Dear PFLAG Supporter,

April is National Volunteer Month! And with so many of you knee-deep in Pride planning, testifying at legislative sessions, protesting, joining community actions, and just generally staying on top of all of the chapter activities going on, I thought it was a perfect moment to say thank you, and show my deep appreciation for you all that you do. The work of a chapter leader is endless, and right now there’s always another thing to do. I’m here to support you and help you accomplish all of your chapter goals, but you’re the ones doing the incredible work. You volunteer your time to make substantive changes in your community—changes that directly affect people not only local to you, but across the country and even many of us on staff at PFLAG National. The fact that PFLAGers are focused on the work is something I appreciate deeply about you all, and you should take a moment to feel proud of all that you accomplish. PFLAG wouldn’t exist without you!

I’m looking forward to sharing more appreciation in person this June during Pride month and in October at Learning With Love: The 2025 PFLAG National Convention, an event that will also give you an opportunity to be loud and proud about the work you’re doing and to thank and appreciate each other in person. 

Before the end of National Volunteer Month, I’ll have more information about engaging volunteers for Pride, but this week my thanks is just for you! 

In this edition of Leadership Learnings you’ll find:

• Learning With Love Call for Workshop Proposals
• Feedback on Leadership Learnings newsletter
• In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) Recap
• Resilience Roundup: THANK YOU!

Call for Proposals: Learning With Love 2025

PFLAG National is now accepting workshop applications for Learning With Love: The 2025 PFLAG National Convention! PFLAG chapter leaders can help fellow leaders build skills for running successful chapter programs, and we want to hear from you! 

We encourage you to share this request for proposals with your community and coalition partners as we are also looking for workshops on advocacy, communications, and so much more. 

The deadline to submit is Wednesday, April 30th, so now is the time to get started. Learn more and submit your proposal at pflagnation.al/2025ConventionRFP.

Leadership Learnings Newsletter Feedback

We’ve recently made some changes to Leadership Learnings and want to see how they’re working for you. The changes we’ve made include adding a table of contents at the top, including more information in each newsletter in order to reduce the number of emails we’re sending to chapter leaders, and recapping truncated important information in the In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) section. 

For now, I’d love to know what you think about the changes and if they’re making the newsletter more useful and helpful for you to use as a resource. Is there anything you’d like to see included that I’ve not included before? Please let me know now or at any point simply by replying to this email! We know there’s some chaos when introducing new things and changes, so we appreciate you coming with us on the rollercoaster ride! Thanks for your patience and flexibility as we make these adjustments.

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)

•  
• Pride Packs 2025 -The branding team has created a PFLAG Chapter Leader-Only Swag Shop at chapterswag.pflag.org, where you can order buttons, pens, shirts, stickers, fans, and Pride flags in bulk and at a larger discount than our public-facing shop. But here’s the BEST part: We’re giving every chapter $200 to spend on the items of your choice; this will require your chapter ID provided without dashes. Then, you’ll get an additional 50% off further orders between now and June 30, 2025. Check out this email for more details.
  Note: We are restocking four of the most popular t-shirt designs and they will be available in the Chapter Leader-Only Swag Shop soon! We’ll keep you updated when they are available.
• Last week’s edition of Leadership Matters featured some amazing tips and resources about membership campaigns.

Resilience Roundup

Don’t forget to thank your volunteers too! As we know, there are so many PFLAGers in our communities donating their time, energy, funds, and passion to your local PFLAG chapter. Now’s a great time to thank them for that incredible work! No job is too small - we know it takes a village to make a PFLAG chapter successful. Gratitude unites our PFLAG community, making National Volunteer Month this April the ideal time to celebrate! If you’re looking for ideas about recognizing volunteers, here are a few that might help jumpstart your brainstorming: 

• Send written notes or thank you cards.
• Host a volunteer appreciation potluck, party, or event.
• Host a volunteer training to get people excited about your offerings.
• Offer volunteer exclusive swag or small tokens of appreciation, like a coffee gift card.
• Don’t discount the simple thank you! If you see someone doing something you appreciate, let them know.

Of course, April isn’t the only time you can do these sorts of activities! Consider incorporating volunteer appreciation into the every day of your PFLAG chapter. It can be a crucial part of what keeps folks coming back!

Stay safe,

Eddy Funkhouser (they/he)

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