Dear PFLAG Supporter,

As you think about your chapter’s strategic plan for this year, it’s a great time to start normalizing conversations about leadership transitions with your board and chapter. Successful chapter leader transitions—including succession planning—are crucial to sustaining a chapter for the long term, and will help prepare folks for a collaborative board change process. 

Here are some tips to help demystify chapter transitions. 

• Don’t be afraid to talk about it! When you’re a great leader, it can be hard for folks to imagine what your PFLAG chapter looks like without you in your current role. Talking about leadership transition helps you all envision that time together, and instills confidence in the future generation of chapter leaders.
• Share the workload! Is everyone on your chapter board taking on an equitable workload? If not, talk as a board about whether a new role can be created (e.g. Fundraising Coordinator, Social Media Coordinator, etc.) or if there’s a newer member you can take on as a mentee.
• Agree on a transition timeline. Decide as a group whether you want to have an overlap time period with shared responsibilities or a shared title (such as Co-President), or whether you will move into a Vice or Emeritus role.
• Organize your files. While it sounds simple, making sure your files are ready to be passed on is an important part of leadership transition. As you plan, make sure everyone on your board has access to your electronic files, and that you find time to go through any physical files together to determine what’s important to keep. 

Going through these steps during strategic planning ensures that your chapter board will be prepared for elections and for the transfer of roles down the line.

Have questions or need support? I’m always here to help!

New! PFLAG National is Offering Free Chapter Websites

New websites are now being offered free of charge to chapters!  (Note that if you have a custom URL, such as gbpflag.org, your chapter will need to cover that cost). These new websites are easy to use, fully within PFLAG brand guidelines, and include many resources and publications from PFLAG National. We’ll also provide training and support to help you get your website up and running. 

Check out PFLAG Sarasota’s new website for a great example!

If your chapter is interested and would like to sign up for a chapter website through us, please fill out this form and we’ll be in touch! Have questions? Reach out to both Jackson Alder (jalder@pflag.org) and Brooke Smith (bsmith@pflag.org).

Alert: Requests for Interviews

This election year, bad actors are already using every tool they’ve got to trick LGBTQ+ people and allies into bad situations in the media. Many times, requests look legit, but looks can be deceiving—especially thanks to AI, which is being used to create content that seems trustworthy. Whenever you get an interview request from a source you don’t recognize, do extra diligence. Check for bias on sites like AllSides.com, or reach out to Laura McGinnis (lmcginnis@pflag.org) on the PFLAG National communications team for help and a gut-check.

Do not engage, but DO inform your chapter leadership/members to avoid these current bogus requests:

• Jesse Singal, a journalist with bad intentions, is looking for people to interview for a new book. 
• Hempstead Bay Productions, a shell possibly for Project Veritas, is looking for families and transgender people to participate in a new documentary project.

As noted, please alert your members and chapter leaders about these requests.

Regional Roundup

You may find yourself in need of volunteers with specific skill sets or general support in everyday chapter operations. Having a pool of volunteers with the time, talent, and passion for PFLAG’s mission and your chapter’s work can help not only with current work, but also with successful leadership transitions and planning. It’s important to foster the development of all kinds of volunteers to support your chapter's well-being. Here are some tips and resources focused on volunteer engagement/management to help you cultivate specialized and general volunteer talent essential for your chapter's ongoing success and well-being.

• Make use of organizations that pair skilled volunteers with nonprofits, such as the Taproot Foundation and Catchafire. Nurturing those volunteers and building their connection with PFLAG will increase their engagement and long term commitment to your chapter.
• Utilize free volunteer management resources like VolunteerPro to ensure that you are supporting your volunteers effectively, making them feel positively about your chapter and more likely to continue or increase their engagement.
• Take advantage of all the tools at your disposal to increase volunteer recruitment and engagement, following higher logic’s path to volunteer success.

Need additional support? Feel free to reach out, any time. I’m always here to help.

Stay safe,

Abby Shuler (she/her)

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