View attached PDF - Variety Telethon

Young Variety
Young Variety has had a very busy and productive 2011/12 year!
We began our year with the welcoming of a new Young Variety
Board in June of 2011, bringing 21 talented young professionals
and philanthropists to the table. Our Board orientation began at
one of our partner charities; Youth Emergency and Shelter
Services, followed by a social at the Kirkwood Lounge.
At the end of the summer, several Young and State Variety Board
members began working with Drake University’s Graduate
Management course to perform an audit of several facets of
Variety – The Children’s Charity. This two-month review process
was presented to our involved members in November, and we were
able to take the Drake student’s insight and catapult the
information into our Strategic Planning process in December,
2011.
The Young Variety Events Committee began filling the
calendar with Coins for Kid’s Thirsty Thursday events held
monthly, which also allowed our Membership Committee to gain
access to a pool of new interested Young Variety advocates. In
October, Young Variety held our first ever TweetUp event in
collaboration with SmartyPig (a mobile-based giving company),
and offered our community a chance to help raise money via
mobile, for a specialized bike. Our Membership Committee began
a drive in November of 2011, and to-date, we have nearly doubled
our paid Young Variety list.
The Young Variety Volunteer Co-Chairs were instrumental in
arranging volunteer opportunities in the Fall to help wrap gifts at
Amanda the Panda, serve on location at the Blank Children’s
Hospital’s Festival of Tree’s, and perhaps the most noteworthy of
all, arranged volunteers for our Bikes for Kid’s events. Variety
hosted one of the largest mobility events in December, giving away
50 bikes, 6 specialized bikes, and 9 vans, to hundreds of deserving
Iowa children.
The beginning of 2012 has started off busier than ever for our
Young Variety board. We have one of the largest Young Variety
VIP panels (42 Young Variety participants) pooled for the
upcoming Variety Telethon to be held on March 3 and 4, and a set
schedule of events leading up to the greatest weekend of the year
for Tent 15.
Under the championing of our Events Committee, our board is
orchestrating our second annual signature Young Variety event;
Project Variety. Slated for April 20, 2012, our board and members
are sure to have a very busy Spring!
Our 2011/2012 Young Variety board has remained committed to
providing new ideas, creating community partnerships, and
always looking for opportunities to support the children of Iowa.
We look forward to the remaining months ahead, and to the future
of Variety – The Children’s Charity!
Susan Hatten
YV President 2010/11