District I Directors Report submitted by Leigh Hedgpeth

1. South Central Region
District I Directors Report – April 2020
Membership
District I currently has 10 active clubs. SI Lawrence is working with the District Director and exploring
the use of a mixed in person and virtual meeting format in an effort to maintain and grow their
membership. District I had a gain of 6 members and a loss of 13 for a net loss of 7 member. District I
currently has 249 active members.
Clubs were asked if they were interested in virtual meetings and 6 clubs said they were with 1 club
undecided and 3 clubs not interested in virtual meetings.
Clubs are doing more exit surveys with older members leaving due to health and relocation. But some
are stating burnout or loss of interest. They no longer feel engaged in the club. While new members
state family and job commitments or lack of time., they too are saying lack of engagement with the club.
Club strength are the diversity and commitment of club members. All clubs have strong fundraisers.
Most clubs feel they are in good shape financially.
Federation and Region
All 10 District I club participated in Live Your Dream, a total of 18 awards were distributed ranging from
$500 to $4000. District I club gave a total of $14,250 in Live Your Dream Awards.
7 District I club presented or planned to present a Dream It Be It Program. With the Covid-19 outbreak
some of these events had to be cancelled.
6 out of 10 clubs expected to send representatives to the 2020 conference in Belleville, WA before the
Covid-19 outbreak. Some club representatives have since decided not to attend.
All District I clubs sent representatives to the Region Conference last year 9 clubs had representatives
scheduled to attend the Fall meeting, however one clubs representative was unable to attend due to
illness, bringing the number of clubs in attendance to 8.
9 clubs contributed to Founders Pennies and 8 clubs contributed to Club Giving,
Club participation in the Norma Caldwell Communicate and Grow Award was only 6 clubs. Most clubs
sighted the use of other social media for information distribution rather than a club newsletter. All clubs
have a Facebook page and 7 clubs have an active website.
Club participation in the Lucy Keller Dreams In Action is only 50%. Clubs do not feel they have a worthy
service program or will not take the time to submit a project for judging. At this point 7 clubs have
participated in the Soroptimist Celebrating Success Program.
Clubs were asked their opinion on the location of the Fall meeting and if we should use the same
location for two years. 8 of 10 clubs like a central location, while 2 clubs would like to see the meeting
moved to different locations similar to the Region Conference.

2. Other comments
Several clubs mentioned that they thought it was time for us to embrace technology more. One club
even suggested quarterly virtual meetings or chats with the membership. Q & A sessions where they
could ask questions and get help from other Soroptimist members.
Clubs would like to see more interaction between clubs . More sharing of ideas. Attendance at Region
Conference or a Fall meeting seems to help us retain members as they get to see the bigger picture.