LISTENING AND TAKING ACTION Together...

We are very good listeners, but even more important we are a powerful group of women who aim to make our community a better place to live.  One organization at a time.

We listened to four very informative  presentations on Wednesday night at the Blacksburg Library from 6- 7 p.m.  We learned about the following organizations:

1) Montgomery County Humane Society

2) Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program

3) Stadium Woods

4) Montgomery County Christmas Store

Although only one organization can receive the funds---it was Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program this time, everyone at the meeting felt great about what we were doing.  Everyone felt like a WINNER!

It's been a joy to be part of these meetings.....so much to learn about and so empowering to come together with other women and very quickly donate over $1000.

We want YOU to be a part of our group too!  Our goal is to provide 10K each quarter (March, June, September and December)  to LOCAL organizations who are in need.

JOIN us today and be a part of a growing movement that makes a difference---quickly and without taking too much time to do so (a definite plus).

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Alexa and Beth
Co-founders of 100+ Women Who Care

Email address:  100wwc.nrv@gmail.com
Blog site:  www.100wwcnrv.blogspot.com
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/100womenwhocarenrv
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/100NRVWomen

SHAZAM!

Our first quarterly meeting of the 100+ Women Who Care in the NRV resulted in $1000.00 for the Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry.  Lisa Machi, pictured here, is a member of the 100+ Women Who Care who nominated the organization.

The Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry offers basic food supplies, once a month, to low-income Blacksburg residents or those in emergency situations, including homeless individuals and families. 

Currently the Interfaith Food Pantry is able to provide groceries each month valued at approximately $100 to $200 depending on family size and food availability. The Interfaith Food Pantry is currently serving 700 or more individuals each month. Potential recipients are screened for eligibility by New River Community Action in Christiansburg. 

We've given enough to feed about 10 families for a month through the Food Pantry.  Hopefully you feel good about your contribution.  If you aren't currently a member, but are considering it, please join us.  We can make long-lasting changes in our community with your help.

While the majority of the Interfaith Food Pantry’s clients work, minimum wage jobs do not always enable recipients to feed their families.  

We are thrilled to be able to join together as a local group of women--relatively small group currently--in order to provide such a substantial donation to our local charity.  We meet quarterly and pool money together in order to support our local charities.  Your help is much needed and appreciated.

Our next meeting is in a couple weeks, Wednesday December 10th at 6 p.m. at the Blacksburg Library.

The groups for our Second Quarterly meeting include the following:

1)  Montgomery Emergency Assistance Program

2)  Mongomery County Christmas Store

3)  Montgomery County Humane Society

4)  Save Stadium Woods

Please become a donating member and hopefully each quarter we can continue to grow until we reach $10,000 per quarter.  $10,000 is our ultimate goal--Imagine what our local charities can do with $10,000!

We need your support to help us reach this goal.  We also look forward to your input regarding nominations too...so imagine giving to YOUR favorite charities along with 100+ other woman.

Members are able to nominate their favorite charity....what organization would you like to donate over $1000 to in our community?

Join Us!  We can all make a difference!  We aren't stopping until we reach $10,000.00 each quarter.  Many other groups have done it, we can do it too!

We are also putting names into a drawing to win a FREE massage from Patsy Jansons.  Sign up now and become part of our local NRV group!

Please feel free to email us at www.100wwc.nrv@gmail.com if you have any questions or need more information.

In community,
Alexa and Beth

Not too long ago, I was meeting with a prospective member of 100+ Women discussing all things 'charity' and we touched upon unsolicited solicitations and how to protect ourselves from the overwhelming number of them (particularly this time of year!!).

As is my style, I obsessed over what to do and how to help others and came across a great organization called Charity Watchdog (www.charitywatch.com), formerly the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP).  Not only do they have very current information regarding global needs, but they are an independent assessor of all things charity.

They have a great article on seven ways in which you can minimize solicitations.  I have printed them out and am putting them into action.  I suggest you do the same.

It is particularly important because often such solicitations are fraudulent.  We need to protect ourselves as best we can against such scams and protect the elderly as well.  Take a few minutes to read through them.  I am convinced that you will be happy you did!

Their tips include:

1.     Be selective in your giving - when you give your name is added to the organization's mailing list.  Be sure you want to be on it!

