Last week, Iowa IPL had our first staff retreat to set our organizational and individual goals to best live out our mission. It was a fruitful and exciting few days, and we learned a lot about each other and how to best work together as a team.
My main takeaway from our time away is that you are essential to our mission. Our number one priority this year is building relationships. This means:
- Strengthening our relationships with supporters like you
- Re-engaging with faith communities
- Creating new relationships with faith communities currently not involved
- Increasing our supporter base in all corners of the state
Iowa IPL has gone through many changes in the last 5 years. 2022 was one of our biggest years, as we added three new positions to expand our mission. Over and over, we hear that Iowa IPL has the best supporters (we agree) and we know that we have room to include more Iowans of faith and conscience in our movement. And we cannot grow without your support.
How can you support us? Here are a few ideas:
- Let people know about us! We are a small organization that could be one of the best kept secrets in Iowa. We can’t grow if people don’t know about us.
- Attend our events! Invite friends and your faith community to our events. Post about it on social media, forward our emails, include it in your faith community newsletters/emails.
- Celebrate your birthday with us by hosting a Facebook birthday fundraiser or inviting your friends to make a gift in your honor. Tag us in your fundraiser and we will celebrate your special day on social media and send you a birthday card.
- Invite us to come preach and/or teach! One of my Iowa IPL goals this year is to get back into public speaking and preaching and I would love to come to your faith community. Email me at idemaris@iowaipl.org to schedule a time.
- Like us on social media! (All our links are listed at the bottom of this email.) Share and like our content. We put a lot of love into our socials.
- Give your proudest gift to support the work we do. Like many nonprofits, Iowa IPL’s end-of-year donations were down from the past few years. Our supporter donations fund 100% of our Called to Climate Action student leadership program, ensure we can continue to provide free events, dissect policy to make it accessible, and provide a living wage to all of our employees including healthcare, dental, vision, and matching retirement. At Iowa IPL, our budget is a moral document and we steward our gifts faithfully.
- Let us know when we are doing a good job! Send an email, give us a ring, or send a fun emoji in a text message (all our work lines have texting capability). So often we only hear about how we can do better. Words of affirmation go a long way in this hard work.
2023 is the year of building relationships, increasing our financial sustainability, and reaching new Iowans of faith and conscience. We cannot do this work without you and I look forward to growing our movement in Iowa all year long.