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10/05/2016 10:01 AMSuzie Woodward wants to make a difference in charitable giving, but not by herself. She is organizing a local chapter of 100+ Women Who Care, a network with groups both in the United States and abroad, advocating an innovative approach to charitable giving. Some 30 women attended Woodward’s recent informational meeting. The philosophy behind the 100+ Women Who Care is simple: by joining together to make charitable gifts, the amounts donated can be significantly larger and have greater impact. The goal is to have groups of 100 or more members.
All 100+ Women groups meet four times a year. All members commit to making a $100 donation at each of the four meetings to a charity the entire membership has agreed upon. Each member gets to put the name of one charity in a hat and four are drawn out. Three will be presented as candidates for charitable donation at the next quarterly session and one is an alternate.
The person who submitted the name of the charity commits to making a presentation at the next meeting. Only members can speak for the charity; no outside organizers are permitted. Each presentation can take only five minutes with an additional five minutes, but no more, for questions. At the end of the three presentations, the members vote on which charity will be the beneficiary of their donations. Only one of the three charities can be selected. Then each woman writes her own check to the charity, not to 100+ Women Who Care.
Because no checks are written directly to the 100+ Women, the group does not have to go through all the legal and paperwork of setting up a tax-deductible charitable organization. But that does not mean that charitable deductions for tax purposes are not feasible. Since the organizations to which checks will be written have the necessary charitable status, the donations themselves remain charitable deductions. Woodward said she would vet the charitable groups to make sure they had the correct legal status.
Some of those who attended the meeting asked why money collected could not be divided among all three charities presented. Woodward explained that the aim was to emphasize the effectiveness of collective giving.
“The collective wisdom of the room and the test of the vote say where the dollars go,” she said.
She pointed out that even the organizations not chosen have had the opportunity to have their charitable work publicized to the group.
The charity selected to receive the donation must commit not to solicit any of the members of 100+ Women for a year. The charity must also report to the group at its next meeting how its donation is being used.
Woodward emphasized that coming to the quarterly meeting and writing the $100 check are all that would be asked of members. Meetings themselves will take only one hour, though there will be time for socialization before and after.
“We will start and end on time, and there are no other commitments, no silent auctions, no walk-a-thons, no car washes,” she said. “We want to focus our efforts and make this hassle free.”
Woodward, who describes herself as a facilitator, explains the organization has no formal officers or structure. All involved are volunteers and there is no administrative overhead.
“It is efficient, effective and simple; four meetings, four hours a year,” she said.
Woodward first learned about 100+ Women in her native Michigan, where the first group started in 2006 when Karen Dunigan learned through a family health center in which she was involved that mothers were putting their newborns in dresser drawers and boxes or their own beds because they did not have cribs. Dunigan got together some 100 friends and each wrote a check for $100 and bought 300 cribs and the bedding to go with them.
Today there are some 350 groups worldwide, encompassing not only women who care, but also men who care, as well as children who care and groups that welcome both men and women. In Connecticut, the only other group is in Fairfield County.
Woodward, who owns Lark boutique in Chester, said she has wanted to start a group in lower Connecticut River valley since she moved here six years ago, but at first she felt she did not have a wide enough circle of acquaintances.
“I waited until I thought the time was right, that I had credibility,” she said.
Those at the recent meeting expressed enthusiasm for the plan.
“I’m here because I like this idea,” said Joann Hourgan of Deep River.
Pamela Lape of Chester echoed her words.
“It’s a fabulous idea,” she said.
Pat Holloway, also a Chester resident, concurred, saying, “If you give to an organization yourself, you can only give so much. This way, you can really make an impact.”
Subsequent meetings of the group will take place quarterly. The next meeting is on Tuesday, Nov. 15 and again on Feb. 21, May 16, and Aug. 17, 2017. All meetings will start at 6 p.m. at the Gelston House in East Haddam.
For more information, email Suzie Woodward at ctwomencare@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page www.facebook.com/100WomenWhoCareLowerCTRiverValley.