The International Women’s Club of Stuttgart had a wonderful and successful 2011. We worked hard towards our goals and continued to define who we are as a group and how we do things.
Our membership goals were to keep overall membership growth steady while increasing member participation. Overall membership numbers stayed steady throughout the year despite all the coming and going that is an normal part of an international club such as ours. This was possible thanks to member help in recruiting friends, our new Facebook fan page, and continued work with partner organizations such as Bosch and Forum der Kulturen to get the word out about IWCS membership. The gorgeous new club logo designed by Tonya Busch also didn’t hurt. As for increasing member participation, we created an active Facebook community of members always ready to help each other out with questions about living in Stuttgart.
Membership goals met.
Our charity goals were to raise and donate between €3,000 – 4,000 for Frauen helfen Frauen. We accomplished this thanks to a successful bake sale and revamped Annual Charity Event.
Charity goals met.
We continued to work towards our community and integration goals with another year of fantastic club meetings, dinners and activities.
At our club meetings, we had some great speakers who helped us learn more about ourselves and the community around us, such as the Stuttgart policeman and Jamie Mueller with her culture shock talk. For the first time in the history of the club, we also held evening meetings so we would be more accessible for those members who work during the day.
With the help of our many active members, our activities coordinators Pavla Hora and Irena Wilke planned and executed many successful social and cultural events for the club. We tasted wine, practiced our language skills, and enjoyed art and music together.
Mother’s Corner continued to reach out to area mums and bring their members closer together by introducing their new Facebook group as well as a monthly crafting session at the Eltern-Kind-Zentrum in Stuttgart.
2011 also saw the introduction of a couple new monthly focus groups such as the new monthly walking group and Mahjongg group.
In summary, members networked with one another and made new friends at our events, shared recommendations in our Facebook forum, and learned new skills and information at our club meetings.
Community and integration goals met.
And administratively our Steering Committee had set itself the goals to streamline club procedures and improve how we communicate with members. With the addition of our new accounting and membership software and some new newsletter and blogging tools we exceeded our expectations.
Administrative goals met.
None of these achievements would have been possible without all members of the 2011 Steering Committee working very hard at the jobs you elected them to do, not to mention the incredible help we received from the members who stepped in as we lost several of our committee members during the course of the year. It also wouldn’t have been possible without input and effort from the general membership, so please accept our thanks for your assistance and enthusiasm.
The IWC has been part of the Stuttgart international community for only six short years, but we’ve definitely made an impact on people. I’m very proud to be part of this group of such amazing and interesting women and your steering committee is looking forward to the honor of serving you for another year.
Your 2011 Chairperson,
Emily Born