The importance of marketing

I don't know about you, but I hate ads.  I TiVo favorite shows so that I can skip the advertisements, I skim through my magazines avoiding the ads and I listen to NPR not only because of the great shows and myriad pieces of information I pick up, but because it is ad-free.  The reason NPR doesn't advertise is because they do not want to be beholden to those advertisers for content.  So, they do fund drives to get the money to keep the station going.  We need to be equally dedicated to our cause and market our group!

Some might not believe that investing in marketing is necessary for non-profits (NPO), but it is quite beneficial for an NPO to market itself. NPOs use marketing to assist with growth, funding and longevity. Without these things, the overall mission of the NPO is diminished.

100+ Women Who Care NRV is dedicated to growing (adding to our committed member base), funding (getting the maximum donation amount and matching grant possible), and longevity - being in the NRV raising money for as long as it takes to end the need.  However, we are an organization without overhead.  So just how do we do it?

Marketing strategists suggest that just as a for-profit business targets a certain audience with its marketing, so should a non-profit. NPOs should develop a picture of the person most likely to support them in their cause or benefit and target their marketing to them.  They also say that it is crucial for the non-profit to build its brand. The brand is typically a logo, wording, motto or design that identifies the group.

Non-profits are beneficial for individual groups of people, but they also benefit the community. For this reason, public relations are a large part of marketing. The local press should know the story of the non-profit. NPOs should utilize newspaper stories to share statistics, provide pictures and advertise fundraising events.  We do this.  Each and every quarter.  But it isn't enough.  We haven't reached our goal of 100 or more committed members.

Networking is very effective marketing for non-profits as people spread the word about the goals of the organization.  That is where you, dear committed member, come in.  Please share your joy at having joined our group.  Talk with friends and family about how a small commitment can make a huge impact in our community.  If you have purchased a 100+ Women Who Care NRV t-shirt, wear it with pride.  Answer questions about it when asked.

We have targeted our audience - YOU and women like you.  We have branded our group - see the logo at the top of this blog.  We continually reach out to the local press - see our website (100+ Women Who Care NRV) for some of the newspaper articles and TV spots about us.

YOU can help us by inviting friends and family to become committed members.  If someone you've referred becomes a committed member, we will give you a 100+ Women Who Care t-shirt for free. Then you can help even more by wearing it to workout, to grocery shop or to take the kids to the park.  The more eyes that see our brand the more likely we are to reach our goal and be better able to serve our community.

Will you help us market 100+ Women Who Care NRV?

Inspiring, Amazing and Awesome - What motivates us to give?

I was reading an article in the September 2016 issue of Good Housekeeping (Awesome Women 2016 by Erin Bried) about 25 women who encountered situations that needed solutions.  Each of these women came up with an awesome and inspiring way to tackle them.  It got me to thinking, "What motivates us to give of our time and money?"


When asked "why people donate" the number one reason given is "to receive a tax credit."  Yet, nobody ever makes money from giving money.  Clearly, this is not the reason - not just because you don't make money by giving money away, but because many people give of their time and other resources, not just cash. So, why then do we give?  


While we all have internal motivations (such as a religious or moral imperative) and external pressures (the number of people asking and which causes are closest to your heart), research has found the most important reason for giving is the relationship with the person who is asking. That being said, there are other motivations for giving which loosely fit into six categories: impact, appreciation, mission, impulse, recognition, and benefit (http://pitchergroup.com/six-reasons-donors-give-away-their-money/).

Impact: Even when a donor says they want nothing in return, they want to know they are making a contribution for good.

Appreciation:  Appreciation can come from something an organization did for us directly, for someone we care about, or simply from gratitude for good work being done.

Mission: When people have a vested interest in the work of a charity, they give because they share the same mission.

Impulse: Certain issues just have an emotional effect that causes people to give even when that gift could have greater impact elsewhere.  Emotional connection and giving in memory of a loved one are well-recognized triggers. 

Recognition: Some donors simply like the attention that comes from donating. This can be a company seeking exposure, but it can also be an individual that likes the events, project naming and publicity that can come from making a donation.  Some donors simply like the positive feeling they receive from being appreciated.


Benefit: Perhaps the most controversial motivation for donating to a cause is for personal benefit.  The donor is looking to procure non-tangible benefits such as the opportunity to meet a politician or celebrity or be entered in a give-away.


Understanding what motivates others to give is crucial to a charitable organization's fundraising scheme.  Asking their donors this question often results in a wave of the hand, or a brush-off, but in truth it is critical to both the giver and the recipient because the donor wishes to feel satisfied with their giving and when they do, they will likely give again.

