Dear PFLAG Supporter,

Welcome to the beginning of the new fiscal year! Take a moment to celebrate the accomplishments of the last year. Did you hold an event that was successful? Launch a new program? Grow your attendance at meetings? Work on the infrastructure of your board? There is sure to be something you all can celebrate, and taking the time to recognize each other’s work can be motivating and reinvigorating! Before leaping into your annual responsibilities, put celebrating your chapter as an agenda item for your next board meeting.

I’m thrilled to announce that this year we welcomed 24 new chapters into the PFLAG Chapter Network! With these additions, our network continues to expand, bringing vital resources and community connections to even more people across the country. We’re grateful for the dedication of our new chapter leaders and look forward to seeing the positive impact they will make!

Annual Chapter Responsibilities

I hope you saw the email last week from Angel Kearns, our Chapter Services Senior Coordinator, where she kicked off the new fiscal year and Chapter Responsibilities season! Angel laid out all of those responsibilities—along with helpful links—to ensure your chapter remains in good standing. With all of the exciting work your chapter has been doing this year, it’s a good time to prioritize these responsibilities. If you need help completing these tasks or have any other questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to Angel at akearns@pflag.org.

Angel will also host a number of two-hour virtual drop-in office hour sessions from October 2024 to February 2025. While you're welcome to drop in at any time during these sessions to ask questions or seek one-on-one help, this year we’ll be structuring the meetings to better address some high-need areas that our team has identified based on feedback from chapter leaders. You'll find the complete schedule of office hours, as well as this year's annual responsibilities, on our website.

DEI Survey—Only Two Days Left For Your Members to Respond

As you may remember, PFLAG National is gathering insights to help us determine where we are with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and to develop a plan to ensure that PFLAG is a place where everybody belongs. 

In order to receive as much feedback on our PFLAG National DEI Survey as possible, please circulate—VIA EMAIL ONLY—the ask below to people who are actively involved with your chapter. The survey will be open only through October 11th, so please make this ask as soon as possible. As a reminder, please do NOT post this on social media.

For ease of use, simply copy and paste the language below into your mail program to send it, being sure to replace the [bracketed highlighted text] with language specific to your chapter. If you have any questions regarding use of this language, please reach out to Liz Owen (she/her), VP, Strategic Communications & External Relations. Our goal is to hear from as many active PFLAG members as possible by the newly extended closure date of October 11th. For more information, read the survey FAQ.

TEMPLATE EMAIL

To: Your Active Chapter Members
From: [Chapter President or Leader Name here]
Subj:  Oct 11 Deadline: We want YOUR feedback on DEI at PFLAG

Dear [PFLAG chapter name] Members, 

We need your help and feedback regarding your experiences with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at PFLAG.

Will you please complete this brief, 10-15 minute survey to share your experiences? We want to hear from as many members as possible, and this survey will remain open until Friday, October 11th. Your voice and perspective will help us determine where we are with DEI, and will inform the development of a plan to ensure that PFLAG is a place where everybody belongs.

Please be assured that all data collected will be anonymous. 

PFLAG National directly supports the work of our chapter. They are proactively working to center DEI more explicitly and intentionally across all facets of our services, programs, and operations—including across all PFLAG chapters—in service of advancing our mission of creating a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. Your feedback is critical to this work.

Thank you in advance for your participation and support! If you would like more information, please read the survey FAQ.

With gratitude,

[Chapter Leader Name]

New Discount Codes

New year, new discounts! Kick off the new fiscal year with exclusive deals on PFLAG swag and publications! Use code "chapterleader" to score 15% off the PFLAG Swag Shop and 50% off all publications in our publications store. And don’t worry, last year’s favorite code “2024member” is still good until the end of the calendar year, so keep saving while you can!

Urban Think Tank Alert

We know urban chapters face specific challenges, so the Urban Think Tank is a peer-to-peer facilitated discussion space for chapter leaders from urban areas across the chapter network.

October's topic will be growth and expansion in cities. When a PFLAG chapter is thriving and has a lot of capacity, the question becomes "What next? How do we grow?"

Has your chapter added another meeting? Have you set a goal to add social programming? Does your chapter have a Speakers Bureau or other strong educational programming? There are so many ways to grow beyond a monthly support meeting! Whether this is a struggle or a success story for your chapter, come prepared to share and support other urban chapter leaders!

Register now for the Urban Think Tank on October 15th at 4pm PT/7pm ET.

Stay safe,

Shaun Connors (he/they)

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