National Council of Catholic Women at 200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 703, Arlington, VA 22203 US - PRESIDENT'S REPORT TO CONVENTION

With your officers, commission chairs and province directors we began to define our course for these next two years. We accomplished this dream and a whole lot more along the way.

Your Commission Chairs, Joanne Pohland, Judi Kessler, Donna Sanders, Susie Harting, Pat Cetera, Carol Wagner & Joan Mack did a fantastic job educating all of us on issues, and giving us ways to live out the Gospel Message through what we do in our Councils. They provided training around the country as they visited many of our councils and conducted workshops. They designed the workshops at General Assembly and I can tell you they have some fantastic workshops planned for you at this convention. They answered the call to serve and that service has enriched us as individuals and they enriched our councils through their commission work..

Your Region I Vice President, Barbara Ericson, chaired the Program and Development Committee on the Board. This committee researched and came to a consensus on the books for the book club. They introduced to us author Susan Conroy and her book "Mother Theresa’s Lessons of Love and Secrets of Sanctity. You will have the pleasure of meeting this author at our luncheon.

For the year 2008 they have chosen the book The Rhythm of Life by Matthew Kelly and you had the pleasure of hearing him as he keynotes this convention.

This committee reviewed the direction that the Leadership Development Team outlined for the Leadership Training program for NCCW. They recommended its approval to the Board. The Chair, Barbara Ericson met with the committee while they were in one of their planning sessions. The program committee was involved since the conception of the program.

They reviewed the first and second drafts of the Spirituality Enhancement Program and recommended its approval to the Board. That will be unveiled at this convention entitled "Enchancing Our Spirituality, Prayers and Readings for Personal or Group Reflection.

The Communication & Public Relations Committee under the leadership of Region II Vice President, Bobbie Hunt had many accomplishments.

• They revised the job descriptions for the members of the Board of Directors
• They fostered interest within our councils to start a web site, and they organized a web site contest. You will meet the winner of that contest at this convention.
• Two Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) were developed. One on water and one on the environment. You will see these PSA’s at this convention. This was a way to get our name out in public while giving an important message to the viewers.
• With the direction of the Board they investigated pay-pal for the website. The Executive Director evaluated programs and engaged Tapestry to manage our database and enable the website to take credit cards for sales and registrations.
• This committee, with Board approval directed staff to seek suitable advertisements for the Catholic Woman magazine.
• They initiated a page in the Catholic Woman magazine that showcases the work of the local councils.
• To market NCCW, they investigated and reviewed council videos and recommended that the board move forward with a new NCCW video of our organization.
• Upon the request of our membership they developed a Council Poster that can be used at meetings and in parish community areas to promote CCW. That poster is available for you at this convention.

The Membership Retention and Development Committee under the leadership of Region III Vice President, Shirley Radican launched one of the most aggressive membership campaigns in our history. Every parish received a packet and was encouraged to have an individual membership campaign in their parish. They were not only asking our parish councils to consider being individual members, but they were asking them to invite all women of the parish to join NCCW as an individual member. Women who may not want to join a local group because of time constraints, but women who want to be counted as a member of a woman’s organization that makes a difference in today’s society.

They worked with a committee of three women of Council to develop and a college survey to be used in surveying young women in colleges. The survey will find out what type of organization they would join. It will also introduce them to NCCW. The survey is on the website and the sub-committee has started contacting the Catholic Colleges and Universities.

The chairman of this committee followed up with new people interested in starting a parish affiliation. And the committee is working on updating the procedures for establishing new arch/diocesan councils.

The membership committee hosted a workshop at General Assembly where the membership campaign "Join Us… Be counted" was introduced.

These vice presidents chaired these committees on the board in addition to serving on the executive committee, serving on a commission committee and carrying out the duties of a vice president serving their region. They chaired regional meetings and visited some of their provinces. At General Assembly they were presenters in the President’s workshop. And they were responsible for writing an article for Catholic Woman Magazine.

They did an excellent job serving as your vice president’s.

The Budget and Finance Committee chaired by our Treasurer. Irene Sylvain really had their work cut out for them.

Our income does not meet our expenses, and it is the responsibility of this committee to suggest to the Board ways to balance the budget.

The Treasurer works with the executive director and staff in preparing the budget to present to the finance committee and after the committees input, a balanced budget was presented to the Board.

To fill in the gaps, a partnership was made with Catholic Digest Magazine. For every subscription they receive from one of our members, NCCW will receive $10.00. It is a good magazine and a good deal for NCCW. You will see Catholic Digest in our vendors’ area, so take advantage of this opportunity.