Regardless of what your motivations are for becoming a part of the 100+ Women Who Care NRV group, we are happy that you have joined us.  It is your relationship with the other women in the group and your connection to your community that will hopefully keep you coming back, and encourage you to invite others to join.

www.100womenwhocarenrv.com

Science has proven that giving feels good

I am currently reading “Giving 2.0” by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen.  It’s a book written for anyone wanting to use her own resources and/or life to make the world a better place.

Every day people want to touch the lives of others.  Yet, Ms. Arrillaga-Andreessen points out that much of our giving is reactive – “we write checks when natural disasters strike, we give to our schools and places of worship, or we support friends running a marathon for a cure.”  While these things are important and uplifting, she points out how important it is to find a way of giving that empowers you to move from reactive to proactive giving.

Giving through 100+ Women Who Care NRV is a calculated and proactive way of giving.  It is a decision to localize your giving and ensure that those who are most needy in our community are served, thereby lifting us all up and improving the environment we live in.  By listening, and by having a chance to ask questions about the local non-profit organizations, we get to choose how our donations are used and see the positive results.

We live in a fast-paced world, with non-stop demands on our time, money, and energy.  We care for spouses and children and support aging parents.  In our work life we face unrelenting pressure.  It is because of this that 100+ Women Who Care NRV is so appealing and successful.  Through its collaborative funding framework, donors partner with other funders, increasing the overall funding amount and sharing the burden of evaluation.  One hour, $100.00, four times per year, four hours total and we can raise $40,000.

Science has proven that giving stimulates the brain in the same way it is stimulated when we eat food or have sex.  It’s a base level of feeling good. We give from our hearts.  We give because it makes us feel good.  What are you waiting for?  Join us in doing good and feeling great!

100+ Women Who Care NRV

Giving More to Our Community Just Got Easier!

Advancing the Interests of Women and the Arts

in Virginia and Beyond

Our first quarter has come and gone. What a first three months it has been.  We raised over $5k for the Children’s Museum Blacksburg and have acquired a few more committed members.  We are working with the museum to ensure that all donors receive their tax receipt and are excited to learn what they have done/plan to do with the funds.

If you haven’t seen the news - we have secured a matching grant sponsor. We are so very excited to have been discovered from our article in the Roanoke Times by The Secular Society.  After several meetings they have agreed to match our donations for the next THREE YEARS at $.50/$1.00 up to $5,000 per quarter.  So, if we reach our goal of 100 women making a donation each quarter, we will then be giving away $15,000 each and every quarter.  How awesome is that?

The Secular Society is advancing the interests of women and the arts in Virginia and beyond.  They are a not-for-profit Virginia Corporation organized in 2013 and recognized as such by the United States Internal Revenue Service.  Currently they are supporting:

1. Free Clinic of the New River Valley - Women's Health Program

2. Pulaski Adult Day Service and Fall Prevention Center - www.pulaskiadultdayservice.org

3. Radford University - Nursing Scholars

5. Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley - Prevention Specialist and Emergency Response Coordinator

6. WVTF Public Radio - www.wvtf.org

7. 100+ Women Who Care – New River Valley! – 100+ Women Who Care - New River Valley Chapter

With a matching grant, everyone wins!  Who will you encourage to become a committed member of our group come July 19?  Every additional member brings us closer to receiving the full matching grant.  To sign up, click on this link… I want to be a committed member!

What some folks will do to raise money for a charitable organization!

This Mum Used Social Media To Raise $150,000 For Charity In One Day

Constance Hall, a blogger from Perth, Australia, has helped inspire a massive fundraising push for a charity that supports young girls who have been sexually abused in Kenya.

This Senator Is Sacrificing His Luscious Hair For Cancer Victims

As part of “The World’s Greatest Shave” organization’s efforts and despite having the strongest hairline in the Australian parliament, WA senator Scott Ludlam has vowed to shave his head to raise money for victims of leukemia.

 

The Try Guys Try The MS Mud Run

If you haven’t heard of the Try Guys, they’re a group of four hilarious men: Eugene Lee, Ned Fulmer, Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld, who take it upon themselves to try an array of scenarios and situations for entertainment and educational value.

 

These Naked Students Are Trying To Raise Money For The Drought

A bunch of students in Australia made a calendar to raise money to end the drought in Sydney.

Solve This Crossword Puzzle For A Good Cause

A Doctor’s Without Borders gimmick to raise funds.

 

Obama Pays Tribute To White HouseStaffer Killed During Charity Bike Ride

Jake Brewer, a senior technology advisor to the president, was killed on Saturday while participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer.

