VASFAA
BOARD - COMMISSIONER - COMMITTEE PLANS & REPORT FORM
(Add
additional objectives and status reports as needed)
Jeanne
Holmes, SunTrust
Hope
Jackson, ECMC
Linda
Mashack, ECMC
Margaret
Murphy, Southern Virginia University
Paula
Rafferty, Randolph-Macon College
Lynn Steed,
Lord Fairfax Community College
Goal 1: Provide
acknowledgement of VASFAA service and individual/committee accomplishments to
supervisors and/or employers of VASFAA members.
Objective 1
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
The PR
Committee will develop a letter of appreciation that will be mailed to the
supervisors of all VASFAA volunteers and signed by VASFAA President Erik Melis.
Status
Reports of Objective 1 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
A draft of the letter of appreciation has been written and
the committee will make editing suggestions at our first committee meeting on
October 3.
Date:October 13, 2006
Report: The
committee decided that two letters need to be written. The first is the letter to the
supervisor/manager of each VASFAA volunteer to express appreciation for the
work of the volunteer as well as appreciation to the supervisor/manager for
allowing their employee to volunteer.
The second letter will be written directly to each VASFAA volunteer to
thank them for their time, effort and dedication to VASFAA. One of our committee members has offered to write
these letters with a fresh approach, and she will have drafts of these letters
at our next committee meeting on November 29.
Date:
January 29,
2007
Report: Margaret Murphy has written a fresh,
new letter of appreciation to supervisors of VASFAA volunteers, and she sent
this to Erik Melis for his approval. We
need to determine if Erik is okay with using an electronic signature for these
letters or if he prefers to sign each letter individually.
Our committee also considered the idea of sending out a
letter to the President of each institution whose staff volunteer in VASFAA to
thank them for their support of VASFAA by allowing staff members to volunteer
to serve on committees and we will need to have this idea approved by Erik.
Objective 2
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
The PR Committee will solicit the names and addresses of
the supervisors of volunteers via email in order to create a database for the
mailing.
Status
Reports of Objective 2 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
Nothing done as of yet.
Date: October 13,
2006
Report: An
email will be sent out to each committee chair to solicit the names and
addresses of each VASFAA volunteer and their supervisor/manager in November. Date:
January 29, 2007
Report: An email was sent to members of the
VASFAA Board asking them to have their committee chairs contact their members
and have them submit the names, titles and addresses of their supervisors. Numerous committees have returned this
information prior to the January 31 deadline.
Our committee will be calling committee chairs and board members who
have not returned this information beginning February 1 in an effort to have
every VASFAA volunteer recognized.
Goal 2: Work with
VASFAA Committees to ensure appropriate media coverage is given to their events
and activities.
Objective 1
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
The PR
Committee will write a short Business Briefs article about each VASFAA
Executive Board member and send it to their local newspaper (with each
Executive Board Member’s prior consent and approval of the article).
Status
Reports of Objective 1 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
Nothing done as of yet.
Date: October 13, 2006
Report: The
business briefs have been written and the proof will be sent to Board members
in October. We will also ask Board
members for the name of their local newspaper(s) and a press release will be
sent to the appropriate newspapers in November.
Date:
January 29, 2007
Report: Our
committee asked Board members for the names of their local newspapers and we
contacted these papers to get the email addresses for their business section
editors. We sent press releases to the
papers located in areas where our board members live and work. We do know that at least one newspaper
(Daily News Record in Harrisonburg) printed the business briefs we sent
them. We did get several emails from
newspapers with questions about the business briefs.
Two newspapers informed us that they publish only newly
elected positions. Consequently we will
either notify the newspapers of next year’s elected officers immediately after
our May election or we will pass on to the new PR Chair information about
submitting business briefs as soon after July 1 as possible.
Objective 2
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
The VASFAA PR Committee will send out
an email to committee chairs offering to assist with media coverage for
upcoming VASFAA events and for VASFAA accomplishments.
Status
Reports of Objective 2 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
Nothing done as of yet.
Date: October 13, 2006
Report: This
email will be sent out by the end of October.
Date:
January 29, 2007
Report: We
emailed the Awareness co-chairs to find out the publicity needs for the
upcoming Super Saturday events. We were
asked to send out press releases to newspapers throughout the Commonwealth. We sent out the Super Saturday press release
to all applicable newspapers in Virginia.
We have also sent the Super Saturday press release to the NASFAA daily electronic
newsletter.
We have been in contact with the Awareness committee
about publicizing the proclamation by the Governor for February to be Financial
Aid Awareness Month if and when it happens.
We
have been in touch with the Diversity Committee to get direction on publicity
of the VASFAA Leadership Symposium and we will be sending out information to
the listserv in mid-March, early April and early May.
One of our committee members will be working with the
conference chair to determine anything related to the spring conference that
would warrant outside publicity.
Goal 3: Utilizing
the results of the 2001-02 Task Force for
Understanding our Organization survey results, select items that need to be
addressed with the membership and work with committees to educate the
membership on them throughout the year.
Objective 1
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
Obtain the 2001-02
Task Force for Understanding our Organization survey and distribute it to PR Committee members prior
to our first meeting on October 3. At
that meeting, decide which items we will focus on during the 2006-07 year.
Status
Reports of Objective 1 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
Nothing done as of yet.
Date: October 13, 2006
Report: The
PR Committee members have the survey and the survey results. At our first committee meeting on October 3,
we began to review the survey results.
