100+Women Who Care Tucson passes a milestone

“The original concept of 100+ Women Who Care was to give $10,000 each quarter to a deserving charity, and when we accomplished that, we increased our goal to $25,000 per quarter. Now our goal is 500 members and $50,000 per quarter. This is kind of like a 401K: When it gets to a certain size, it just grows so much faster. We have members bringing more people in and we continue to grow. It is just momentous, and all from donations of $100 at a time. When they are given collectively, it makes such a huge impact,” said Desha Bymers-Davis, who founded the Tucson chapter in 2016.

Bymers-Davis emphasized that the premise is simple: To allow women to maximize impact through minimal time by providing the opportunity to contribute $100 for each quarterly “Big Give” — or $400 annually. Each member then votes on one of three charities to receive the quarterly funds. The three charities are chosen randomly from a pool of more than 70 approved nonprofits that have been nominated by members.

The concept has proven so popular that it has spawned 100+ Guys Who Give Tucson (100guyswhogivetucson.org) and 100+ Teens Who Care Tucson Chapter (100teenswhocaretucson.org).

Bymers-Davis emphasized that guests are welcome at Big Gives and she hopes that prospective members will simply drop in at the upcoming event.

“We want you to come check us out and join the movement to reach $50,000 each quarter,” she said.

To date, 100+ Women Who Care Tucson has donated almost $515,000 to a diverse range of 24 charities that offer services in education, health care, social services and more. Past recipients include Kid’s Chance, Literacy Connects, More Than a Bed, The Steven M. Gootter Foundation, Felicia’s Farm, Courtney’s Courage and Youth on Their Own. Recently, Junior Achievement (JA) of Arizona received a gift of $29,400 during the largest Big Give to date.

The gift was amplified by a grant from the Connie Hillman Family Foundation, which matched 50 percent of funds raised for JA at the time.

“Instead of it being $29,400, which is huge in and of itself, the Give ended up bringing $44,100 to JA because of the match. With these funds, we will be able to facilitate JA programs for more than 1,200 students, which is an insane amount. Our goal is to facilitate these programs for more than 11,000 students this year, so this will make a huge difference,” said Chrisie Ballard, the member who nominated JA.

Ballard, who has been a JA volunteer for 12 years and is a member of the executive committee, said that JA helps to empower youth of all ages to succeed in work and life by teaching financial literacy, workplace readiness, communication and leadership.

“This has a long-term impact on our community. Our kids are 143 percent more likely to own their own businesses, and 54 percent more likely to graduate from college if they have more than two years of JA. These programs are pretty phenomenal and kids won’t get this type of teaching in school—learning the value of dollar and the difference between a credit card and a $100 bill. We teach kindergarteners the difference between needs and wants and continue through the high school level where kids learn conflict resolution, goal-setting, how to prepare for interviews and many other skills,” said Ballard, a native Tucsonan who owns BNI SoZona (bniarizonasouth.com), a referral organization that brings together business professionals.

Ultimately, Ballard is grateful for the opportunity that 100+ Women Who Care Tucson affords for busy women to give back.

“I love that this is once a quarter for an hour and you know it will start on time and end on time. It is super efficient. And I love the mission and the fact that we get to see where our dollars go. I became a member the night I visited; I didn’t think twice,” Ballard said.