2.    Enclose a note with your donation asking the organization not to rent, sell or exchange your name, address, and giving history to others.

3.    Ask the charity to reduce the frequency of their solicitations.  If they do not respond, consider changing who you support.  If you do not want to support an organization, ask to be removed from their list.  Be sure to save mailing labels!  They contain important information that will assist you in getting your name removed.

4.    Often these organizations rent or purchase mailing lists from the Direct Marketing Association.  Contact them online (https://www.dmachoice.org/register.php)  to have your name removed or write to them at:

Mail Preference Service

Direct Marketing Association

PO Box 643

Carmel, NY 10512

5.  Contact the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union) via toll-free #1-888-567-8688 to prevent pre-approved credit offers for up to two years and in writing to ask them not to disclose personal information for promotional purposes.

6.  To reduce unwanted telephone appeals you can complete an online form at: https://www.the-dma.org/cgi/offtelephonedave  or write to: 

Telephone Preference Service

Direct Marketing Association

PO Box 1559

Carmel, NY 10512

7.  Contact your local officials. 13 states in the U.S. are addressing the issue of unwanted mail and telephone solicitations. Check with the consumer protection agencies in your state and county concerning laws or regulations affecting unsolicited mail. Charities are often exempt from restrictions, but there are increasing efforts at the state level to reduce the burden of unwanted mail.

Good luck, be vigilant and continue to give to whom and how you want.

Having opted out of the commercialization and consumerism of the holiday season eight years ago, I was thrilled to learn of this newly created movement.  Our family no longer buys unwanted and unnecessary gifts.  We take turns selecting a charitable organization to contribute to.  Our children determine the amount they wish to give from their personal savings and we match it.  Our extended family is notified of the charity and each contributes what they can to it.  Some of us have taken to creating holiday ornaments that commemorate who chose the charity which charity it was, and the year of giving.  It's a beautiful and growing collection of ornaments.

Then, we spend time together creating memories.  Generally, we travel together.  It's amazing how much more relaxing the holiday season is, how good we feel about it, and how wonderful it is to see our children grow and develop through giving and learning about the world.

 Recently I learned of a relatively new movement, #GivingTuesday.  Its concept mirrors what 100+ Women Who Care - NRV is all about - the desire to harness the energy, caring, and power to give as a group in a single point in time.

"Started by charities in 2012, #GivingTuesday refers to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It began as a movement to create a national day of giving (it is now global!) to kick off the giving season as a response to the commercialization and consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. #GivingTuesday, has become an annual effort to harness the collective power of a unique blend of partners – charities, families, businesses and individuals – to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season."

We hope you will catch the power and join us at our holiday-themed quarterly giving meeting held on December 10 at the Blacksburg Public Library (6-7p.m.).  Happy holidays and best wishes for a healthy, happy, and fruitful 2015.

Alexa & Beth

On Friday, September 19 the first quarterly meeting of 100+ Women Who Care - NRV chapter was held.  Present at the meeting were representatives of three local charities; NRV Cares, Southwest Virginia Special Olympics NRV area, and Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry. 

Each presenter told us key facts about their organization and their target recipients.  The one thing that was glaringly obvious when they were finished presenting was the pressing need for help (money, time and more) right here in our own backyard.

It got me to thinking about how in my own family when we choose to give it tends to be to those in need not only outside our community, but outside our country!, typically to fight disease or disaster.  I wondered how others behaved by comparison in their giving.  If you are wondering too - here are some statistics.  All data is the property of Giving USA 2014, the Annual Report on Philanthropy.

Giving Statistics

Few people realize how large charities have become, how many vital services they provide, and how much funding flows through them each year. Without charities and non-profits, America would simply not be able to operate. Their operations are so big that during 2013, total giving was more than $335 billion.

How big is the sector?

Total giving to charitable organizations was $335.17 billion in 2013 (about 2% of GDP). This is an increase of 4.4% from 2012. Although this is the fourth straight year that giving has increased, it is still not at the pre-recession level of $349.5 billion seen in 2007.

As in previous years, the majority of that giving came from individuals. Specifically, individuals gave roughly $240.6 billion (72%) representing a 4.2% increase over 2012. And it was the additional $9.69 billion in gifts made by individuals that was the main reason overall giving is up in 2013.

