Membership Nomination Instructions and Guidelines

NOMINATION PERIOD OPEN APRIL 1 THROUGH APRIL 30

Thank you for considering a candidate for membership. Before you begin filling out the Nomination Form, take time to review these instructions and considerations. Please respond to the questions thoroughly and add any anecdotes that will aid the Committee in reviewing your candidate.

1. DO NOT tell your candidate that she is being nominated.
2. Review the criteria carefully. It is important to note that the candidate must meet all of the criteria – both professionally and in their sphere of influence. See criteria here.
3. If you have questions about whether your nominee meets our criteria, please contact Membership Co-Chairs,  aoliphant@walf.org  and jmp@collaborativeinnovationpartners.com, before you submit the Nomination Form.
4. There is no limit to how many nominations you can make.
5. Although we no longer require a Co-Sponsor, one can be helpful when the nominee is being vetted by the Membership Committee. Additionally, a Co-Sponsor can be beneficial in sharing the responsibility of hosting a welcome event and playing a role as the new member’s guide into our Forum. If you do have a Co-Sponsor, she MUST provide a recommendation letter, describing how she knows the candidate and the ways in which the nominee meets the criteria, and it must be submitted prior to the nomination due date (April 30) in order to be considered.
6. Do not contact non-members for your research. Confidentiality is critical.
7. A word about the process: Do not tell your candidate that she is being nominated. Submission of a nomination does not guarantee approval. The Membership Committee does considerable research and vetting of nominees. The discussions are professional, discreet, confidential, and rigorous about the criteria. Many hours are logged to research nominees and preserve the integrity of our process. The Committee votes anonymously and confidentially. The slate of approvals is then submitted to IWF – Trusteeship Board of Directors for their approval. If you have shared with a prospect that she is being nominated, it can be very awkward to explain to your candidate why she wasn’t approved and the burden of that communication will fall on you.
8. Do not lobby for your candidate. We know that our enthusiasm for our own nominees can be great but members, including Membership Committee members, should not feel any pressure to endorse your nominee.
9. The nominee should have a record of success in their current position. It has been the practice to defer the review of candidates until they have served in their role for a year or more. This is especially the case when the candidate has received a substantial promotion. Consideration will be accorded to a candidate who has held a substantially similar role at another organization.
10. Preeminence suggests only one woman per organization, however; in the case of mega-sized companies, exceptions may be made. More commonly, a mega-sized organization that has subsidiaries may have several preeminent women. In that case, we may invite more than one subsidiary leader.
11. Do not wait until the last day to submit if you have completed the nomination.

Please note, if you are saving the form to come back to it later, the nomination form will provide you a link directly on the site. You must save this link to return to the form. It is up to you to save the form link at the time you are filling it out. We do not want your work to be lost, so please be mindful in saving your link. Another option is to download the Nomination form Word doc so that you can come back to it later if you are not able to complete the form in one sitting. The word document will be saved on your computer’s “Download” folder.

To nominate someone, please go to the Nomination Form.

Download the Nomination Word Doc here.