You can now reach this planning page easily from the front page of the LifeRing website! Use the drop down for “Connect with LifeRing” and select “Planning”, or click on the year of planning icon in the right column.
Please join the LifeRing Planning Group at yahoo.com. This group is “planning central” and the best place to post ideas and insights about LifeRing’s future.
COMING UP
Monday October 10: 5 PM Pacific
Topic: Brainstorming volunteer support: What tasks at can volunteers accomplish for LifeRing’s headquarters operations?
Monday October 10: 8 PM Pacific
Topic: Brainstorming volunteer support: What tasks at can volunteers accomplish for LifeRing’s headquarters operations?
Tuesday October 11: 6 AM Pacific on Skype and Phone
Topic: Brainstorming volunteer support: What tasks at can volunteers accomplish for LifeRing’s headquarters operations?
Wednesday October 12: 6 AM Pacific on Skype and Phone
Topic: LifeRing Outreach: New Meetings, New Convenors
Wednesday October 12: 7 AM Pacific on Skype and Phone
Topic: Relational Database Development
NOTES FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS OF PLANNING
We’ll be holding our regular meetings next week, October 17, 18 and 19. However no planning meetings will occur October 24, 25, 26, and 31 as Lynn will be in San Antonio, Texas for a week. We’ll resume planning meetings on November 1.
We have a new regular meeting beginning Wednesday, 6 AM Pacific on Skype, to establish more structured processes and responsibilities for encouraging the creation of new meetings and the training of new convenors. Please attend if this is an interest for you. The meeting will occur every Wednesday morning at this time.
THIS WEEK
LifeRing’s year-long planning process will continue Monday with meetings in the LifeRing chat room at 5 PM and 8 PM Pacific. On Tuesday morning we’ll hold a meeting in skype at 6 AM Pacific.
This month we’re talking about volunteering. And this week we’ll be asking “What tasks at can volunteers accomplish for LifeRing’s headquarters operations?”
We used this form to organize our brainstorming, and here’s the combined work in progress: Possible LifeRing Volunteer Positions
Please email me your additions to this list. If you would like a Word document to work from, please email me requesting that format, and enter changes in a different color so that I may add them to the list. LynnCullens@gmail.com
The list refers to an Institutional Audiences List, which can be found here:
Institutional Audiences
Here is a starting point for this week’s goals and objectives discussion:
Volunteer Goals and Objectives Draft
Please also read:
Motivating Volunteers
There are a vast array of possibilities for bringing in volunteers to work toward LifeRing’s mission. See these two New York Times Articles: Flood of Volunteers and Can Volunteers Be a Lifeline for Nonprofit Groups?.
PAST PLANNING MATERIALS
FUNDING
Please review the materials we’ve posted for fundraising! Especially, read the article Ten Nonprofit Funding Models
Please continue to consider the worksheet at: Income by Category Worksheet WORD
For those who cannot open the word document, here is the worksheet pdf: Income by Category Worksheet PDF
Please join us! This month we’ll be focusing on Funding our Operations and Programs.
List of Fundraising Actions We Can Take Now
ARTICLE: Ten Nonprofit Funding Models
ARTICLE: Develop Your Fundraising Plan with Consensus
ARTICLE: Know Your Organization
ARTICLE: Fundraising Readiness
ARTICLE: How to Develop a Fundraising Plan
ARTICLE: Basics in Developing Your Fundraising Plan
HUGE LIST OF FUNDRAISING LINKS
OPERATIONS
SECOND DRAFT Alternatives for International Organizational Structure
Background Reading on Nonprofit International Structure
NEW: OVERVIEW OF NONPROFIT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES Note specifically: Pages 55 & 56.
NEW: Non-Governmental Organization Governance Handbook
NEW: What is a Non-Governmental Organization? Willetts, UNESCO “Different Types of Structures Among NGOs”
LIFERING’S FOUNDATIONS
In July we focused on Foundations: LifeRing’s core and supporting values and the organization’s beliefs.
We also worked on developing a vision statement for the organization. We still need members to respond by email to the following questions (Many thanks to those of you who have already done so!):
PART A
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1. Tell us about a peak experience you’ve had in LifeRing.
2. Tell us about a time when you found yourself describing LifeRing as a great way to live sober.
3. What do you value most about LifeRing?
4. What are the core factors that make LifeRing what it is today?
5. What does LifeRing community do best for themselves with respect to providing support?
6. If you could transform LifeRing in any way you wished, what two or three things would you change, add, or improve?
7. If you left and returned in 20 years and found
8. LifeRing to be one of the primary choices for recovery, what would see?
PART B:
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1. Who will be included in LifeRing? Who does the organization serve? What kinds of people are these? What do they share in common? How do they differ?
2. What does LifeRing provide to these people?
3. What individual goals does the organization support?
4. What organizational goals do we pursue?
5. What community or societal goals does the organization contribute to?
6. When should LifeRing’s services and support be available?
7. Where should LifeRing’s services and support be available?
8. Why does LifeRing exist?
9. Why is LifeRing necessary?
10. How will LifeRing communicate and relate to its members and potential members?
PART C
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Describe any features of LifeRing today that, if they were changed or removed, would cause you to leave the organization.
Please download the Visioning Questions, and email your responses to Lynn@LifeRingSacramento.com
Also, don’t forget to review the updated draft document on Foundations, our early draft of a Vision Statement, as well as the draft welcome brochure, all posted as pdfs:
We’ll continue to discuss the content of these foundational documents throughout the year.
Thanks for participating!
How to Participate
Your ideas and insights will be invaluable to the planning process. But don’t worry if you miss a meeting… we’ll be posting summaries of audio meetings and transcripts of text meetings, and taking comments throughout the year. Please check this page frequently to read the planning framework and for updates, and join the LifeRing Planning Group on yahoo.
You can connect on skype via your computer, or very simply by telephone. We’ve set up a skype name for LifeRing activities: LifeRingUSA. Or simply dial our dedicated skype telephone number: 510-550-5356. International callers may dial +1-510-550-5356. By phoning in, you will be connected via audio with all of the other participants, regardless whether they have connected via skype or by phone. If you receive a voice mail message when you dial the skype number, please dial the Planning Coordinator immediately at 916-606-1610 so that we can arrange to bring you in to the call another way.
But there is some real value for using the skype program from your computer. We’ll be using the conferencing features of skype for many planning activities, and these include chat and sharing links and other web-based resources. You can join skype and participate on your phone for audio, and follow the chat and links on your computer if you like.
If you’ve not yet set up skype, please consider doing so. http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/ You’ll get more out of your skype experience if you can follow the skype chat window as well as the voice input. You may wish to purchase a headset with a microphone so that voice is fully integrated with your computer.
If you have questions or need help, please contact Lynn at 916-606-1610, Lynn@LifeRingSacramento.com, lynn.cullens on skype.
Basic Planning Documents
The June 22 revision of the Proposed Planning Framework for LifeRing’s 2011-2012 Year of Planning is available on pdf.
If you are interested in how the framework was developed, you can also read the Rationale, which defines terms and describes the theories which form the basis for the framework.
