The 100-plus Women Who Care in Flagstaff County held their February quarterly meeting in Strome last week, with over 60 members in attendance.
February’s meeting is traditionally one where instead of a single group vying for the entire pot of $11,350, it is shared between four groups instead.
The concept of the 100+ group is that each member, or team, makes a set donation of $100 each at every meeting, with meetings held four times per year. Members put forward nominations for potential (Flagstaff County only) recipientsfor each meeting, and typically three nominations would be drawn from a hat.
With the ‘share the love’ format, eight groups were picked from the nominations to make presentations, with four coming away with a share of $2,825. The more members who nominate a group, the higher the chance of that group being one of the groups asked to present.
Presentations are equal for each nominee, with a set time period and format, to even the playing field between small groups with limited resources and large groups who may have access to video or other visual aids.
The four winning presentations for February were Knox United Church for their free spaghetti supper program, Flagstaff Early Childhood Partnership for their free family events held throughout the region, Flagstaff Rural Crime Watch Society for a number of different projects, and the Hardisty Ag Society, who are building a ramp at Hardisty Lake for disabled individuals to more easily access the lake.
Other presenters were Forestburg’s Buckin’ in the ‘Burg, Lougheed Curling Club, Flagstaff Historical Society, and Lougheed Playschool.
Steering Committee member Tanya Piche maintains that there’s an advantage to being nominated, even if your presentation is not the one picked to receive funding, as information about your group and what it does reaches a wide audience of 100-plus Women members who come from all around the Flagstaff County region that evening.
The ‘Share the Love’ concept arose when the group heard feedback from smaller potential applicants who didn’t need the whole $11,000-plus, but instead were looking for smaller amounts to support their projects. With the February meeting being held around Valentine’s Day, the idea of sharing the pot started in the 100 Women’s second year, in 2021, and has been going strong ever since.
The 100 Women Who Care in Flagstaff County group works entirely through volunteers, like the founders, who act as the steering committee, and the community ambassadors, who promote the group in their community and assist in whatever manner is needed at meetings. The February meeting was hosted by Tanis Zimmel and “her small and mighty group,” who made all the arrangements for the Strome meeting.
As far as the funds themselves, each individual or team in the group donates $100 per meeting to the winning applicants.
“The funds flow through completely,” says Holly Bovencamp, Steering Committee member, “there are no administrative fees.”
The way the group is set up, it’s completely apolitical. Everything is done by majority vote, and it’s impossible to skew the voting. “The presentations are the key.”
The three finalists are informed just prior to the meeting date, and even provided with a tip sheet on how to present, and what questions they may face afterwards. “But we swear them to secrecy,” says Joanne McMahon, Steering Committee member, so that the meeting participants don’t know who is presenting until the meeting starts.
The steering committee tallies the votes at the end of the presentations, and announces the winners. “We don’t publish the votes; there are no losers, only winners.”
It’s customary for the successful groups to return to the next quarterly meeting to provide an update on how the funds were used.
100 Women Who Care in Flagstaff County report that with the February meeting behind them, the grand total of all donations since their first meeting in October 2019 is now $211,500.
The group can be found on social media (100 Women Who Care Flagstaff County) and more information is available on their website:
100womenflagstaff.wordpress.com
Leslie Cholowsky
Editor