E-Blast Digest

November 1, 2024

Hello Soroptimist Int'l,

Please take the time to read this week's E-Blast so you can stay up-to-date on happenings around the Region and Federation.

NOTE: When you see at the bottom of this eblast "message clipped view entire message" click on it to see the complete eblast.

November

1 - Charter forfeiture if dues are not paid.

3 - TIME Change - Turn your clocks back 1-hour!

5 – Election Day – Don’t forget to VOTE!

11 - Veterans Day

15 - IRS/CA FTB taxes and CA AG RRF-1/CT-TR-1 forms due

15 - Last Day to receive Live Your Dream applications on the LYD Portal.

15 - Nominations for the Region’s Nominating Committee are due.

21 - Int'l Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women

28 - Happy Thanksgiving

29 - Family Day

30 - Shop Small Business Saturday

November Awareness Events

• NATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT MONTH
• NAT'L INSPIRATIONAL ROLE MODELS MONTH

Hello Sierra Nevada Region members, and friends!

Time to get into the holiday swing of things! Don’t forget to change those clocks this weekend as we Fall Back one hour! I can’t wait to decorate my home and start baking goodies for the holidays. So many Soroptimist events and meetings this holiday season are happening. Being that’s it’s November, it is the month of Gratitude. I want to take a moment and express my gratitude for our wonderful Sierra Nevada Region District Directors and Region Leadership Team. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! It was a crazy schedule of travels, content creation and great food with great friends. Our wonderful District Directors did a smashing job, planning, executing and working with each host club. Many thanks go out to the host clubs, our Federation Chairs, and all the Soroptimist members who helped make these meetings a success. We want to hear from you, the members who attended our Fall District meetings. We have put together a POST Meeting Survey to help us make our next round of meetings even better. If you attended one of our Fall District Meetings, please help us out by completing our survey.

You can also expect to see all the presentations and content information that was presented at our Fall Meetings on our Region YouTube Channel and Region webpage. It is our hope that attendees took home some valuable information from SIA and others that they can share with their club and fellow members. If you have missed anything, please reach out to your District Director, and we can get you the information that you need.

Time is also ticking for the Live Your Dream portal to take those online applications. The portal will close on November 15^th. Paper applications can be taken all the way until February 1^st. If you are having trouble getting applications, please reach out to Live Your Dream Coordinator Billie Arazia. If you have many applicants who you feel should be rewarded. Also let Coordinator Billie know as we do have some clubs who are having a hard time getting applicants. We are all about sharing applications to women and girls who need our help.

Other important deadlines to remember, this one is for club treasurers – please be sure to file your club’s Form 990 to the IRS. Check out Region Treasurer Evie’s reminder on this and why it’s important to submit it by November 15^th.

Looking forward to hearing all about the fundraisers and events in our Region this holiday season. Make sure to submit your flyer and information to the E-blast and share with all the clubs and members in our region. Just send to the email at the bottom of this E-blast at least 3 days prior to our publication dates of the 1^st and 15^th of each month. Till next time,

With gratitude,

Stacey Jensen

Sierra Nevada Region Governor 2024-2026

Taxes due November 15!

Hello club treasurers! As a reminder, state and federal taxes for clubs are due November 15. Clubs should file the appropriate 990 series form along with any associated forms to the IRS. For State taxes, California clubs need to file the appropriate 199 series as well as the RRF-1. If your club files using the e-postcard, you must also file the CT-TR-1. 

For more information, please refer to the treasurer workshop from Sierra Nevada Region's Soroptimist Development Retreat. You can watch a video of my presentation on the SNR YouTube channel.

Reminder! Clubs that do not file taxes for three consecutive years will lose their 501(c)(3) status and will no longer be able to operate as a non-profit. It has happened to other clubs - DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU!

Evie Wright

SNR Treasurer

snrtreasurer@soroptimistsnr.org

SOLT on your TURKEY

For your November SOLT Activity, a little creativity is in order. Make sure that you have added a sustained SOLT activity on your meeting agenda by creating a slot at the beginning or end of the meeting.

Soroptimist creates:

Transformational action to empower women and movement toward gender equality

Unique education awards for women who provide the primary financial support for their families.

Resources women and girls need to improve their education, skills and employment prospects.

Key signature programs: Dream it Be It, Live Your Dream that can change lives

Education and training opportunities women need to achieve economic empowerment.

Y we do it!!

• When Women Learn - families live healthier lives,
• When Girls Go to School - they are more likely to get paying jobs and their financial contributions to their families—and their nations—increase,
• When Girls Have Educated Moms - they are more likely to be enrolled in school and to reach higher levels of education,
• When Women are Educated - their countries are more likely to have greater economic growth

Sue Chambers

SOLT Coordinator

solt_evelynholland@soroptimistsnr.org

UpliftHER and You!

UpliftHER is a new member engagement initiative empowering women and girls. This exciting concept was first discussed at the 48^th Annual Convention in Dublin last July. SIA also provided me with a PowerPoint Presentation to be shared at our Fall District Meetings. If you weren’t able to attend, here is the link. Watch it so you’ll have “all the Deets!” (Details)

The Initiative is to help women and girls overcome a specific obstacle each quarter, as it pertains to them.

Here are the four times and focus areas:

October – Intimate Partner Violence

January - Trafficking

March – Single Parenting

May – Period Poverty

Watch the UpliftHER video to hear ideas for projects. SIA realizes that you may already have your hands full with existing projects in your community. However, is there some existing program or project that you are currently providing in your community that could be tweaked to fit this initiative? If you have a question about eligibility, you can contact me at Program@Soroptimistsnr.org or Jackie Schrauger at Program@Soroptimist.org.

