FAWCO President Monica Jubayli announced the creation of the Rebranding FAWCO Team at the FAWCO Biennial Conference in Rome in March 2015. The Team's objective is to make recommendations for FAWCO's future: where does FAWCO want to go, how do we get there and what do we have to do to achieve our goal? Various discussions and events (listed below) shaped this decision, and the FAWCO Board felt it was time to have a fresh look at FAWCO’s future and related brand and documentation (website, charter, etc) to reflect our goals:
- FAWCO membership reached a high of 78 clubs in 2006 but currently has a membership of 65 clubs. What is the reason for this?
- Our Reps on the UN NGO Committees for the Status of Women (CSW) ask if our logo or tagline could state more clearly FAWCO’s objectives.
- Member club feedback is that our name does not reflect our international focus. How can it capture our global community of people who work to promote and advocate for women's rights, health, education, environment and empowerment of women in every area?
- Visitors to our website comment that it does not communicate our international focus. Does it turn potential international members away because of our current branding?
For those of you who are not familiar with the rebranding process, we have included a short YouTube video that describes what we are doing behind the scenes.
Just as the video says, we are hoping to get members' opinions, ideas and support. For these reasons we ask you to leave comments below on what you think about FAWCO and the rebranding process. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of FAWCO? What do you want to see in a vision and mission statement? How do you want to be informed on what is going on in the Rebranding FAWCO Team? If you are not registered on the FAWCO website then take a few moments now to register so we can have your feedback.
Team Chair Kathleen Simon (AWC Bern, Region 6) has been active with FAWCO for 15 years as FAWCO Rep, Regional Coordinator for Region 1 and currently for Region 6, FAWCO 2nd Vice President, FAWCO 1st Vice President, FAWCO President 2009-2011 and Nominating Chair for the 2013-2015 FAWCO Board.
Angela Anderson (AWC Shanghai, Region 11) has been Club President and is now FAWCO Rep. Angela’s experience with such an international group (including male membership) and having organized the FAWCO Youth Cultural Volunteer program in Shanghai last summer ensures a valuable focus for the team.
Angelika McLarren (AWC Berlin, Region 5) has chaired the Sites Selection Committee for many years, personally hosted FAWCO Conferences in Berlin (2006), Vilnius (2009), and will help plan the upcoming 2016 Interim Meeting in Frankfurt. Her experience as Club President, FAWCO Rep, member of the Nominating Committee for the 2013-2015 FAWCO Board and now Regional Coordinator for Region 5 gives her a wide understanding of what is important to members.
Danielle Diamond (AWC Luxembourg, Region 4) is FAWCO’s Public Relations Manager, and former FAWCO Rep for AWC Luxembourg (2012-2014). She presented a workshop at the Interim Conference in Brussels, IS SOCIAL MEDIA USING YOU?. The aim of the workshop was to review important constraints and affordances social media (i.e. Facebook, Pinterest) offers its users and at the end teach how to effectively use media in personal and professional settings.
Mary Adams (AWC The Hague, Region 4) is The FAWCO Foundation Vice President for Fundraising and FAWCO Club Workshops Coordinator as well as a contributing member of the FAWCO Human Rights Team. In 2014 she received a Rep Appreciation Award for the work she did as FAWCO Rep for ANCOR.
Mary Jane (MJ) Eckert (AWC London, Region 1) brings a new eye to FAWCO having attended her first conference in Rome and is now very keen to be active. She will bring her marketing skills to benefit RFTF. MJ is FAWCO Rep and Director of Club Relations at AWC London.
Pam Perraud (AAWE Paris, Region3 and FAUSA) has been part of the UN team for over 15 years, including five years as FAWCO's UN Liaison. In 2011 she received the FAWCO Circle of Honor award for her dedicated work in promoting FAWCO's work at the UN.
Terri Knudsen (AWC Denmark, Region 2) has been an active FAWCO volunteer for 14 years, including a term as 2nd Vice President, six years as Membership Co-Chair, and a term as The FAWCO Foundation Secretary. She is currently working with the vice president for branding of an international company on a rebranding presentation.
