Our membership year starts from Sept. 30 -Aug. 31st of the following year:  

Achievements
    Diversified the offerings of Sponsor of the Month
    Continued to add new sponsors to our list of growing sponsors expanding  our members' benefits
    Goodie bags to give away at events including at Membership Drive
    Designed the member's gift: a sturdy tote bag large enough for one week's worth of groceries

Efforts to increase membership have included:

• Many interesting events attracted a wide array of women of different backgrounds and nationalities.
• Our membership drive at Otto was a huge success with approximately 140 women joining that night.
• More support from sponsors to enhance the value of being an EPWS member
• Word -of-mouth from members and board - thank you!

Total number of members at the same time last year:
AGM 07:  195  
AGM 08:  252 (record number) and a strong increase of  22.6%.
AGM 09:  224

Though less than the total this time last year, we still had a very solid year with a current total of 226 members given this year's financial crisis. In early September, before the crisis, over 140 women joined or renewed their membership, a record for any single EPWS event.  

Of this total, EPWS is a truly global organization with a membership represented by 35 nationalities. In addition to English-speaking countries such as UK, Ireland, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, our members come from Europe such as Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia; Asia: Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines; Latin America: Columbia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico; Middle East: Jordan and Israel.

This is not the final number. I expect the number of members to increase for this year our membership as our total membership was 221 members by the end of August 2007 and over 270 members by August 2008.
 
Our work with our Sponsors:
The number of sponsors offering special offers and discounts exclusive to EPWS members has more than doubled, increasing from 34 sponsors this year, compared to 11 two years ago and 34 last year. Increased efforts to work with sponsors are:

• Goodie bags - contributed to goodie bags
• Raffles at mixers (charity)
• Sponsor of the Month

Membership Directory

To do our part in sustaining the environment, EPWS will no longer print Membership Directory to distribute at the AGM. Instead, members wanting the directory may email Jane at info@epws-shanghai.org to receive an electronic copy.