Serving as president of Florida AAUW for the past two years has been a wonderful, life-altering experience for me. One of the benefits of AAUW membership is the opportunity to develop leadership and management skills; you have enabled me to utilize those skills. Thanks to all of the officers and board members I have served with along the way.

Your gift of the establishment of a FL AAUW President's Scholarship at the PACE Center for Girls was an unexpected joy for me. What a terrific legacy!

To all of the officers for 2000-2001, I would like to offer some suggestions for recruiting and retaining volunteers.

• Understand that volunteers want the satisfaction of making a real contribution to the greater good.
  
  
• Be clear about the scope and definition of each job and to whom each volunteer is responsible.
  
  
• Stress the worthiness of all tasks and relate them to the goals of AAUW.
  
  
• Ensure that all volunteers leave meetings feeling that something has been accomplished.
  
  
• Use a personal approach in recruiting volunteers but encourage the entire membership to volunteer.
  
  
• Set clear and reasonable timetables for all tasks and projects.
  
  
• Allow diversity in methods and procedures for accomplishing goals.
  
  
• Express sincere appreciation for any and all work performed by volunteers.
  
  

I hope these suggestions will help you as you begin or continue your journey as officers of FL AAUW. May the next two years be as rewarding and fulfilling for you as they have been for me.

Copyright �2000, Florida AAUW