These are some of the headlines from recent articles about charitable endeavors around the world I’ve seen.  The lengths people will go to, to raise money for their charity of choice.  BUT…

 

Do you really want to get naked, or shave your head, or run through mud to raise money for what you are passionate about?  Or, would you prefer to have a good meal, a drink, and some fun while taking four hours and $400 of your time and money annually to support charitable efforts of the needy right in your own community?  From fighting illness, to homelessness, eliminating human, animal and drug abuse to education – all noble enterprises that make our community a better place to live.

 

If 100 of us in the New River Valley come together, that $400 quickly turns into $40,000. At our recent kickoff meeting on April 19, 2016 – we gained momentum.  We have 46 committed women who donated close to $5,000 in 1 hour.  Wouldn’t it feel great to give that and more away each and every quarter; to be a part of helping those in our community, where we can see our contributions making a difference?

I’m looking for a few good women here in the New River Valley to join me in the fight to eradicate all the need in our community.  Together, we can do it!  Check out our website (www.100wwcnrv.wix.com/wwcnrv) and complete a commitment form today.

How 100 Women Are Making a Difference in Your Community

This has been excerpted from Northwestern Mutual Voice.
Written by Amanda Reaume

"You might not have heard about them, but it’s likely there are 100 women who are making a difference in your community through the power of collective philanthropy. And while they’re providing crucial help to local charities, they’re also having a lot of fun.

In November 2006, Karen Dunigan, former mayor of Jackson, Michigan, and a real estate agent, started the first 100 Women Who Care group. The concept was simple: One hundred women who cared about their community would meet four times a year. At each meeting, they would learn about three local charities, vote on which one to support, and every member would then donate $100 to the winning organization. The other charities could be nominated again at another meeting. At the end of the year, they would have raised at least $40,000 for their communities.

In the past nine years, the impact of Dunigan’s idea has spread far beyond the Jackson community. More than 350 chapters of 100 Women Who Care are in operation around the world, including chapters in almost every major U.S. city.

It’s a legacy that has been touched by tragedy. Dunigan died of cancer in 2014, and her sisters, Jane Uhila and Patty Sete, wish she was here to witness the phenomenal growth of the last year.

“Karen showed us that action and caring for others goes hand in hand,” said Uhila. “It makes us so proud that so many people have taken her idea and share the joy of 100 Women Who Care in their communities.”

Making a Big Difference
Laurie Richter, a steering committee member of the alliance that connects the chapters, believes the clubs are successful because they focus on making significant local changes, so members can see the impact.

“There is so much good that happens under the radar screen in our communities, and the charities all need help,” she said.

Because the pooled resources turn into large donations, charity recipients are able to initiate more ambitious projects than would be possible with fewer funds. In Iowa City, the Hawkeyes Chapter of 100 Women Who Care recently gave a donation to the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program at Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is in an early stage of development.

Chapter member Margaret McCaffery recommended the organization. When her 14-year-old son, Patrick, was battling thyroid cancer, she saw a serious gap in services and treatment offered to teenagers.

“There isn’t a place for people that age in hospitals,” said McCaffery. “The activities on the children’s ward are geared more toward little kids.”

That’s why it meant so much for her to have her fellow members support the project. “I was crying after the chapter voted to support the AYA program because I was so touched by the contribution,” she said. “We’re lucky to live in a community where we have people who want to make a difference in this way.”

The support of 100 Women Who Care was crucial, said Sarah Russett, executive director of development at the Cancer Center. The donation will allow the organization to evaluate adolescent cancer programs around the country in order to design one that would be a good fit for their community.

The AYA program will provide a place where children over age 13 can go to play video games or spend time with other cancer patients their own age.

“They’ll be able to be together without feeling like they’re out of place,” said McCaffery.

Tailored to Busy Professional Women
The 100 Women concept is both fun and meaningful. It allows women to network with other professionals, learn about great things happening in their local communities, and feel like they’re making a difference.

“For many of us, a big part of the meetings is social,” said Richter. Women tend to arrive early and stay late to socialize. “Our meetings are modestly disguised girls’ nights out.”

Richter also believes that 100 Women Who Care clubs are ideal for busy professionals since “most people want to give back but don’t know which charity to donate to and don’t have the time to put a lot of effort into it,” she said. The meetings last only 60 minutes, and although some stay later, those who have to get home can do so."

What's your passion?
Is it children, health, the arts?  Or, is it just helping to improve the community in which you live? Whatever it is, becoming a part of the 100+ Women Who Care NRV group is the best way I know to pitch your passion to others, get them to rally behind you, and donate big money to help your cause. Join our group today, convince your friends to do the same, and we can all, together, be the 100 Women in our community making a difference.

