recent year with 545 Members from more than 80 countries around the world, successfully recruited 63 new Members and saw 14 Members achieve Neighbor status. We further hosted 9 all-Member events and closed FY23-24 with a balanced budget and positive cash balance heading into the Fall.
From a personal perspective, I absolutely loved the past year! I especially liked gaining new perspectives and visiting so many of our amazing Groups (and planning to visit even more this coming year). Entering the 2024-2025, my top 3 goals include:
Outreach, Outreach, Outreach: While membership is trending positive, we must continue to recruit new Members to have a sustained impact on the Southeast Michigan international community and achieve our Mission to: “extend friendship and assistance to women from other countries.” This includes challenging each of you to “bring a friend” to learn more about International Neighbors opportunities as well as identify complementary organizations, events, and venues for IN promotion. We also have new social media and website enhancements, brochures, tools, and event signage to help support community awareness and facilitate Member recruitment.
Celebrate International Neighbors Days: While our Groups continue to be the backbone of weekly IN fellowship, I want to build upon the incredible investment of the IN Day Committee to increase participation in our monthly all-Member meetings! As you can see from the attached flyer, they have put together a dynamic schedule of events for the coming year (including new events such as ‘Incredible India’ and ‘Cherry Blossom Festival’) and ask you to mark your calendars for these “can’t miss” get togethers.
Increase Fundraising to Realize our Mission: Our costs for communications, facility rentals, IN Days, Group support and funding positive Member experiences continue to go up each year. Please consider making a valued tax-free donation via the enclosed envelope or the International Neighbors website (www.INAnnArbor.org) as well as help us identify local development and grant opportunities.
Thank you again for your participation, support, and your recruitment for International Neighbors. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming International Neighbors Fall Open House on September 19th and in the meantime, please reach out should you have any questions and/or suggestions to make International Neighbors even better.
Sincerely yours,
Veronica Hannah
President, International Neighbors
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