La Leche League Breastfeeding Helpline – US
Monthly Director’s Update- November 2013
Laura Goodwin-Wright
Snapshot:
Coordinator Cases: 36
Total Cases logged in Salesforce: 350
Total Calls reported from Vocalocity: 3241
Total Calls lasting less than:
30 seconds = 1225
1 minute = 2903
Total Calls received lasting more than 1 minute = 338
Total Cases Documented = 350
Administrative Responsibilities:
* Log a minimum of 30 calls a month, with the goal of responding to all calls within 48 hours
*Administer and evaluate Vocalocity, Salesforce, Hale.
*Continue monitoring service and keep attuned to future options for enhanced service options.
New:
Coordinator logged 36 calls.
Ongoing:
I am investigating and practicing running reports, extracting useful statistics, and becoming comfortable with the
functions I was not able to access/use before. This is getting easier, but this system is very rich. There are many,
many things to learn… I could easily spend 40 hours just browsing all the different functions.
There are some enhanced service options that I am investigating and may recommend for better management. One
is call monitoring. This could be helpful when training new volunteers. It would allow me to listen in on their first
few calls and “whisper” in their ear (the caller would not hear me.)
I am really jumping into Salesforce on another project as well, so I am looking forward to making some suggestions
about how we use Salesforce and how we can optimize our use soon.
Financial Responsibilities:
*Ensure stable finances, help find and work with those interested in securing funding, solicit donations, provide
receipts and appreciation to donors, and apply for grants and other funding.
New:
The Power of 7 – began developing ideas around this project –planning for a November release/launch.
Looking forward to making enigmatic posts to Facebook and Twitter…
Ask me about The Power of 7!
As soon as we have a paypal button generated for this it will be ready to launch!
Ongoing:
I am working on ways to solicit recurring individual donations.
In 2012 316.23 Billion Dollars were given to philanthropic organizations.
Of that total:
 7% came from bequests
 6% from Corporations
 15% from Foundations
 72% from individuals.
I am coming to the realization, that in order to be fully funded, we will need a solid individual donor base.
I hesitate to solicit too heavily among LLL Leaders, as I believe they are already over-solicited by LLLI.
I am thinking more towards soliciting Group moms and their families, and individuals helped by our services.
Maybe a monthly-giving club?
I would welcome any thoughts about this… including names for different levels of giving.
Looking over Kellogg Foundation Grant opportunities.
I am working on a new solicitation letter to send out to potential sponsors. I would like to format tiers of giving
based roughly on the World Breastfeeding Week donation levels.
I recently learned of a Bi-Lo/Winn Dixie Grant opportunity. The deadline has passed for this year, but it is now on my
calendar for next year.
I am soliciting donations for an online auction.
I registered the Helpline with BidSync, but it has not been useful. Basically, it will notify me if there are any
government contracts requesting the services we provide.
I am continuing to check grant opportunities through grants.gov.
Volunteers:
*Coordinate, recruit, train, motivate and support volunteers.
*Keep appropriate records of volunteers and logs of calls as needed.
*Provide resources (PL, legal, and directories) for volunteer operators with emphasis on medical escalations.
New:
I have trained 4 new volunteers and discussed training with 2 potential volunteers.
Survey Results:
No new responses.
Ongoing:
Updated Training manual has been uploaded to shared documents.
I am continuing to invite previous volunteers to take the survey.
Looking at the statistics as listed in the Snapshot (top of page), I believe there is at least one volunteer not accurately
logging calls. I will begin a new discussion about the reporting requirement on the e-mail list.
I am working to gain a better understanding of the PL resources available and to recruit new PL Resources. Do you
have any recommendations or job description for this? As new PL Leaders are being appointed, is there anything
I should keep in mind when inviting them to join us?
Greater LLL Community Relations:
*Communicate and work with the Advisory Council on an ongoing basis, and communicate with LLLI representatives
as needed.
*Communicate with the greater LLL community regarding accomplishments, work and needs, including insuring an
up-to-date Web site presence and articles in LLL publications, with emphasis on the LLL community.
New:
Nothing new this month.
Ongoing:
Completed PowerPoint presentation for use at Leader events.
The second Continuum article was published and I submitting requests for an Operator profile for the next issue.
I have been gaining a greater understanding of these responsibilities and I am working on several ideas to
accomplish these responsibilities.