A Cruise fundraiser was planned and is scheduled for November of 2007. This is a great opportunity to cruise "with friends" and have daily Mass on the high seas.

This committee reviews and plans all fundraisers for General Assembly and Convention and they work these fundraisers.

The Silent Auction guidelines come from this committee and the local appointed chairperson works with a member of the finance committee.

Through the Treasurer’s efforts the Board was educated on reading the number of reports that we received. She reviewed the reports and investigated accounts that were over budget working with the Executive Director monitoring income and expenses.

In addition to all the duties of Treasurer, Irene wrote an article for the Catholic Woman magazine and she is a member of a commission committee.

And finally, we come to your Secretary, Janie Southerland. Janie’s job is a difficult task. When we meet twice a year in Washington DC, our meetings are four to five days long. All committees are meeting. Plans are being made for General Assembly and Convention. Some of our meetings run into the late hours of the evening. The executive committee meets prior to the Board meeting. Janie has to take minutes at these meetings and type the Executive Committee minutes during the night to have them ready to report to the Board. Keeping accurate records of the meetings of this organization is a great responsibility.

Janie also produced and donated the Public Service Announcements for NCCW and she wrote an article for the Catholic Woman magazine.

As a National organization, the Board gave you the challenge to help Our Mother of Mercy School in Beaumont, Texas who suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Rita. Through your efforts this school now is accredited for the first time. The children have hope for a future through a quality education. Thank you for your generous response. You will hear from the principal of Our Mother of Mercy School at this convention.

Now what did your President do?

The job of president is a full time job and breaks down into three categories:

Leadership – Communication - and Representation

Your President served you in the area of leadership by:

• Preparing agendas for the executive committee meetings and Board meetings. And, conducting those meetings.
• Stopping in on all Committee and Commission meetings during the Board meeting and giving direction when asked. Supporting the Chairmen and committees in their work
• By designing and working on General Assembly and Convention with the Executive Director.
• Your president identifies leaders in the membership and solicits that talent for the good of NCCW. Your president appointed the six Commission Chairs; the NGO representative to the United Nations; the representative to WUCWO, and Chairmen and members to serve on the subcommittees of the Board.
• All materials that are sent from the office over the presidents signature are reviewed and approved by the president
• The financial statements and investment portfolios of the organization are reviewed by the President.
• The key element is to stay focused and keep the big picture of the organization in mind.

The category of Communication encompasses:

• Weekly calls with the Executive Director.
• Answering all written correspondence
• Answering at least 30-50 e-mails every day
• Communicating information to the board and executive committee through e-mails and telephone calls.
• Writing monthly FYI’s for the diocesan presidents, Board Members, and Past Presidents. With the new Tapestry system we will be able to include all individual members and past board members in these FYI’s. The more people are kept informed the more they understand their organization.
• The president communicates with the membership through articles she writes in each issue of Catholic Woman magazine.
• I set a personal goal to call each diocesan president and I did not reach the 100% goal, but I did reach the 75% goal. I learned much from these telephone calls.

And the final category is Representation

• Your president Visited councils interested in joining us and did presentations on NCCW
• I had the privilege of Representing you at the Catholic Woman’s League of Canada. They are a wonderful group of women working in the vineyard.
• We have a wonderful relationship with the Ladies of the Knights of Peter Claver. I attended their convention and addressed both the Knights and the Ladies. They are a very family oriented organization.
• Along with some of our Board members I attended the Respect Life Mass and marched with our women proudly carrying the NCCW banner in the Rite to Life March in Washington, D.C.
• Your President and Region I Vice President attended the Catholic Daughters of the Americas Convention. We have a great working relationship with the officers of this organization. Being a former Operations Manager for Habitat for Humanity I was happy to see the work this organization does with Habitat. They are to be commended on their many projects.
• Your president represented you at the USCCB meeting as an official observer
• This is the third year that between 25 and 30 National Catholic Organizations have been meeting. This year we discussed the changes that will affect the ministries in the Church with the downsizing of the USCCB’s committees. This group is looking at where our organizations can fit in and how our organizations will be affected with this downsizing.
• The highlight of my term was visiting local parish CCW’s and attending diocesan and province conventions around the country. I continually am amazed at what our women accomplish for our church and society. That is the Vitimin B-12 shot that goes with the job. I always return home rejuvenated and empowered after attending these conventions.

It has been my honor and privilege to serve as your president

I have outlined for you the work that was accomplished by this Board in two short years.

Now I want to present to you how these accomplishments get carried out.