Dear Berkshire BPW Members and Friends,
It’s been a busy summer, and I’m feeling the “go-go-go” that the end of the season brings. The start of the Fall is coming quickly, and we have lots of exciting things planned for BBPW. Our board has been working diligently to bring new opportunities and programming to our members, so you’ll see some slight changes as we roll out programs and meetings this Fall.
One change you may notice as you read through this newsletter is the day of our next membership event – Wednesday, September 28th. Although we typically meet on Mondays, we have found that selecting a different day of the week opens up our options to be able to host our events at the most suitable venues for our group. We are happy to support and showcase local restaurants and event venues as part of our programming!
Some of you may have noticed that we have not announced this year’s Women of Achievement Event. For the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted that event in both positive and negative ways. These events have been a great success thanks to the efforts of small groups of individuals working tirelessly to make them happen. After evaluating the options that would work best for our organization, we determined that this year’s shift of focus was in order.
As a board, we determined that it makes sense to focus our event planning efforts on providing high-quality programming and networking opportunities for our members as we return to in-person events. The WoA event has previously served as a fundraiser for our scholarship program. Still, we have observed that our fundraising efforts can be fruitful in other ways, so that we will appeal directly to our supporters through a fundraising drive later this year. I know we have many women in our membership and community who have expertise in this area, and we would love your input as we begin to put together a year-end fund drive to benefit the scholarship program.
As we ease into our routines this Fall, change can feel daunting. I am confident that we are making efforts to continue to steer our organization in a direction more aligned with our membership. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we must grow and evolve.
All this being said, I want to point out something that we’re not changing – our Membership dues. Membership dues were another topic of discussion in our board meetings, and we felt that, with the rising costs of just about everything lately, we wanted to keep our membership dues at the same $40 per year this year. Sometimes growing means knowing when some things should stay the same. 🙂
As always, I encourage you to contact me or any other board members with your questions, ideas, and input. Your creativity, feedback, and suggestions are invaluable to helping us progress as an organization.
All the best,
Hannah
