Blueprint for the Future
Deadline extended for feedback on Blueprint for the Future
The International Board and Governance Advisory Committee have extended the deadline for feedback on the Blueprint for the Future to 31 October 2026. Please send your feedback, questions and suggestions to governanceblueprint@zonta.org. You can find the Blueprint for the Future Executive Summary, Full report and Q&As at https://www.zonta.org/Web/My_
Note from Governor Lynn:
The ZI Blueprint presents some interesting changes in the way we work. I encourage you to look at the summary. In a nutshell, to reduce costs for members and to facilitate consistency in messaging, in a few years each district will be a country with one Governor. Rather than twelve Governors in the United States, there will be one. We know Governors having more than one country in their district creates some confusion, especially when you don’t know the ins and outs of the other country’s advocacy options, and some unique opportunities, like cross-country conferences and relationship building. The positive thing here is that countries will be able to design their own governance structure under one Governor.
On August 10th I will met with all the D1 Presidents to talk about these changes and how it might impact our district. In October, all the North American Governors will meet to start discussing what this could look like in the United States. Over the next year we will identify the concerns, brainstorm possibilities, and bring in other Zontians to create a proposal. We will take in all the concerns about what we might lose and all the hopes of what we might gain. The goal is to create a governance structure that meets our needs as a very large country – geographically and club/member-wise. We will find ways to maintain the things we enjoy about our relationships with our clubs in Canada.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. The deadline for feedback from the districts is the end of October. Together we will work to make these changes enhance our ability to build a better world for women and girls.
As a global membership organization, Zonta International has been supporting women and girls for more than 106 years. While our vision and mission remain as relevant as ever the challenges with a declining and aging membership base are affecting: Our ability to enhance the visibility of Zonta as an international women’s rights organization, and The impact of our global advocacy efforts and international service programs.
This executive summary (and related Blueprint for the Future) summarizes the results of that work and sets out the case for change for discussion with members commencing at the 2026 Convention in Vancouver.
Successive boards have recognized this, and with the development of the 2030 Strategic Plan, the organization now has a longer-term future-oriented focus. As this has implications for Zonta’s governance arrangements 2024–2026 International President Salla Tuominen established a Governance Working Group “to analyze how the Zonta International governance structure could be streamlined and -modernized” to ensure Zonta’s long-term sustainability.
