100+ Women Who Care Fund
Giving circles are an informal group of individuals who collectively pool their resources to make donations to causes important to them. In Marion, one such group is 100+ Women Who Care, which was formed in 2013.
Each member, or team of members, has committed to donating $100 quarterly. Those donations now add up to $10,000. The group, which is not a formal nonprofit organization and wishes to remain as such, has grown to the point that they sought the help of Marion Community Foundation to managing their philanthropy.
In partnership with the Foundation, they created the 100+ Women Who Care Fund, a non-endowed field of interest fund to serve as a repository for members’ contributions. This simplifies their collection process; members are able to set up automatic recurring donations directly from their bank account to the fund.
This allows members to focus on what they joined the group for—supporting local nonprofits and charities and meeting community needs. Members do this by gathering every three months to hear presentations from area nonprofits and selecting one organization or project to support. Marion Community Foundation processes all the members’ donations as one check and awards 100 Women’s substantial grant.
Past recipients of 100+ Women Who Care’s generosity have included the Heart of Ohio Homeless Shelter, Marion Area Humane Society, Wings of an Angel, Marion Matters, and Leapin’ Outreach, among others.