Rebranding FAWCO Team views:
WHO ARE WE? - FAWCO as an organization mobilizes international women and offers these services:
- USA citizens advice and a voice in Washington
- Connections to a Global Community
- Advocacy for Global Issues
- International Philanthropy
- Members' education
- Global Best Practices
- Global Citizens within our member clubs
What FAWCO Does Best
- USA citizen services through advocacy in Washington and information on taxes, citizenship and voting
- Connections with Global Community through Biennial Conferences, Interim Meetings, Regional Meetings and sustainable networking with members of other clubs (i.e move to new city)
- Advocacy for Global Issues as UN NGO with a focus on Health, Human Rights, Education & Environment, through Philanthropy and Committee and Team work
- International Philanthropy through the Target Program, The FAWCO Foundation Development Grants and Educational Awards and the Disaster Relief Fund
- Members' Education through Biennial Conferences, Interim Meetings, Regional Meetings, FAWCO Workshops and Publications
- Global Best Practices through support for club presidents and club members, club support and development
- Membership makes Global Citizens with a "deeper level" of women's club, horizons of knowledge widened and enriched, sisters around the world and commonality of women living internationally (all nationalities)
STRENGTHS
- FAWCO has the infrastructure and set-up to offer these seven levels of services
- The FAWCO acronym is well known. We have power as an organization to gain international recognition of our name
- FAWCO recognized as non-governmental organization (NGO) since 1995 and has special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council at the UN since 1997 (recently sent 16 delegates to Beijing+20 Geneva as well as New York NGO Forum)
- FAWCO has a history, reputation and strong voice in Washington
- FAWCO has strength in numbers and reach - 12,000 members, 65 organizations in 34 countries
- FAWCO has a history of 84 years as a network of independent volunteer organizations
- FAWCO's members are global citizens experiencing a "deeper level" of women's club, widened and enriched horizons, sisters around the world and commonality of women living internationally (all nationalities)
WEAKNESSES
STRUCTURE
- Some member clubs are purely social and not interested in resources that FAWCO offers
- We are a network of member clubs yet we are finding individuals who would value direct membership
- Shortcomings with current path of communications to members
- The FAWCO name includes "club" which, in particular to our colleagues at the UN, conjures up ladies who gather without purpose.
- Is there a correlation between reduction of membership within our worldwide member clubs and FAWCO's loss of member clubs?
USA vs INTERNATIONAL
- In seeking more member clubs with large international membership, FAWCO is told that it is too US-oriented for their membership. Is this true or are we just not marketing our strengths well enough?
- FAWCO name includes American. Does this hinder FAWCO in any way and, if so, should we reassign letters or change name altogether?
COMMUNICATIONS
- Our internal communication is not as good as it could be. The website has far too much information which overwhelms people visiting it and tools for our volunteers become unclear
- FAWCO leadership fully understands FAWCO but much is unfamiliar to newcomers. Website and presentations should take this into account.
MARKET TRENDS
- Reduced number of Americans being posted abroad
- More working women without the time to volunteer
- American women seeking an international club instead of an American one
- Greater number of non-American expatriates so increased interest in international clubs
- Preference for connecting through internet/social media as well as through clubs for generation Y
Given these market trends who is our target audience? How best to attract them and what services to offer?
Message from the Team Chair, Kathleen Simon:
The Rebranding FAWCO team have outlined above what we believe are FAWCO's strengths to build upon, weaknesses to improve upon, and market trends to see who is our audience and how best to position FAWCO to capitalize on our target audience needs. The Team would love to hear your views!
Comments
I have a couple of comments: 1) establish goals - should be the responsibility of the Board. I hope you have tasked that to the Board and obtain their input, it wouldn't be a task for the Task Force. 2) look into changing our name - what it would mean re: IRS notification, etc. because unless we can change our name, anything we do will just be window-dressing since "American" and "Clubs" are in the name. 3) if you won't/can't change the name, then stay with our strength and heritage of being American, modernize the logo without "throwing the baby out of the bath water" - our logo is actually a good logo, even if you just rid of the red color, it would look less "American" (this suggestion came from my husband who's had 25 years in brand marketing). 4) modernize the website by using a more modern font and colors- less info on the homepage/ more image galleries as links.
I have a theory about why we loss 12 clubs in 2012. It was the first year that the FAWCO president (My-Linh) wrote to club presidents an annual update and included the renewal reminder. Previously, renewals came from FAWCO treasurer to club treasurer with a copy to FAWCO reps. Though I received nice feedback from club presidents who appreciated the annual update from me, this was actually a mistake - I believe this raised the "renewal" decision to Board level - rather than the treasurer just renewing as a matter-of-annua l routine. Of course, when it's raised to Board level, then many clubs questioned the value of FAWCO and decided not to renew. I have suggested to Monica to go back to FAWCO treasurer sending renewal letters to club treasurers, copied their FAWCO reps. I believe that explains why we loss so many clubs that year - of course, there were clubs that folded but this is the reason. Since then, it's been stable.
Have fun with this project!
Let me know if I can help.
Vbr, Jodi
I would love to share the TED talk (link below) by Simon Sinek on branding/market ing/innovation/ leadership. When he says "doing business with"and "buy", just translate into FAWCO terms of clubs joining (buying into FAWCO) or engaging with FAWCO (a kind of doing business). Anyway, its about starting with the "why" of your organization, not who you are, what you do and how you do it. Food for your creative minds! https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
So, what is FAWCO's inspiring WHY?
Monica Jubayli
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