2. Furthering Results with County-
Focused Leadership Councils
Jenna Civitello
Director of Stewardship and Leadership
Volunteer Engagement

3. Outline
• The what and why of Leadership Councils (LC)
• Recruiting LC members
• Coordinating LC meetings and tools for
empowering volunteers
• Case study: results from Pinellas Leadership
Council
• Q and A with LC Co-Chairs

4. Cheryle Tuttle

5. Rob Van Tassel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RJmc6Ucs_4

6. Me

7. You
• Does your agency currently have leadership
councils?
– Success stories?
– Challenges/concerns?
• Do you want to start a leadership council?
• What do you hope to learn from this session?

8. Moving Forward Together
• Why Leadership Councils
– Assistance with advocacy, mentor recruitment,
and fundraising
– Donor and volunteer engagement
• Case Study: Pinellas Leadership Council (PLC)
– At BBBSTB, LC affinity based on county
– Other options: young professionals, university,
companies for kids, etc.

9. Recruiting Council Members: Criteria
• Geographic distribution
• Corporate representation
• Bigs (+ former Bigs/Littles)
• Donors
• Community leaders
• Diversity
• Specific talents
– Auctions, social media, etc.

10. Name Company Talents
Matt Women’s Tennis Association BB; Frenchy’s Gumbo Tennis Classic
Roxanne Community Volunteer BS School-Based; Silent auction experience
Marti Tampa Bay Times Former Board; Media connections
Alush Bouchard Insurance Former Little; Prominent local company
Berny State Attorney's Office BB; Politically active, young professional
Thomas Stevie & Fern BB; Marketing and St. Pete connections
Adam HSN BB; Corporate sponsor and location for events
Sean Raymond James BB; Board member; corporate sponsor
Jessica Valpak Corporate sponsor; internal communications
Diane Allstate BS; Employee giving campaign
Recruiting Council Members: PLC

11. Recruiting Council Members: Materials
• Letter from CEO
• Agreement
• Application
• Previous Year Results/Current Year Plan

12. Invitation Letter
It is our distinct pleasure to inform you of your nomination to join a select advisory group for Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Tampa Bay: the Pinellas Leadership Council. The mission of this Council, which will hold its
inaugural meeting in January 2015, is to provide leadership, guidance and volunteer support for local
recruitment initiatives, marketing and fundraising events all to advance the programs and mission of Big
Brothers Big Sisters.
Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring,
professionally supported 1-to-1 relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. As the nation’s
largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful,
monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in
communities across the country.
As of July 2014, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pinellas began to “Bridge the Bay” to mentor more kids by
teaming up with the Tampa agency! As Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, we are now serving over 3,400
youth plus their adult mentors in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Polk, and Sumter counties.
Even though we are a larger agency, we still want to stay closely connected with the Pinellas community.
That is why we need your help as a member of the Pinellas Leadership Council.
The initial commitment for this council is a one year term. The group will meet monthly and all members are
expected to actively participate in at least one event or committee per year. Please find enclosed a copy of
the full member agreement and application. We invite you to attend the first meeting to determine whether
or not the Council will be a good fit for you. Questions can be directed to STAFF LIASION.
Sincerely,
Stephen Koch David Fox
President and CEO Chairman of the Board

13. Agreement
• Financial
- support a match
• Advocacy and
Involvement
-50% meetings
• Ethical
• Recruitment
• Special Events
-2 events per year

14. Application
• Contact Information
• Employer Information
• Affiliation
• Areas of Interest

15. Council Meetings: 1 Year Overview
• 1Q Background and Goals
– Understanding fundraising, marketing, and program
departments
• 2Q Ideation Session
– Identifying talents and passions of LC members
• 3Q Planning
– Subcommittees plan fundraising and recruitment concepts
• 4Q Execution and Evaluation

16. Council Meetings: Sample Agenda
• Location Instructions
• Attendance
• Review of Goals
– Committee reports and volunteer sign ups
• Advocacy
• Mentor Recruitment
• Fundraising
– List of upcoming events
• Committee Breakouts

17. Council Meetings: Donor Stewardship

18. Council Meetings: Handouts
• Agenda
• Engagement Report/Sign Up Sheets
• Initiative Materials
• Upcoming Event Flyers

19. Council Tools:
Donor Distribution

20. Council Tools:
Potential Donors

21. Council Tools: Annual Report

22. Prep for
Ideation
• Biggest opportunities for
mentor recruitment and
fundraising
• Expectations for this LC
group
• Contributions (skills,
connections) which you
bring and why are you
donating your valuable
time

