If you are a woman with one hour and $100, hereโs your chance to join forces with others to make an immediate $20,000-plus impact on a local nonprofit.
โI think the reasons a giving circle resonate are that, number one, it is a limited time commitment; and number two, you feel like you have a say in where your money goes. I like to say that your money alone is $100, but when it is combined with the money of 230 other women, it has double or triple the power due to the amazing infrastructure of these charities,โ said Desha Bymers-Davis, founder of 100+ Women Who Care Tucson.
The grassroots organization, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in October, is a giving circle that is now 231 members strong. Each member contributes $100 for each quarterly โBig Giveโโ or $400 annually โ and has the opportunity to vote on one of three charities to receive the funds each quarter. The three charities are chosen randomly from a pool of approved nonprofits that have been nominated by members.
To date, the organization has gifted more than $360,000 to 20 local charities of all sizes, addressing a variety of needs from children and education to social services and health care.
Past recipients have included Kidโs Chance, Literacy Connects, More Than a Bed, Sister Jose Womenโs Center, Old Pueblo Community Services, Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Tucson and many more.
Bymers-Davis is gratified that the group has continued to grow in spite of the fact that it was forced to pivot to a virtual platform due to the pandemic. She said her goal is to reach a membership of 500 that gifts $200,000 annually and members look forward to a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting in April if it is deemed safe.
She believes the best part of a giving circle is that you really have no idea how your $100 donation will eventually affect someone else down the road and how great the impact might be.
โI think about dominos and how we used to line them up when we were kids. We would hit the first one and try to make it knock down the next, and so on down the line. You thought about the first domino and didnโt really know it was going to make an impact on the 300th domino at the end, and that is what is cool about 100+ Women Who Care Tucson,โ Bymers-Davis said.
