We wanted to extend a huge thank you to all of you who were able to join us in LA last weekend. As always, our time together was wonderful on so many levels.
Who we are matters most…
After having considered the collective input from both the work sessions and from various informal chats, our biggest take-aways revolve around the need for a continued focus on the quality of the work and the unique relationships we enjoy with our partners. It was also expressed that “who we are” and the quality of the relationships matter as much as the particular content area. Transparency in both finances and significant learnings should remain a key value in all of GoPhil’s work.
GoPhil’s Tracey Morrell and Linda DeWolf
Managing our own health…
Focusing on the sustainability of our own organization is critical to the long-term support we provide others.  We look forward to creating a 3-5 year strategic plan that will include provisions for our own internal support staff.
Things to still be addressed…
Several topics remain to be addressed that were listed on the “community issues board” created at the gathering. These include:
—Reviewing our board structure
—Deciding if we should create a national presence as well as an international one.
A fantastic show of support at the evening fundraiser…
We enjoyed a fabulous wine tasting (thank you Jim Trimble!), dinner and auction at the historic LOT studios in West Hollywood.  Proceeds from the evening event totaled over $75k…thanks to your generosity and to those who attended the dinner. This gives us a great leg up in continuing our work with these our wonderful worthy partner programs.

 

Thank you again for sharing your time, ideas, resources and experience. We look forward to all the great things we can accomplish together in 2015! And stay tuned for news of impact from the field as we begin our 2015 GoPhil journeys:)

 

GoPhil Founder Lydia Dean and Mary Jo O’Hara
Click here for a link to some more great pictures of the weekend!

 

And p.s: Here is the link to Amazon Smile:   which we mentioned at the work session. Be sure to sign up as every little bit helps…