69 posts

Civic Leadership

WASPs and The Junior League? It’s Not What You Think

As anyone familiar with The Junior League knows, it’s got its share of WASPs. But this past week, we applauded the long-awaited recognition of WASPs with a different sting. To coincide with Women’s History Month, the U.S. Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the approximately 300 living members of the original 1,100 Women Airport Service Pilots (WASPs), many of them members of The Junior League, who tested and transported military aircraft between U.S. airbases so that male pilots could conduct combat missions overseas in World War II.
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Help Wanted: 78,000 New Managers

Ever see that headline before? Maybe not. That’s because, compared to Corporate America, Nonprofit America gets a whole lot less attention from the business media. But, according to industry estimates, American nonprofits of all sizes will require 78,000 new senior managers in 2016, up from 56,000 in 2006 and up four-fold since 1996. In fact, according to the same source, 10-12% of the country’s nonprofit organizations are experiencing leadership transitions at any one time.

Maybe it’s time for women to step up to the plate.

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How One Woman Made a Difference

At The Junior League, we spend a lot of time thinking about the power of volunteer groups. But sometimes, it’s awe-inspiring to look at what one a single determined woman can do.

Take Lorri Unumb, a member of the Junior League of Columbia, SC. In 2005, as the mother of a 4-year-old boy in South Carolina recently diagnosed with severe autism, she took up the challenge to get her medical insurance company to cover the cost of treatments for her son, Ryan…

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The CRC @ 20

CRC. It’s not one of those acronyms that rolls off your tongue. But the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – which, 20 years ago this month, became the first legally binding international convention to affirm human rights for all children – really did make a difference.

Looking back on this landmark action, we also see the value in small steps made by volunteer advocacy groups like The Junior League in advance of big steps made by international bodies like United Nations, with the CRC, or governmental organizations. Because, as we see it, passionate volunteer groups – wherever they are – can set the stage for policy solutions to tough issues.

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Why Not a Volunteer Nation of One?

And why not you as that volunteer?

Sounds simple? It is.

Suddenly—and this is a good thing—“volunteerism” is hot. The Service Nation (http://www.servicenation.org) initiative brings together more than 200 non-profit organizations (including the Association of Junior Leagues International) to increase service opportunities and elevate service as a core ideal and problem-solving strategy in American society. There are a number of Obama Administration volunteer initiatives, including the Serve America Act and United We Serve (www.serve.gov). Even Hollywood is getting into the act with the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s launch of its iParticipate (http://www.iparticipateusa.org) campaign this month to encourage a new era of service through the entertainment industry.

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