23. Council Meetings: Ideation Session
• Divide into groups to generate several fundraising and
recruitment concepts (strategies or events) to present to
the Council.
– Start with individual brainstorming- list each idea on
note card
– Determine top 3-5 ideas and fill out platform sheet
– Present platform ideas to full group
• Group votes on top ideas (5 votes per person)
• Resources: 2015 All Agency Calendar of Events,
Recruitment Strategies, Comments from surveys

24. Platform:
The Objective (identify
problem and solution)
Name the Idea (make it
fun!)
Description of the Idea
(be specific)
Why it is unique to us
(hard for others to copy)
What barriers might
there be to execution?
What is the estimated
value of the idea?
Raise $20,000 through event by end of year.
Reduce waiting list by 40 by the end of the year.

25. Council Meetings: Ideation Session

26. Council Meetings: Ideation Session
Recruitment
• Big for a Day event
• Bring a friend (potential Big) to match events
• Recruitment with educational institutions- graduate program which require
community involvement (USF, Stetson, SPC, HCC, UT, Cooley Law)
• Partnership with other organizations with similar interests or can provide
experiences for children
• Appeal to young people as mentors and volunteers to build pipeline for future
• Encourage Bigs to talk up their match
• Setting up a Big Brother ‘Mentor’ network’ to give step-step advice to other
potential Bigs or new Bigs
• Approach businesses to set up employee perks for volunteering
• Seek restaurants to donate catering for corporate partner lunches to recruit Bigs
• Target companies with young professionals as employees to encourage
volunteerism
• Short video about BBBS during Ray’s game
• One-on-one interaction at community events

27. Council Meetings: Ideation Session
Fundraising
• Work with other LCs to create an annual event
• Phone-a-thon (radio)
• Competitions to get people to raise $
• Create a culture, brand, event, or something that makes it fun for young
professionals to attend along with being “cool” to give back to society
• A huge fun event that targets young professionals or students like Dance
Marathon (people come because it is fun primarily but also a good cause)
• Signature event that is fun and impactful
• More BIG ideas (may have been difficult to raise $500 bowling, but can get $7K+
for climbing down a building)
• Fashion show with Bigs and Littles
• Top Chef contest with local chefs
• Company dress down day (pay to dress down goes to BBBS)
• Pay a sports game with celebrities
• Greater presence in community- BBBS as the “go to” org for donations
• Ask companies to donate $1250 in honor of each employee who becomes a Big
• Give Day Tampa Bay

28. Stars Behind the Bar

29. Stars Behind the Bar

30. Advocacy: Berny
Lobbying in Tallahassee

31. Recruiting: Michael
Recruited 20 Bigs in 3 years and was
honored by the Tampa Bay Lightning as
a Community Hero
http://video.lightning.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=947055

32. Fundraising: Matt
As an Edger, Matt raised $7,491 through
our Over the Edge event in 2015.

33. PLC Year End Review
• 22 members
– 17 attended 50% of meetings
• Advocacy
– Social media coverage SBTB
• Fundraising
– Goal: $1,250 x 22 = $27,500
– Result: $43,000!!!
– Stars Behind the Bar: 150 attended and raised $5,800
• Mentor Recruitment
– 11 inquiries/applications; event at HSN

34. PLC Year End Review

35. PLC Year End Review

36. Other BBBSTB Leadership Councils
• Hillsborough LC
– About 10 years old; raised $85,000 in 2015
– 40 members but only about half active
• Polk LC
– Restarted in 2015
– Annual ASK event raised $20,000 compared to only
about $6,000 in 2014
• Pasco LC
– Started in 2016
– Great recommendations from Dir. of Partnerships

37. Leadership Council Collaboration
• Interest in program statistics for each county
• Demographics: ideally want a mix of young
professionals, mid-career, and retired
• How to build in accountability
• Subcommittees to increase engagement
• LC collaboration- March Matchness
• Presentation kits

38. Appreciation

39. Q and A with Rob and Cheryle
• How you became involved with BBBS?
• Why you agreed to join the Leadership
Council?
• Role as Co-Chairs: challenges and rewards
• What are key aspects of staff support and
members to create a successful LC?
• YOUR QUESTIONS…

40. Questions
Jenna Civitello
Director of Stewardship and Leadership
Volunteer Engagement
JennaC@bbbstampabay.org
813-769-3602