I deliver food to a local elementary school on behalf of Micah's backpack twice each month.  It's exciting when I see the number of bags decrease and troubling when it goes up.  It's hard to fathom that so close to home, there are children going hungry.

That got me to thinking, if so many children are hungry, what other issues co-exist with that.  Mental illness, joblessness, homelessness, disaster, abuse, and more.  So, I tried to research it.  Finding statistics on the 'needy' population in the NRV has proved difficult.  But, what I did find was that there are over 300 agencies in the area providing help to our community in different ways.  From A   to Z organizations such as Beans and Rice, New River Community Action, and Women's Resource Center are working every day to make a difference.

From improving the economic well-being of low income families, to providing pre-hospital emergency care to the sick and injured, providing crisis intervention and support services to victims of domestic violence and their families, and promoting responsible animal ownership and treatment. These are just a small sampling of what the charitable organizations in our community do.

Each one of these organizations exist because there is a need.  Many of us are in the fortunate position of not having to rely on the kindness of others.  It is possible though, that a neighbor, or your child's friend, or the woman at the grocery store working in the produce aisle, must.  Imagine for a moment what it might feel like if you were that person.  Wouldn't you want to know that help was just a phone call away?  It's not easy for anyone to accept a hand out but if it's the thing that gets you back on the road to prosperity, sanity, wholeness, then thank goodness there are those out there offering that hand.

I truly believe that what goes around comes around.  When I give of my time, my shoulder, or from my wallet it relieves me to know that if ever I should be in need, there will be someone there wanting to do the same.  Won't you join our mission to reach out and help our community by being one of the 100 or more women pledging to each contribute $100 on a quarterly basis to a local charity?  Imagine what $10,000 in unsolicited funds can do!

All charities and organizations up for consideration must be in the NRV area serving local needs, be a non-profit 501(c)3 and non-controversial. The goal is to keep it local and have an impact that WE CAN SEE in our community!

Membership Commitment Form

Local Organizations Reflect Need in the NRV

I happened to stumble upon Blacksburg Electronic Village (http://www.bev.net/) which is "an outreach initiative of Network Infrastructure & Service, part of Information Technology at Virginia Tech."  On this website there is a page containing a listing of organizations.   When I searched for "volunteer" organizations specifically, I found 41 listed.  That got me to wondering just how many organizations there are out there set up to help those in need here in our community.

In my further search, I came across VolunteerNRV (https://volunteer.truist.com).  They are "a collaborative program of the United Way of Montgomery, Radford & Floyd that is advised by the VolunteerNRV Collaborative, a consortium of NRV organizations and agencies that recruit or use volunteers in the New River Valley."  On their list of agencies there are approximately 300 organizations in search of volunteers and donations.

This got me to thinking just how much people donate.  This is what I found:

According to Money (http://time.com/money/2792145/the-right-amount-to-donate-to-charity/) you can find out just how much people with income similar to yours give at the Chronicle of Philanthropy website.

"With just a few clicks in the How America Gives section of the site, you'll quickly see that Americans with adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 contributed just under $3,400, or 4.2% of their discretionary income, which is the amount they have to spend after paying taxes and various household expenses.

Those who earned $50,000 to $100,000, by contrast, contributed about $2,000, or 6% of discretionary income, while people who earned more than $200,000 gave roughly $14,000, or just over 4%.

But you can also drill down deeper and come up with figures broken down by state, metro area, town and even zip code."

From poverty to illness, education to homelessness, abuse to rescue, there is an organization out there to help humans and animals at their time of need.  Unfortunately, it's all here in the New River Valley and there are organizations asking for both your time and money.  But just how do you make a sizable impact?

We think one way to do so is to make a commitment to giving with 100(+) Women Who Care - NRV.

100+ Women Who Care - New River Valley is asking you to give just $400 annually.  Just $100 per quarter.  But, that $100 when combined with the $100 from 99 other women quickly becomes $10,000.  Imagine how hard an organization has to work, how much time and money has to be invested in trying to collect $10,000.  The volunteer hours to make phone calls, write letters, advertise, and more.  With your participation and commitment, in no more than one hour we can raise this amount every quarter, year after year, after year.  And, all that money stays here in the New River Valley to affect the lives of those in need with positive, powerful changes. Wouldn't it make you feel great to be part of this movement?  We invite you to join 100+ Women Who Care New River Valley today.

Please take a few minutes to complete our commitment form on our website and become a member today!