Remember to share your projects with #SoroptimistsUpliftHER!                         

Tracey Edwards

Federation Program Chair

2024-2026

Big Goal Accelerator Projects

Now that you’ve had your club retreat and have planned out your year, let’s talk about Big Goal Accelerator Projects (BGAP). 

What are you already doing that could be considered a BGAP? Or have you started a new project? Remember, you must meet all of the criteria for your idea to be eligible:

• Work only with women and/or girls who are facing obstacles who are not already served by or counted under the Dream Programs (Live Your Dream Awards and Dream It, Be It)
• Provide access to education with the ultimate goal of economic empowerment
• Be a Soroptimist-led hands-on project
• Be reported to SIA through the official reporting link 

Maybe you can partner with another nonprofit in your community that is already working with this community. Do they have an unmet need that you can address? And, if you were helping an organization that deals with intimate partner violence, then you’re also meeting the October goal of UpLiftHER. As long as it is Soroptimist-led, you can submit it.

Here are the links to the BGAP Quick Guide and Project Club Toolkit.

Last year, 15 Clubs in our region submitted BGAPs; let’s increase that by 10% this month!

If you have any questions, please reach out to me at (916) 826-9325 or email me at Program@SoroptimistSNR.org.

Tracey Edwards

Federation Program Chair

2024-2026 

Video Series: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Presenting: Building an Inclusive Environment: D.E.I. & B. by Elaine Cassell, District 6 Director and Jenn Young, District 2 Director. Learn how to improve your club’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging through this interactive presentation.

●       Video Link

●       Presentation Link

Enjoy this video series with thanks to all our presenters. 

Danielle Kennedy, Public Awareness Chair 2024-2026

SNR Soroptimist Friends,

I hope this email finds you all doing well and preparing for a great new club year. Your SNR nominating committee for 2023-2025 will be giving you information in the coming months with details at the Fall District Meetings for the opening on the Nominating Committee. The committee and I are all very excited to help find members to serve on the next SNR Nominating Committee and we are look forward to working with you to make that happen.

Your SNR Nominating Committee for 2023-2025 are:

Coordinator Jackie DeMartini, S.I. Loomis Basin nomcommittee@SoroptimistSNR.org

District 1 Sheron Box, S.I. Bidwell Rancho nomdist1@SoroptimistSNR.org

District 2 Stephanie Madesh Bolter, S.I. Woodland nomdist2@SoroptimistSNR.org

District 3 Staci Bettis, S.I. Elk Grove nomdist3@SoroptimistSNR.org

District 4 Open – Contact Jackie DeMartini, S.I. Loomis Basin

District 5 Katelin Felicetti, S.I. Fallon nomdist5@SoroptimistSNR.org

District 6 Linda Fitzgibbons S.I. Pahrump nomdist6@SoroptimistSNR.org

We are all honored to serve the region in this capacity and encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or are interested in serving at the region level.

Please mark your calendars nominations are due November 15.

Jackie DeMartini

2023-2025 Nominating Committee Coordinator

November 15th Deadline: Live Your Dream Award online application system

The Live Your Dream Awards offers three levels of cash awards. Eligible applicants can submit their application through the online application system between August 15 - November 15. 

What if your club has not received any eligible applications from women in your community? 

• Contact your region chair or other clubs in your area to see if they have applications they can share. Clubs that have received several applications may share applications with other clubs that need applications. Clubs can submit a request to share applications by completing the Application Share Form. 
• Another option is to contact SIA Headquarters at lydawards@soroptimist.org – SIA Headquarters receives applications from women who do not live near a Soroptimist club and would be happy to share some with you! Request applications by submitting a Non-local Application Request form

Important Deadlines:

•  NOVEMBER 15: Application deadline for club-level awards
•  FEBRUARY 15: Region–level judging deadline 
•  MARCH 15: Federation–level judging deadline
•  MARCH (or earlier!) Honor your club recipient by holding and publicizing an awards event

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I’m here for you!

Cheers!

Billie Araiza

Live Your Dream Awards

Sierra Nevada Region Coordinator

2024-2026 Biennium

liveyourdream@soroptimistsnr.org 

CONGRATULATIONS to all clubs celebrating a Charter anniversary during the month of November!



Nov 5^th - SI Truckee Donner 1971 (53 years)

Nov 14^th - SI Woodland 1946 (78 years)

Nov 15^th – SI South Yuba 2019 (5 years)

Nov 15^th – SI Trinity County 1975 (49 years)

Nov 15^th - SI Elko 1949 (75 years)

Nov 26^th – SI Lincoln 2002 (33 years)

Nov 30^th – SI Roseville 1954 (70 years)

Hopefully I did not miss anyone.

Governor Stacey

SI American River

• It's Bling Time flyer (11/6)

SI Bidwell Rancho

• Sticker flyer
• License Plate Frame flyer

SI Colfax

• Bunco flyer (11/21)

SI Elk Grove

• Avon flyer

SI Grass Valley

• Zero Waste Club Kit flyer

SI Greater Davis

• Wreath sales (11/1-12/15)

SI Greater Sacramento

• E-waste flyer

SI Lincoln

• Olive Oil flyer
• E-Waste flyer

SI Loomis Basin

• Olive Oil flyer

SI Pahrump Valley

• Christmas for Seniors flyer (10/11-12/11)

SI Rancho Cordova/GR

• Print cartridge recycling flyer
• e-waste recycling flyer
• Tru-Earth Eco-products flyer

SI Roseville

• Fun, Fashion & Firs flyer (11/16)

SI So. Lake Tahoe

• Demin & Diamonds flyer (11/1)

SI South Sacramento

• "Show You're a Soroptimist" flyer
• Paint & Sip fundraiser flyer (11/30)