San Jose Womans Club

Programs: Focus was on increasing the reach of the san jose woman's club through partnerships and continuing modernization plans including building security, office, tools and messaging. Membership increased this year to 178, up 26% from prior year. This increase is partially attributable to providing memberships to non-members who provide significant value to the sjwc above and beyond the cost of membership, such as event speakers and participants in computer camp, as well as general growth in the membership. Through partnerships with local companies in the bay area, and general outreach to the community, overall charitable giving increased over 44% with more than $33,460 granted in scholarships and cash donations to charities. We gave $5,000 to the tower foundation for academic scholarships, which were awarded to three sjsu students. We awarded $2,500 to our vocal scholar competition winner. We gifted $6,421 to various local charities including 13th street cats, lifted spirits, hope services, next door solutions, opera san jose, san jose chamber orchestra, san jose day nursery, preservation action council, sunday friends foundation, los gatos rowing club, santa clara vanguard, paws for spacs and p. R. O. S. We donated more than $5,400 to the breast cancer fund and $2,696 to semper virens in memory of lani luthard. We donated $9,441 to rancho compasin through a partnership with south bay vegan drinks. In addition - outside of charitable giving - our be a dear group donated over 3,800 bras worth approximately $11,400 to shelters and other nonprofits. Our women in technology and leadership group donated over 1,300 panties to women in need through our first annual bloomie dropper party, along with a $2,000 cash donation to home first. In addition to our cash donations, we donated/subsidized the use of our historic venue to local non-profit organizations for their banquets, fundraisers, holiday parties and movie nights. Organizations included: polling place city of sj, sjsu center for faculty development, horace mann neighborhood association, sjsu international gateways, wg girls volleyball team, pacific coast farmers market association, neighborhood piano recitals, playford ball, and the national charity league. Groups within san jose woman's club had significant impact on the community. Ladies who do lunch made meals for 30 people a month, needle arts created everything from pocket bears to sooth kids in stressful situations to braided yarn hair for kids who have lost their hair due to illness. Programs were increased this year, including a new flagship partnership with ebay, and our first computer camp for girls in the downtown area. The success of the first computer camp brought ebay back for a second camp for the girls sponsored by the new women in technology and leadership group. We also added a new activity group this year - voices in action. In summer, we kicked off the fiscal year by walking in the fourth of july parade, then later in the month enjoyed a night in havana party. We had the 9th annual ice cream social to thank the community and welcome them to the historic venue with cupcakes, sprinkles, and ice cream. The season ended with the words of wisdom women who move us series featuring nuria fernandez, ceo and general manager of the valley transportation authority (vta), who spoke about leadership in the transportation space. Our fall events and programs started off with the september bloomie dropper party. Here, sjwc donated more than 1,300 panties for women in transition, which were donated to home first. Later that month we had a new member mixer and cleanup day to ready the historic venue for the fall cooler weather. Our 3rd annual oktobrafest had the twisted pretzels performing and a scrumptious menu of german food. A shout out to strike brewing, gordon biersch brewing company and wildcide hard cider for their generous donations. All proceeds benefitted lifted spirits, a drop-in center in downtown san jose that provides a safe community for homeless and at risk women, and our be a dear and donate a brassiere group, which collects and distributes bras and undergarments for women in need. Later in the month, we partnered with city lights theater for a special event showing of "other desert cities. " we had a fun party with a couple of dozen people in attendance at a local restaurant. The turnout included club members, board, cast, and a citylights board member. Octobers vocal scholar event was lovely, a delightful concert of light classics performed by the 2015-2016 sjwc vocal scholar, shaina levin. Shaina was awarded $2,500 from sjwc to assist in her studies at sjsu. In november we walked in the veterans day parade, remembering those who protect our country. We then co-hosted throwback thursday movie night with pac*sj and presented on the back wall of the ballroom as the attendees partied in their mid-century outfits and dined on retro fare. The holidays kicked in to high gear with the christmas tree decorating party hosted by brian gryder, then co-chairs cici green and lynda sereno brought out the spirit with the gingerbread house party, always a fun event for the kids and those young-at-heart. The month closed out with women and art from the words of women of wisdom series, featuring barbara goldstein, former public art director for the city of san jose. In december we hosted the annual holiday 411 mixology and cookie exchange and the antiques team held the successful all club holiday potluck where everyone got to share a favorite recipe and the afternoon together as the year closed out. At the start of the year, lunafest kicked off and raised about $12k for our chosen charities with more than 150 attendees. It was an exciting event, as always, with the highest bidder getting the comfy couch in the front. Then the new best furry friends group - together with south bay vegan drinks - put on a dinner fundraiser for the rancho compasin animal sanctuary. We had 160 people in the ballroom for the seated dinner selling out the event and we got great press in the metro for this fun event. As part of the partnership, south bay vegan drinks bought the sjwc a new laptop for the office to take us towards our modernization goal. We also kicked off our first sweetheart thank you party to appreciate the members, donors and sponsors of our events during the year. It was a great time to reflect on how much we have accomplished this year, and how we appreciate all the love and effort our members and the community put in to the sjwc and our historic building. The sjwc members led by lydia patino in the new women in technology and leadership group, put a momentous computer camp for girls together with ebay. With help from the ladies who do lunch, the girls were sent home full from breakfasts and lunches donated by ebay employees and our catering partners vitos trattoria, catering too! And vegetarian house. Through the partnership, horace mann elementary school received 30 laptops with software for their library. In march, the opera luncheon kicked off with an elegant luncheon and live performances by exceptional resident artists from opera san jose, enhanced by the acoustics of our beautiful, landmark clubhouse. This gala event benefitted the sjwc scholarship program. The irish pub party continued us through march with a festive evening featuring irish food, drink and celtic music performed by the kavanaugh brothers celtic experience. In april we hosted the annual vocal scholar competition. Our panel of judges selected malcolm jones as the 2016-2017 sjwc vocal scholar. He was awarded $2,500 to help further his studies at san jose state university. The fiscal year completed with women in the wild: words from women of wisdom, featuring jena sorrells, camp supervisor at san jose family camp. Jena brought several animals with her to the fun event. On the financial front, building rentals in 2016/2017 were down 19% from prior year. This was partially offset by a decrease in expenses such as cleaning, since we used fewer services throughout the year. We attribute the decrease in building rentals to a change in the rentals office staff as we transitioned to a new staff member, and are closely monitoring trends in this significant source of revenue as we move in to the new year. Donations received this year were up $13,000 from last year, rentals were down, but our expenses were down by $22,000 so we increased our net assets. In addition to the new office laptop, modernization increased in several key areas. Members sandy swirsky and lyle merithew donated a security system to the sjwc to keep staff, members and building safe. New software was implemented for floor plan design to make it easier to collaborate with clients, staff, and cleaning companies. A new website was released, focusing on our historic building rental and providing a secure login for members to pay membership, change groups/committees, stay up to date on upcoming events, and view other me