Our Process
Prior to each meeting, members are invited to nominate nonprofits for the group to support and three are chosen at random. During the meetings, either the members who nominated one of the three nonprofits or a representative from the nonprofits are allowed to make a 5-minute pitch followed by several minutes of questions. After the pitches and questions, members vote on which of the three nonprofits to support.
The nonprofit that receives the majority of votes will receive donations from all the members (with 100 members this is $10,000!), and it cannot be nominated again for two years. The nonprofits agree not to contact members for future solicitation. Nonprofits that did not receive the majority of votes can be nominated again by members prior to future meetings.
Members do not have to be present at each meeting. While we love to see each other, we understand we all have other commitments and each of us can’t make every meeting. Once someone has registered as a member, her donations will be processed whether or not she is able to attend.
We have partnered with Grapevine to collect donations for the selected nonprofits so that members can pay online with a credit card. Grapevine is a nonprofit and has negotiated lower than average credit card fees to make it easier to donate. They aggregate our donations from 100+ Women Who Care Asheville and send them to the nonprofit we vote to support. Grapevine then provides each member with a tax receipt for the donations. They do not share members’ contact information with the nonprofits we support through them. As a nonprofit, Grapevine suggests that we add a tip when making our donations to go towards their operating costs, if you are able.