On January 24, 2024 Quaker Voluntary Service held a special Supporters’ Briefing. While we usually hold this event annually in June, we felt it was important to hold an event sooner to share with supporters the program shifts recently approved by the Board of Directors.
While we don’t yet have all of the details mapped out to implement the changes that have been approved by the board, it is important to us that our community of supporters come along with us as we experiment and adapt to the cultural and economic shifts we’ve seen since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Special Highlights
During this Supporters’ Briefing, we shared the six program shifts approved by the Board of Directors in November. We originally announced these decisions through blog posts, which you can find here, as well as sharing in our newsletter (click here to subscribe!).
Hilary Burgin (she/her; Executive Director), Damon Motz-Storey (they/them; Board Member), and Kate Monahan (she/her; Board Treasurer) shared more details on what went into discerning the experiments QVS plans to implement.
We also had the opportunity to hear updates from staff members Ruth Cutcher (she/her; Recruitment Coordinator), Caitlin Churchill (she/her; Communications Consultant), and Rachel Logan Wood (she/her; Alumni Coordinator), all of whom have been working on new projects to support Fellow recruitment and Alumni engagement efforts.
We hope you will watch the full recording, but if you would like to jump to a specific section of the event, we provided timestamps below. Thank you for supporting the work we do at Quaker Voluntary Service!
Briefing Slide Deck
Hover over and click on the left and right edges of the slides below to scroll through the slide deck.
We are so grateful for everyone who could join us for the event and cherish the engagement from attenders. For those who were unable to attend, we hope you will watch the recording below.
We welcome your feedback on the event, which we invite you to share through this survey.
If you have additional questions, comments, concerns, or ideas, feel free to email them to [email protected] and we will be in touch.
Video Timestamps
00:01:25 – Agenda Overview
00:02:25 – Introductions
00:05:22 – Fellow Testimonials
00:16:47 – Q & A
00:21:50 – Part 1: Experiments
00:22:03 – Context and Cultural Trends
Links shared in chat:
1970 vs. 2020 How Working Through College Has Changed
00:25:48 – Recent Experiments: Recruitment, Communications, Alumni Engagement
Links shared in chat:
Madison Rose on Living in Intentional Community
00:36:08 – Q & A
00:46:09 – Young Adult Survey
Links shared in chat:
Read the blog about the young adult survey
00:51:55 – Part 2: Board Discernment
00:53:16 – Fundraising Successes and Financial Responsibility
00:56:04 – Ways to Support QVS
Links shared in chat:
Request QVS Staff to Visit your local Meeting or Church
Email Haley Castle-Miller, Development and Outreach Coordinator
00:58:02 – Program Shifts
00:59:36 – Shorter Program Year
Links shared in chat:
Read the blog post about a shorter program year
01:01:29 – Summer Program
Links shared in chat:
Read the blog post about a pilot summer program
01:03:16 – Boston Angelic Troublemakers (BATs) Cohort
Links shared in chat:
Read the blog about the BAT Cohort
01:05:03 – Expanding Site Placement Options
01:07:17 – Financial Shifts
Links shared in chat:
Read the blog about financial shifts
01:09:42 – QVS Returning to the Twin Cities
Links shared in chat:
Read the blog about returning the the Twin Cities
01:12:17 – Timeline
01:14:28 – Part 3: Q & A
01:27:30 – Closing and Thank You for Supporting QVS!
A Reawakening in the Twin Cities
Photo: A potluck hosted by the Local Support Committee in the Twin Cities last year. Local enthusiasm for QVS kept the door open for a possible return to the Twin CitiesLast Spring, the QVS Board of Directors made the difficult decision to pause the program in...
We’re expanding our programing!
Photo: The QVS Boston house on retreat in Sandwich, NH in the summer of 2023. If you read our blog about a shortened program year, you might be wondering, what will QVS do with the extended summer break? We are piloting a summer program! There are endless...
There are bats moving into the Boston QVS house.
Photo: The QVS Boston house at National Orientation in August 2023. Bayard Rustin, the gay Quaker civil rights activist, said that “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.” We’re creating a cohort for Boston Angelic Troublemakers (BATs)...
Invest in QVS
When you give to QVS you are: empowering young adults to explore their spirituality and vocation; increasing capacity of social change and service organizations; fostering intergenerational connections in Friends meetings and churches; and building new leadership for the Religious Society of Friends and the world.
Consider giving a one-time or recurring gift online today to help sustain our program, or be in touch with us about non-financial or deferred giving options.
For more information about giving or to get connected to one of our program cities, contact Claire, our Development Director, [email protected].