Collective giving goal of group
CRANBERRY TWP — Through a new community organization, women around Cranberry Township are gathering to raise hundreds of dollars in a matter of minutes for local nonprofits.
Heather Clark of Cranberry founded 100 Women Who Care Cranberry Township last fall to raise money for local charities. Each woman commits to donating $100 at each quarterly meeting to a charity the group chooses.
Clark started her own chapter after attending a meeting of the Pittsburgh chapter of the organization.
“If I give $100 and you give $100 and your neighbor gives $100 to different charities, that’s great,” Clark said. “But if we get together in a short amount of time and give to the same charity, that’s a substantial impact.
“That’s what drew me to it, the simplicity of it.”
100 Women Who Care was founded in 2006 by Karen Dunigan of Jackson, Mich., as a way to quickly raise $10,000 for a nonprofit in her community to buy new baby cribs.
The simple idea of collective giving grew, and now there are more than 250 chapters across North America.
Women meet once every three months for an hour, and write a check for $100 to a deserving local charity. The goal is to get more than 100 women in the group donating each time.
At each meeting, members can nominate nonprofits or other worthy causes that are then thrown into a hat, Clark said. Three names are drawn from the hat, and the nominating member then gives a 3-5 minute informal presentation about their cause.
Members vote on which cause to support. Then they each write out a check directly to the winning charity.
“You can make a direct impact on charities that are close to your heart and close to home,” said Alice Wiesner, Cranberry resident and group member.
While it doesn’t have 100 members yet, the Cranberry chapter raised about $1,500 each for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and The Children’s Institute at its first two meetings.
The chapter hopes to keep growing its membership as word spreads about the simple way to give back.
The next meeting is March 21 at Vines, 526 Northpoint Circle, Seven Fields. Socializing starts at 7 p.m., with the business portion of the meeting at 7:30 p.m.
It’s perfect for busy people who want to make an impact with a small time commitment, Clark said.
The fellowship among community-minded women is also a perk, Wiesner said. “When you leave you feel like you made an impact,” she said. “Being around women who feel the same way and feel very passionate about giving back, there’s something that’s very special.”
Although the group is based in Cranberry, women from surrounding communities in Butler and Beaver counties are welcome to join.
Those interested can attend as a guest to see what the club is about before signing up. Members are only asked to sign a pledge that they commit to donate $100 quarterly, although there are different payment options for teams and women younger than 35. If they can’t make the meeting, members are expected to mail in their donation.
For information, visit 100womenwhocarecranberrytownship.org.
