Members of 100+ Women Who Care present an oversized check for $13,900 to Turning Point Domestic Violence Services on Dec. 7 at the Johnson County Community Foundation. The philanthropic organization provides grants to groups and agencies throughout the community, and have awarded more than $400,000 since forming in 2016.
JAYDEN KANNETT | DAILY JOURNAL
The process is simple, quick and efficient — done in an hour without fail.
But the impact ripples throughout Johnson County for generations.
Four times each year, members of the local chapter of 100+ Women Who Care gather together to change lives. They spend a short time socializing and networking before getting down to business — choosing an area organization to receive thousands of dollars.
“It’s such a joyful energy in the room to have a group of women who care about their community and care about the well-being of other people, who get to decide together how to make the community better,” said Susan Crisafulli, who became a member in 2022.
For the past eight years, 100+ Women Who Care have been supporting community groups with no-strings-attached grants. Their donations have gone towards everything from feeding the hungry to supporting homeless youth to providing transportation for people in need.
By the end of 2023, the organization had contributed more than $400,000 to local causes.
And they have no intention of slowing down.
“Like most kind of crowd-funded things, it’s about communicating and letting people know about the program,” said Lisa Lintner, a charter member of the organization. “It was truly a grassroots effort to get this started, and it’s going to be the same to maintain it. We’ll just need to keep collaborating within our networks, saying, ‘Did you know about this really good thing we’re doing in Johnson County?’”
Inside the storage room at Great Harvest Food Pantry in New Whiteland, volunteers spent a busy Thursday morning preparing for a flood of needy residents.
They unloaded crates of milk, pallets of potatoes, bins of bread and much more, placing everything in a proper place to serve drive-through clients who would soon be lining up at the New Whiteland food pantry.
The need for food in Johnson County has never been higher, said Melissa Rojas, executive director of Great Harvest Food Pantry. In 2022, the food pantry served 70,170 individuals. By 2023, that number had jumped to 104,112.
Every bit of funding means fewer people go hungry. That made the $14,300 grant the food pantry received from 100+ Women Who Care so important.
“There’s really not a lot of grant funding out there for food, for existing programs. It was incredible,” said Rojas, who joined 100+ Women Who Care in 2021. “That funded us for probably two or three months that year. It’s really a blessing when you receive un-restricted money.”
Great Harvest Food Pantry is one of 27 organizations that have received funding from 100+ Women Who Care since it awarded its first grant in 2016.
100+ Women Who Care is part of a national effort allowing individual communities to help the nonprofits affecting change in their own cities and towns. The first chapter was formed in Michigan, and since then, branches have spread throughout the U.S., Canada and beyond.
The concept includes women-only and men-only clubs, co-ed chapters and clubs for children. More than 700 chapters have been founded, including 14 100+ Women Who Care chapters in Indiana.
When the idea to establish a Johnson County chapter came up in 2015, a group of local leaders gathered for a luncheon to explain the process and provide information to people.
“It felt really empowering, that your little donation could really be a transformative gift for an organization,” Lintner said. “I can be a part of a greater good.”
Women who join are asked to pledge $500 during the year. The first $100 of that will go to a fund set up at the Johnson County Community Foundation, which will eventually be endowed to let the group tackle larger projects or donations as the chapter decides.
The remaining $400 is split up, with $100 contributed by each member to distribute to a local charity that provides services or programs for the good of Johnson County. The recipient of the grant is determined by a special vote at meetings every three months.
Each woman is allowed to nominate an organization to receive the money. Three organization names are chosen at random. Whoever nominated that agency is asked to give a five-minute speech about why they should get the money.
“You go to this meeting where you hear about really good work that’s being done by amazing people right here in our backyard. That’s really uplifting,” Crisafulli said.
After all three advocates have spoken, it’s up to a winner-take-all vote.
“All of us women are in together for this initiative to give back and help the community,” said Pam McNealy Powell, who has been a member for more than three years.
When McNealy Powell and her husband moved to Johnson County in 2020, she was looking for a way to connect to the community. She connected with Garnet Vaughan, a charter member of the group, who wowed McNealy Powell with the passion she had for their work.
That year, she signed up as a member.
“They’re dedicated to making an impact on the community, giving over $10,000 in just one hour through a no-strings-attached grant,” she said. “It’s a win-win-win.”
Providing help for a wide range of groups is the centerpiece of 100+ Women Who Care’s work. But just as valuable has been the opportunity to learn about organizations and agencies they may have never heard from.
“Whether it’s a nonprofit I’m familiar with that I didn’t know about a new program they were doing, or maybe they’re a new nonprofit that just started, and sometimes they get lost,” said member Erin Pennington. “You get this opportunity to learn about your community.”
Pennington was one of the charter members of the organization. She has been president of the Johnson County Community Foundation, and wanted to see how it could support the philanthropic mission.
She has seen it grow into a dynamo making the county a better place.
“When you come together, you can make such a collective difference. While I’m involved in the community in a lot of different ways, I still learn something new every single time we do this,” Pennington said.
The more members involved, the greater good 100+ Women Who Care can do. At the first meeting in February 2016, the group comprised of 48 women. That evening, they awarded a grant of $4,800 to the Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County.
The organization has only grown since. By 2017, membership had reached 100 women, allowing them to award their first $10,000 grant. In November of 2023, Turning Point Domestic Violence Services was given a grant for $14,200.
Those grants are given with no restrictions or limitations — meaning recipients can use them for whatever need they feel is important.
Imagination Library of Johnson County was a grant recipient in 2022. The $14,100 check helped fill a void that existed in the organization’s mission of providing free books for children up to age 5 throughout the county.
Up until that point, they had funding to give books to kids in every part of Johnson County, except Greenwood. Suddenly, they had funding to fill that need.
“It really was a game-changer for us,” said Crisafulli, who is the executive director of Imagination Library of Johnson County. “All of the sudden, we had an extra $14,000 and the opportunity to dream about what we could do with that.”
AT A GLANCE
100+ Women Who Care
What: A group of local women participating in a giving circle to donate money to support a variety of charitable causes that directly impact Johnson County residents.
Who: Open to any woman who is interested in making a difference by making a financial commitment to support Johnson County charities.
Commitment: Members make a $100 contribution to the organization’s endowment fund and agree to write a $100 check each quarter to a charity that is selected by a majority vote of members at their quarterly meeting. The total annual commitment is $500.
How to join: Membership forms are available at jccf.org/100-women or email [email protected]. Information on the group can also be found at facebook.com/100WomenWhoCareJCIN
Upcoming meetings: May 2, Aug. 1 and Nov. 7. Social gathering starts at 4:45 p.m., meeting from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Where: The Barn at Bay Horse Inn, 1468 W. Stones Crossing Road, Greenwood
Cost: $15 per person, payable at the door by cash, check or online payment. Includes refreshments; cash bar also available. Members need to bring their $100 check or online payment for the evening’s grantee award.
RSVP and questions: [email protected]