Giving by bequest was $27.73 billion (up 8.7%), foundations gave $48.96 billion (up 5.7%), and corporations donated $17.88 billion (down 1.9%).

Corporate giving accounts for just 5% of the total giving in 2013. And it was down primarily because of the slow growth in corporate pre-tax profits.

Five types of charities have reached or surpassed all-time high giving levels since the recession ended in mid-2009.

- Giving to Education charities was up 8.9% to $52.07 billion.

- Donations to Human Services charities were up 2.2% to $41.51 billion.

- Foundations saw an increase of 15.5% to $35.74 billion.

- Health charities experienced an increase of 6% to $31.86 billion.

- Charities that focus on the Environment / Animals saw an increase of 7.5% to $9.72 billion.

Giving to International charities slowed due to fewer overseas disasters.

Historically, Religious groups have received the largest share of charitable donations. While this was still true in 2013, the percentage dropped by 2% from 2012 making this the fifth year in a row it was down or flat. Even with the 0.2% decrease in donations this year, 31% of all donations ($105.53 billion) went to Religious organizations. Much of these contributions can be attributed to people giving to their local place of worship.

The next largest sector was Education with 16% of all donations.

Consider joining 100+ Women Who Care - NRV to help us reduce the need locally.  Your contribution combined with those of your peers can have a large impact (up to $10k) in any given quarter.  It's not easy for a local organization to raise that amount of money in such a short time-frame.

How to Pick the Right Charity and Maximize Your Donations

100+ Women Who Care NRV is currently looking to increase it's donor membership.  As such we've been reaching out to all of our friends, acquaintances, business partners, neighbors, etc.  Only one asked the question - "How do I know this is the right choice?"  But, that got me to thinking that I needed to have an answer to that question.  The best response I can come up with was what I've read on lifehacker.com.  The post originally appeared on MoneySmartLife.com.

An important aspect of having well-rounded finances is charity. Giving is generally accepted by many personal finance experts as an essential part of good money management. Your giving should be like other aspects of your financial management where an effort should be made to ensure that you are getting the best value for your dollar.

Maximizing your charity donations can mean more people helped by a cause that you care about. Here are some ways to maximize your donations:

Research Before You Give

In some cases, only 30 or 40 cents of every dollar given to a charity actually goes toward the people it's supposed to help. Administrative costs, and other costs sometimes eat up the donations. Inefficient charities tend to enrich a few executives at the top without doing a lot of good overall.  100+ Women Who Care NRV give 100 per cent of all contributions directly to the local charitable organizations members choose.

Know How Your Charitable Donations Will Be Spent Before You Give

Before you give, research the charities you are considering. Websites like Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org) show you how much of your donation actually goes toward the cause (aim for an organization where at least 70% of the money goes to help others). At 100+ Women Who Care NRV we ask that when you nominate a charity and make a presentation, that you include this information about the organization.

Set up Regular Contributions

Rather than giving unpredictably, you can set up regular contributions. Some charities prefer smaller, but regular, donations to erratic larger donations. You can commit to monthly donations, or even set up a charitable trust to operate in a way that provides regular income for the charity. These regular contributions can give the charity something it can rely on—and take some of the pressure off in other areas. This allows the charity to better serve those populations that need the help.  With 100+ Women Who Care NRV you are doing just that!  You are establishing a consistent giving routine of quarterly donations!

Go Local

One of the things that I particularly enjoy is going local with my charitable donations. You can really see the effect your donation has in your own community when you give locally. Look for local charities that make a difference right where you live. Smaller, community-based organizations often (but not always) use their resources effectively, and they can have a tremendous impact on the local population.  This is the whole premise of 100+ Women Who Care NRV - to have local donors give back to local organizations!

Get Personally Involved

If you really want to make sure that your charity donations are doing the most good for the dollar, you can become personally involved. Donate your time as well as your money. You can help by volunteering at charitable events, and performing a number of other tasks. Another possibility is that you could be named to a charity's board, and help make the decisions.  At 100+ Women Who Care NRV meetings you may hear about local organizations that need more than money.  If something inspires you, why not take this next step?

In the end giving, whether it be money, time, or both 'only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.'

