There’s a new group of local female fundraisers and their goal is to donate $10,000 every three months to needy organizations.
The group 100 Women Who Care — Westlock handed out its first donation Nov. 16 to the Westlock and District Food Bank.
And although they don’t quite have 100 women involved yet, $9,000 was given to food bank president Sharon Kennedy.
One of the group’s founders Deneen Ducharme said that at the end of September she was visiting with a girlfriend and discussing fundraising ideas.
Her friend asked her if she had ever heard of 100 Women Who Care and Ducharme said she researched it online when she returned home.
“I really like the idea of it, so I brought it forward to a couple of girlfriends here in Westlock and we all thought that it was a great idea, so then we started promoting it. We really did get a favourable response,” she said.
She said the beauty of the initiative is its simplicity.
The 100 Women Who Care — Westlock has a Facebook page, and it has helped, Ducharme said, but the real start of it was by word of mouth.
“You have 10 friends who tell 10 friends, and so it just kind of carried on that way. And then we had people contacting us.”
100 Women Who Care started in the U.S. by a woman who saw a need in her community, just as Ducharme has.
The concept is intentionally simple as it encourages women of all ages and interests to contribute to a unified effort of substantial support to people or groups who need their help. It is not a registered charity, a non-profit organization, or a club. They are simply facilitators bringing the area’s giving women and hard-working local charitable organizations together for awareness, support and impact.
Members commit to meeting one hour every three months. Membership is $100 for a yearly total of $400, while a $10 fee is requested to cover administration fees. Members agree that majority rules and will support the organization the group chooses to support.
After a simple registration form is completed and the donation commitment of four post-dated cheques is supplied, a member can nominate a local charity of their choice by completing a form.
At each meeting, three organizations drawn from those submitted will be in attendance and each given five minutes to explain what their need and what they intend to do with the money.
After each speaks, a secret vote is held and the organization with the most votes gets the money. It is up to the recipient group to provide receipts.
That group cannot apply for any further funds from the group for a year, while the other two groups are put back into the hat and added to the list and may be selected to put in their bid for funding at a later meeting.
“One hundred per cent of the donation goes to that organization,” Ducharme emphasized.
She noted too, in order to become one of the charities selected, they must be nominated by a 100 Women member.
And while a membership of 100 women may be the initial goal, Ducharme said they hope to soon surpass that number.
The next evening to give away $10,000 or perhaps more to a non-profit or charitable organization goes at 7 p.m. again in the all-purpose room at R.F. Staples School on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.
For more information contact Ducharme at 780-349-0302 or [email protected]; Denise Boulerice at 780-307-1599. or [email protected]; Kathy Hall at 780-307-1197, or earthangel [email protected]; Tammy Round at 780-307-1235 or [email protected].
