The Greater Delaware Valley (GDV) Chapter is pleased to announce our newly appointed Chapter Board President Travis M. Rhodes, Regional President for the Delaware Valley/Lehigh Valley Region for Truist Financial Corporation.  A longtime supporter of JDRF, Travis has served on both JDRF boards in North Carolina and in the Greater Delaware Valley since his daughter Brooke was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) at the age of eight.

For Travis’ full bio, please click here.

Under Travis’ leadership, the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter Board of Directors will focus its work on chapter-wide opportunities in fundraising, account management, pursuit of growth opportunities, and strategic support of chapter and organizational opportunities.

Our Mission Boards in South Jersey, Eastern PA, and Delaware will continue to support JDRF fundraising priorities in those communities, engaging those communities with the JDRF mission and networking in the community.

Our Greater Delaware Valley Chapter staff partners will lead and support our volunteer partners, ensure fundraising and advocacy goals are achieved, manage the resources of the organization, steward JDRF relationships and ensure adherence to the JDRF Code of Ethics.

Amplifying Our Impact: JDRF’s Strategic Priorities

Recently, Travis shared with the GDV Chapter Board of Directors his vision for the chapter and the three key concepts to focus on in support of our core mission of raising dollars to wipe T1D off the face of the planet.  These three concepts include:

1. Our Vision and Mission – “A world without type 1 Diabetes and Improving lives today and tomorrow by accelerating life-changing breakthrough to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications.”  Travis is a strong believer that people’s actions are driven by their beliefs or convictions.  Consistent actions over long periods of time are the outgrowth of these beliefs or convictions evolving into passions.  As we continue to grow our chapter, funder base and circle of influence around our individual passion, we must find a way to connect more people to the Vision and Mission of JDRF that helps them to shape their own beliefs on why funding this organization is important.
2. Unity – We are stronger together.  Over the past couple of years, we have brought independent chapters into one chapter, which Travis believes will make us stronger.  As we continue the great work already accomplished of uniting around our passion of “A World without T1D” our collective focus should be to continue this journey in building our new chapter.  We should celebrate our history and focus on building for the future and building for better.
3. Alignment – We are all proud of the work being accomplished by JDRF.  It is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes research.  Travis’ hope is that we continue to understand the path JDRF International is on and understand how we, locally, most efficiently and effectively support the work being accomplished.  This primarily comes through fundraising, but how to most effectively sustain long term fundraising success is evolving.  We must evolve with it.

A world without type 1 diabetes (T1D) always has been JDRF’s vision.  Thanks to unprecedented advances in T1D research and therapy development, we are now on the verge of that vision becoming a reality.  JDRF has ambitious goals to further accelerate the path to cures and improve live, and thereby amplify our impact in the US and around the world.

JDRF’s goals are bold, designed for maximum impact and will require deliberate decision-making at every turn.  For the next four years, here are the four strategic priorities that will serve as the guideposts on our organizational road map.

• Advance Therapies – We will drive more therapies through the T1D research and development pipeline, from discovery research and clinical trials to therapy development, regulatory approval and healthcare access.
• Raise More Funds – We will facilitate growth at all levels of giving: from our peer-to-peer programs like Walk, Ride and digital fundraising, to leadership gifts and corporate partnerships. We will drive for higher rates of growth from major donors while simultaneously stabilizing our foundational fundraising events and programs, which serves as an entry point for so many of our supporters.
• Activate More Volunteers – We will increase the number of people donating, fundraising, volunteering, and advocating on behalf of the JDRF mission. We will bolster our programs and make them more inclusive of the full spectrum of people who lives are improved by our mission, cultivating a more diverse, global constituency.  We will strategically deploy our volunteers’ strengths so that they are empowered to make the greatest impact possible.
• Power Progress – We will optimize and leverage our systems to gather the highest quality of data possible. This is so that we will focus on the opportunities that offer the most return on the investment of our resources.  We will elevate the JDRF brand and activate more supporters by increasing engagement across our channels.

By focusing on these priorities, JDRF will break down more barriers across the pipeline and further accelerate life-changing breakthroughs, enabling better outcomes, and ultimately, cures.  Thanks to our amazing volunteers, donors, and partners – YOU – for making such a positive impact in the lives of those living with T1D.   Even during a global pandemic that upended our fundraising model and continues to impact so many lives, YOU have continued to drive the JDRF mission forward.

Thank you to all of our volunteers, donors and partners for your unwavering support and generosity over this past challenging year!  We need each and every JDRF supporter to help us maintain mission momentum in the days ahead!

For a full outline of the new JDRF vision please visit: https://www.jdrf.org/greaterdelawarevalley/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2021/07/Amplifying-Our-Impact-JDRFs-Strategic-Priorities.pdf