Assistance League of San Luis Obispo County

During the 2019-20 fiscal year, our chapter updated its Strategic Plan to a 5-Year Plan for 2020-2025. Assistance League of San Luis Obispo County's goals are to: 1) increase membership by 2% annually and retain active and involved members; 2) develop a New Generation Committee; 3) implement a succession plan to encourage and mentor members to become leaders of the chapter; 4) maintain, increase, and routinely evaluate the chapter's fundraising activities which support its philanthropic programs; 5) update the Thrift Store's Business Plan; 6) clothe 20% of total San Luis Obispo County student need, based on CA Department of Education Data by 2025 - an increase of 1% annually; 7) sustain current philanthropic programs and research new philanthropic programs; 8) establish a 5-year chapter Financial Plan; 9) advance the chapter's technological capabilities; and 10) Increase the visibility of the chapter and continue outreach and marketing efforts.

The strategies for achieving our goals are as follows: 1) In February and November each year formal membership drive receptions are held for prospective members to be introduced to the chapter's history, activities and mission as well as membership responsibilities. 2) New members are assigned a mentor and encouraged to participate on a committee(s) of their choice. 3) A direct-mail fundraiser is conducted during the holidays each year, and biennially, a fashion show and luncheon is held in the spring, in addition to the year-round writing of grant proposals. 4) Our philanthropic programs are evaluated each year to insure that we are effectively serving those most in need of our services and to insure that our donor funds are wisely used. In addition, our chapter opened its first-ever Thrift Store on April 1, 2015. 5) We maintain and continually update our website, Facebook and Instagram pages with news about upcoming events and program activities.

Assistance League of San Luis Obispo County has a volunteer membership of 97 who contributed over 20,247 service hours during fiscal year 2020-2021. The majority of its members have retired from careers in such fields as Education, Administration, Small Business Management, Banking and Accounting and are able to put their professional skills to use with our organization. Our organization was formed in 1991 and chartered as the 95th chapter of National Assistance League in 1996. Since its inception, our membership has continued to grow and its philanthropic programs expanded. In the 2019-2020 fiscal year we returned 88% of our total program expenses to the community through our philanthropic program, Operation School Bell, and collaboration programs with restricted donor donations.

As noted above, our Operation School Bell program has significantly increased over its 25 years. In 1995, 130 K-6th grade students received clothing through Operation School Bell. During fiscal year 2020-2021, 1,636 students received clothing (even during the COVID-19 pandemic). The chapter is budgeted to clothe 2,600 students during the 2021-22 school year. It is anticipated that with a continued successful thrift store enterprise, we will have additional funds to increase Operation School Bell and perhaps add additional philanthropic efforts to meet additional unmet needs in the communities we serve. In its 25-year history, our chapter has clothed over 32,000 students.