Local women with an interest in helping others in the local community are starting a Cayman Islands chapter of an international giving circle program. The 100 Women Who Care concept consists of a group of local women who are interested in making an immediate, direct and positive impact within their local community by contributing 100 per cent of all monies raised at their meetings to local charities. Using the momentum generated by the men’s group, launched in Cayman last month — 100 Men Who Give A Damn – many women had shown an interest in starting a women’s group before Emma Graham Taylor took the reigns and started a Facebook group to kick-start the process of forming a chapter.
“Anyone could have done it” says Graham Taylor who refuses to take the credit for establishing the group here in Cayman. “I just decided to go on Facebook to see who else wanted to be involved and the response was overwhelming. Now we’re working to create some structure to the chapter, with a small committee of amazing women, to put everything in place to hold our first meeting. We’re following the example of other groups across the world, and the men’s chapter here in Cayman. The already established 100 Women groups internationally have proven that a committed group of like-minded women can have a tremendous local impact and it doesn’t have to be complicated.”
Today, there are more than 275 chapters of the movement globally. The commitment for each member involves attending four, one-hour meetings a year (one each quarter) and pledging $100 per meeting for a total of $400 per member each year.
“I have heard from so many women that they want to do something and be involved in some way in giving back to their community, yet their time and funds are limited,” Graham Taylor explains. “With 100+ Women Who Care Cayman Islands, we now have a simple mechanism to make a huge difference in the community.”
Ahead of each meeting, members will have the opportunity to nominate one local charity. All nominations will then go into a draw. Three charities pulled from the draw will be invited to make a five-minute presentation to the assembled members at the meetings and make a case for the charity and it’s needs. Following the presentations, members in attendance will vote on their preferred organization and the organization with the most votes will walk away with the funds raised.
The first meeting of the Cayman Islands chapter will be held on 14 October 2015. More information is available at www.100womencayman.com or via the Facebook Page — 100+ Women Who Care — Cayman Islands.