Founded last spring, 100+ Women Who Care, Powell River Chapter, has exceeded expectations in terms of membership and donations, according to its chair Tara Chernoff.
“We would have been happy if we had 30 women sign up, and 30 signed up, then 40, 50; it grew very fast,” said Chernoff. “At last count we were at 158 members.”
At the group’s inaugural meeting last July it raised $5,500 for Friends of Powell River, an organization that provides food, clothing and activities for underprivileged children in the community.
“We will be able to pay for a school year’s worth of breakfast, lunch and snacks for little ones who need it at three different schools,” said Friends of Powell River founder Melanie Jordan.
Having this level of response so quickly in a town the size of Powell River is impressive, according to 100+ Women marketing director Jessica Thomson.
“More than 150 members is really awesome, especially in a smaller community,” said Thomson. “It’s a pretty unique community because everybody always wants to lend a hand and help others out.”
In 2006, before crowdfunding swept the internet as a means of quickly raising money, Karen Dunigan of Jackson, Michigan, raised $10,000 in an hour by hosting a meeting of 100 women where each wrote a cheque for $100. It enabled the group to buy 300 new baby cribs for an organization in their city.
Since then, chapters of 100+ Women Who Care have sprung up around the world. The concept is simple, according to Chernoff. Women who join the group are asked to nominate a local charity or non-profit organization they would like to donate to. A few weeks before the meeting a committee comes together and randomly selects three organizations that are then asked to make five-minute presentations to the assembled group.
Members vote for the organization they want their $50 cheque to go to and the group with the most votes becomes the main recipient. Meetings take place four times a year.
“We’ve tried to do it in such a way that it remains financially sustainable,” said Chernoff. “$50 four times a year is a big commitment, but hopefully not so big that we’re excluding people.”
The most recent meeting took place on January 25, with Powell River Employment Program Society’s Community Resource Centre receiving the pledged amount of $7,900.
The money is a welcome addition to the centre’s yearly fundraising, according to society executive director Stuart Clark.
“We get pretty stable government funding for a lot of our programs, but for the Community Resource Centre, it’s really an ad hoc approach to fundraising where we pull from community donations,” said Clark. “This year we were still short about $10,000.”
Donations are a big piece of the organization, but the chance to meet other like-minded women and learn more about the community is of equal value, said Chernoff.
“It’s amazing to see a room full of women who just by collaborating and cooperating can make such an impact in such a short period of time,” said Chernoff. “These meetings are so positive and it really lets you see the good that goes on.”
