Dear Members and Friends,
Thank you for making 2018 yet another remarkable year for In Her Shoes Foundation!
I am honored to be in such a committed community. With over 21 years volunteering with various non-
profits, I have a deep appreciation for dedicated and hard working volunteers. Having worked in both
the for-profit world and the not-for-profit world, I know that there is no greater reward than the
opportunity to work with passionate volunteers, especially for our outstanding organization, In Her
Shoes Foundation (IHSF).
Our dedicated team has done an incredible job of expanding our outreach while strengthening our
programs and services. As we’ve closed out the year, it is the perfect time for us to reflect on how much
our donors, partners, members, and volunteers have helped our organization grow:
This past year, our donors continued to support our mission by giving financially toward our programs and operating costs. Our 2018 Gala, Turning a New Leaf, was a huge success due largely to donor financial support and $15,000 in-kind donations for the silent auction.
As a result of a strong team and dedicated efforts in 2018, Ready Set Girls Academy has been expanding with more schools and other organizations as partners to IHSF. Nine new sites/schools have reached out to us to bring the Ready Set Girls Academy to their students in the next school-year semester. We will also expanding the program to a Ready Set Women’s Academy.
We are working hard to build new relationships in the community. Our partnerships are diverse and multi-faceted. Currently, we have over 50 Community Partners, including Universities, Businesses and other NGO’s.
Our membership 100+ base continues to grow through word-of-mouth and social media engagement where we have over 15,000 world wide followers and we currently have over 1,000 Newsletter subscribers.
We’ve enjoyed an increase in engagement with our members through various platforms, as we continue to offer benefits, such as monthly happy hour/networking events and quarterly professional development workshops that are free, exclusively to members.
Today, we can proudly say that we have over 70 committed volunteers, including advisory, board members and ‘as-needed’ volunteers. On a daily basis, we are hearing from at least one new person that is reaching out to us with a desire to connect and become a committed volunteer.
In October, the IHSF committee met to develop the foundation for our 2019 path and in late fall we
developed our 2019 strategic plan. Key initiatives for the coming year include:
Increase awareness though prioritization of fundraising, increasing foundation outreach and expansion of RSGA/RSWA program and membership
Increase member benefits and alignment of events with interests
While we rolled-out our new mission, vision, values and new branding for IHSF last year, we will continue to refine and unify our branding so we ensure consistency and create resonance within the community and with our members and partners.
With your generosity and passion we continue to focus on bringing hopeful people together to
transform our community for good. We have come a long way and there’s so much more to do!
Our ongoing goal is to keep our overhead low while increasing our service in the field, and you truly
make this possible! IHSF is stronger than ever due to our continually expanding community who comes
together to donate time, resources, and talent in support of our important mission. Thank you for
wholeheartedly being a part of the In Her Shoes Foundation movement. We are looking forward to
building on our strong momentum in 2019!
Warmly,
Kasia Wereszczynska, MA, LCPC, RYT
Founder, Executive Director/CEO