Sow the Seeds for Success!
The 2nd 100 Who Care Alliance Leadership Conference was held April 27-29, 2017 in Chicago, IL. In attendance were 85 women and men founders of 100 Who Care Chapters located throughout North America and the Caribbean. These dynamic individuals represented 46 chapters.
To help set the tone of the #ThePowerOf100, once again we shared some impactful numbers that represent the growth of chapters over the past two years as well as monies we know that have been raised to date. At the time of the conference, we reported that there were 490 actively operating chapters, with another 180 chapters in some form of development. Additionally, 146 chapters reported their actual giving totals to date, together totaling $16,638,000!
Click here to see the presentation with the statistics that were shared.
Within that presentation, maps of the US and Canada as well as a list of chapters located throughout the rest of the world were shared. Several have asked for copies of the visual to share with their own chapters. Feel free to download and use the below.
PDF of USA Slide
PDF of Canada Slide
PDF of Other Chapters Located Throughout Rest of the World Slide
Other conference highlights included:
1. History and Numbers: Karen Dunigan’s sisters, Jane Uhila, Patty Sete, and Diane Smith, all of the Jackson, MI chapter, shared a heart warming and touching history about Karen and how 100 Women Who Care began. This year, Sally Wiarda, founder of the second oldest chapter (100 Women Who Care DuPage County (IL)), and Kathy Banwart, founder of the third oldest chapter (100 Women Who Care Dayton (OH)), spoke about their respective chapters and the momentum they have witnessed over the years. Fun fact: as of April 21, 2017 those three chapters alone have raised and donated over $2,050,000 to their local communities!
2. Membership Recruitment and Retention: We spent some time this year focusing on our members, from recruitment to retention and ongoing engagement.
Here are some ideas from our presentation on the topic.
3. Collectively we shared best practices on a broad range of topics including:
- Selecting presenters the night of the meeting or a quarter in advance
- Email marketing: using Constant Contact, MailChimp or others
- Teams vs. only individual members
- Members who don’t pay
- Confrontational members and how to handle
- Who presents: members vs. nonprofit
- Criteria used to determine whether a nonprofit qualifies for funding
- Marketing tactics: social media vs. press. vs. asking nonprofits to get you more exposure
- Advanced social media practices
- General meeting logistics
- Converting award recipients and their boards to become members
4. Creating Exceptional Member Experience and Enthusiasm: Do you do something extraordinary when you present checks? One chapter does. 100 Women Who Care Fox Valley of Kane County, IL makes every check presentation an experience for both the members and the recipients. Their founders LOVE surprises and have even planned a flash mob to present the checks. Check out their presentation by clicking this link and get ideas on how to generate an experience that all will remember. (Embedded within their presentation are two check presentations that shouldn’t be missed!)