By Faith Heaton Jolley From KSL Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Four hundred dollars and four hours a year — that’s what an efficient, national fundraising organization requires from its members to help local charities, and a Utah woman recently started a chapter in Salt Lake City.

The organization, 100 Who Care Alliance, was founded in Jackson, Michigan, in November 2006 by Karen Dunigan, according to its website. Dunigan wanted to raise money to buy baby beds for a local charity, but didn’t have a lot of time to do fundraising or auctions. As a result, she recruited over 100 of her female friends to each donate $100 and in less than an hour, she had raised more than $12,000 for the charity, the website said.

Dunigan decided to create an official organization using that concept to easily and quickly raise money for local charities. The first chapter, 100(+) Women Who Care, was founded and quickly grew to more than 275 members who would meet four times a year with each member donating $100 per meeting, the website said.

The members each nominate a local charity and after three charities are randomly selected from the nominations, a vote is held to determine which local charity will receive all the donated funds.

The concept snowballed and the organization spread, now with 268 chapters in several countries including Canada, the Cayman Islands, Mexico and Singapore. The organization also branched out to include chapters for men, children and combined men and women groups.

Salt Lake City resident Lisa Evans learned about the 100 Who Care organization when she was visiting friends in Dayton, Ohio, in January. Evans said her friend, a member of the Dayton chapter, invited her to attend their quarterly meeting. Evans said she was impressed with the incredible efficiency of the charity.

It’s designed for the busy person. I went to the meeting and I just loved it. And the whole time I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to bring this to Salt Lake.’
–Lisa Evans, SLC resident
“It’s designed for the busy person,” she said. “I went to the meeting and I just loved it. And the whole time I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to bring this to Salt Lake.’”

A men’s chapter was formed in Provo in 2014 (100 Guys Who Care), but Evans decided to bring a women’s group to Utah. In April, she went to the organization’s national conference in Chicago and received information and ideas for founding a chapter in Salt Lake City.

“It’s just such a feel-good organization,” Evans said. “They can just look around the community and feel great about all the things they have accomplished as a group.”

The Salt Lake City chapter will hold its first meeting on June 3 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Copper Room of the State Capitol Building. Evans said it currently have 40 members and is hoping to grow to 100 by the end of the year.

“We really are seeking a diversity of women, all different religious backgrounds, cultural, ethnic,” she said. “We would really just love for it to be a melting pot of Salt Lake… I am honored to be part of this amazing group of caring women and look forward to having a powerful impact on our community.”

To learn more about becoming a member, click here: http://www.100womenwhocareslc.com/commitment-form.html

IMAGE: Michael Hall

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