We addressed one topic very thoroughly, and from our discussions we
identified a number of issues that we can address in various ways. We will continue to review the survey and
address other topics that could benefitVASFAA, and we will discuss the best way
to utilize the results to better our association.
Date:
January 29, 2007
Report: After reviewing the results of the
survey, we found that two comments were frequently mentioned by VASFAA
members. These were:
Not sure what direction the board is
going
Discussion session on different aspects of VASFAA
In
response to these comments, our committee wanted to find a way to address them
in a public forum. We thought that the
best way to address these would be in a session at VASFAA. Because we also wanted to work with the
incoming President to stress volunteerism within our association and to ensure
that VASFAA members know about the responsibilities of various committees, we have
asked President-Elect Pat Kelly to conduct a session at VASFAA to address these
comments, as well as to promote volunteerism within VASFAA and also in SASFAA,
especially because VASFAA is hosting the 2008 SASFAA conference. We thought having a concurrent session would
be a great idea for our members to know what they can expect from Pat and from
the association and to hopefully address prior concerns of members and get
people excited about volunteering.
Additionally, we would like Pat to consider sending out
an email to the VASFAA listserv in the spring that would inform VASFAA members
to the benefits of volunteerism which would include the following:
Benefits of Volunteering in VASFAA
Many veteran members of
VASFAA have been to the meetings and trainings over the years, but have never
volunteered to work on a committee.
Listed below are benefits in having veteran members actively participate
in VASFAA.
Benefits to VASFAA:
Benefits for the
volunteer:
Goal 4 (Proposed): Promote VASFAA and VASFAA members within our
association, our communities and our profession.
Objective 1
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
Solicit
personal Financial Aid histories (VASFAA Vignettes or similar name) from VASFAA
members and post to the VASFAA listserv and on the VASFAA website.
Status
Reports of Objective 1 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
A draft of the email to VASFAA members soliciting their
personal histories has been written and this will be distributed to committee
members at our October 3 meeting for comments.
Date: October 13, 2006
Report: The
committee will send out this email to the VASFAA listserv to begin soliciting
VASFAA Vignettes.
Date:
January 29, 2007
Report: One of our committee members will
email the solicitation for VASFAA Vignettes (and headshots if available) in
early February, and we will begin to post these to the VASFAA listserv upon
receipt.
Objective 2
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
Create a
traveling scrapbook that includes all VASFAA Vignettes (previously called
Financial Aid Survivor stories) and photographs whenever possible that can be
put on the registration table for viewing at all VASFAA events.
Status
Reports of Objective 2 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
Nothing done as of yet.
Date: October 13, 2006
Report: One
of our members will spearhead the creating of the scrapbook and our goal is to
find or design a template for the vignettes and photographs that will be used
in the scrapbook.
Date:
January 29,
2007
Report: One of our committee members is
creating a template for the vignettes and photographs that is uncomplicated so
that future PR Committee members will
be able to work with easily.
We have checked with Angela Long about the possibility of
the PR Committee having space at the spring conference to have a table, and she
informed us that she could make space for us.
At our table, we would like to display the VASFAA Vignettes
Scrapbook. We would also like to have
information about each VASFAA committee and volunteer sign up sheets if this is
okayed by Erik Melis and Pat Kelly.
Objective 3
(HOW
the committee plans to achieve the stated goal):
Distribute
VASFAA promotional and membership information to prospective and new members at
VASFAA trainings and events and through mailings.
Status
Reports of Objective 3 (Please report your progress toward achieving the stated
goals – this is where the committee provides updates to the Board, including any
suggestions or modifications to the goal and/or the Strategic Plan):
Nothing done as of yet.
Date: October 13, 2006
Report: Our
committee will review the VASFAA informational packet/brochure that was created
under the leadership of JoAnn Carreras a few years ago and determine which
sheets in the packet need to be updated and reprinted. We will have these pages reprinted if
possible and mail the packets to prospective members.
Date:
January 29,
2007
Report: Our committee decided that it would
be best to bring the VASFAA informational brochure that was previously created
before the Board and ask the Board to determine if this is something that they
want to continue publishing. There are
numerous changes that need to be made to the brochure, so reproducing the
brochure would not be inexpensive.
Additionally, we would need to determine where the brochures would be
used. In light of the fact that this
information is now available on the VASFAA website, we did not feel that
updating and reprinting the brochure was the best use of VASFAA funds.
However, because the VASFAA website is now the main
source for sharing information about VASFAA to our members and to external
sources, we are concerned about keeping the VASFAA website current and up to
date. One of our PR Committee members
contacted the website committee about updating the site to delete information
about the 2006 conference and replace it with information about the 2007
conference, even if it was only to say stay tuned for more information.
Additionally, our committee discussed the fact that the
VASFAA website is often not as easy to navigate as it might be, and we wanted
to be certain that those searching for committee information could easily
access it. Our committee would like to
get the Board’s approval that members of the PR Committee could work with
appropriate people within VASFAA to suggest changes to the website that are
more user friendly and also to assist in developing a navigational tool to help
people maneuver more easily on the website.
We want to be sure, however, that if there are costs involved, there is
money to pay for making these changes. We
would like to discuss with the website committee the possibility of adding a
link to the VASFAA home page navigationals on the left that would link to
volunteer opportunities.
BUDGET
Item
(Broad general categories) Cost
Board
Approved Amount:
Date:
(Use
separate sheet if necessary.)