Last year, the JDRF Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter began building and launching its own two-year strategic plan known as the Chapter Optimization Plan. This plan included an analysis of the chapter to identify areas of strength, growth, and opportunity to ensure we are meeting the ever increasing needs to fund type 1 diabetes (T1D) research; engage our government and healthcare partners through advocacy; and be a source of information, support, and service to those living with T1D and their families.

Within the first year of the Chapter Optimization Plan, the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter has leveraged its history and worked to maximize its potential to support the vision and mission of JDRF by fostering a culture which maximized return on investment, engaged a high impact volunteer team, and developed and utilized a better constituent-centric strategy for community relationships.

Now that we are one year into the two-year plan, we wanted to share some of our chapter’s successes that YOU made possible:

• Generated over $4.6 million to support JDRF mission priorities
• Held the highest grossing gala in our chapter’s 48-year history!
• Increased our health system partnerships to better support newly diagnosed individuals and community education
• Expanded our chapter partnerships to include West Pharmaceuticals and Novo Nordisk
• Nearly doubled the number of outreach volunteers to provide information, comfort, care, and support for those living with T1D
• Increased our Ride to Cure Diabetes program funds by 29 percent over the previous year
• Increased our office volunteer pool, who now contribute over 160 volunteer hours per month in the chapter office
• Received our best internal audit in over six years
• Nearly tripled the number of newly diagnosed families engaged with the One Walk Program, introducing 771 new people to our JDRF family and the support that comes with being part of this team
• Increased our stewardship efforts to ensure those who support JDRF know how much they are appreciated

As we embark on our new fiscal year, we also wanted to share some things you can expect to see in the months ahead:

• Growth in team and sponsorship support of our four One Walk events chapter-wide
• Expanded corporate partnerships to provide mission, volunteer and mission support opportunities (Have a company to refer? Contact us here.)
• Expanded health system partnerships that will connect those living with T1D with JDRF information, services, and support
• Increased engagement with and support of adults living with T1D
• Increased support for students and employees of school systems affected by T1D and engage them with the JDRF community (Want to refer us to your child’s school? Contact us here.)
• Increased volunteer opportunities for those wishing to play a role in supporting JDRF mission and fundraising initiatives (Want to learn how you can volunteer? Contact us here.)
• Development of a District Captain model for our chapter’s advocacy program to ensure ongoing relationship management with our members of Congress
• Increased financial resources for JDRF research and mission priorities by connecting generous philanthropists and family foundations to innovative opportunities (Want to learn more? Contact us here.)
• Growth of our TypeOneNation Summit educational conference (Save the date: Saturday, February 23, 2019!)