BUILDING OUR FOUNDATION

Join Us

On Wednesday, August 20 we held an informational meeting about 100+ Women Who Care NRV.  Attendance was small but meaningful.  We exchanged ideas and shared excitement over the likelihood of quickly and easily raising up to $10,000 per quarter for a local charity.  We were even fortunate enough to encourage one participant to start a chapter in Lynchburg where she will be relocating to.

100+ Women Who Care is such a simple concept yet such a powerful one.  Think about it - the most difficult part is getting the 100 members and even that's not so difficult if each of us asks our friends to join in.  Once the group is gathered, we nominate three charities (per quarter) located right here at home based on their current needs. We here their story and vote. The majority winner gets the funds raised.

How great would you feel walking in to the office of the charity you nominated and handing them a check for $10,000?  I know I would feel elated.  What's even better?  Being able to see the funds in action.  Imagine walking down the street and seeing the playground you funded being used by neighborhood kids.  Or, seeing a new van driving the elderly to medical appointments, or families in crisis receiving what they need to move forward.  Feels good, right?

These are the reasons why we decided to start a chapter of 100+ Women here in the New River Valley.  We've seen it's success in other areas across the country and we want the same for our community. 

We get to choose who to help and our personal donation is increased tenfold and has an immediate, visible impact.

Join us and feel great. 

Here is a link to our presentation---we hope you enjoy it.  CLICK HERE

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

I have lived my life in the shadows of what my parents have done, hoping that my life would have an impact in the world, no matter how small, and I will be remembered by those I've helped along the way.

My parents raised 23 foster children, my father was an active member of a group of young men who started what is known today as The Brownsville Boys Club.  They have left lasting memories behind in the hearts and minds of all those they helped.  It's my turn.

There are many ways in which a person can give (or give back) to their community.  Generosity is a choice. It comes from believing you have something to share. We all have something that can benefit others.

I stumbled upon a wonderful post on Unwrap Your Mind by Tess Marshall.  In it she lists numerous things we all have to give, from love to forgiveness to encouragement.  We can give blood, or emotional support, or the gift of laughter.  All of these are wonderful ways to make an impact.  Many of us think that giving time or money are the only ways in which we can contribute.  While there are those that do need either or both, there are many more who can blossom with the simple act of kindness and understanding from a friend or even better, a stranger.

How will make an impression on someone today, tomorrow, and the next day?  What do you have to give?  Or, if someone has given something to you, I'd love to hear about it.

Welcome to 100+ Women Who Care - New River Valley

Welcome to our 100 + Women Who Care in NRV Blog....

We are both excited to present a very terrific idea that 1000's of women here in the United States, Canada and beyond have developed over the years.  Women know that when we come together we can do amazing things together.

My first exposure to 100+ Women idea came when visiting a friend in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  My children and I stopped off on our way to see my nephew play in the Little League World Series last summer.  I was very thrilled by the idea and remarked at how being able to bring women together could have such an impact....the idea was simple.  Find 100 women, who commit to giving $100 four times in one year....donating money to address the needs in their local community.  Voila!

So after meeting for approximately one hour, hearing 3 different presentations of need the women VOTED one of the causes.  The one who received the majority vote won the prize.....$10,000.  At the time, women who attended wrote their checks to the organization directly.   While I wasn't ready to start up the idea right away when I returned last summer, I was certainly determined to figure a way to make it happen.....and here it is!

This website illustrates what some other 100+ Women are doing around the country and in Canada.  It's fun to check out what the other chapters are doing.

I contacted a friend, Beth, who was also excited about the idea and we decided to work together to bring it from the idea stage into the REAL world, our NRV community.  We are looking for women who also find this to be an appealing way to contribute to our local community...and working on it TOGETHER!

We have one major distinction from some of the other 100+ Women Who Care.  It involves INCLUSION.  We both feel strongly about engaging as many women as possible.  So unlike most of the other groups currently formed, we are seeking women who are willing to donate $100-$400 per year ($25-$100) contribution each quarter.  We feel like many women would want to participate but be unable to contribute the $100 each quarter.  Each commitment is 2 years and can be renewed afterwards....but for anyone interested, you would be committing between $200-$800 over two years.

If this is something that interests you, please send us your name and email address and we will send more details to 100wwc.nrv@gmail.com

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER

IN THE NEW RIVER VALLEY!!!