A Little History
Chicks with Checks (CWC) was originally birthed in 2005 in response to completing treatment for breast cancer. It happened like this....
My hair fell out thanks to chemo so I bought a really cute wig. Then the weirdest thing happened - strangers began asking who did my hair. After the third or fourth incident, I wrote in my journal," Dear god, if you wanted me to change my hairdo, you could have just said so." Then sat staring at that sentence wondering what really needed changing.
What bubbled up was the need to up my giving game. My thoughts initially went to charitable giving...
Even though giving had always been a part of my life, it had admittedly been more haphazard than thoughtful. Conquering cancer created a new urgency for making my giving more focused, systematic, and personal.
I started by looking for causes in my own backyard that tugged at my heartstrings. I’m a reasonably good researcher and was already plugged into to the local fundraising community, but finding local NPOs - those unsung heroes on the front lines every day - turned out to be challenging. If I was having trouble, how on earth did anyone else find them unless they were directly connected to a founder or some other key person?
This searching also caused me to deeply examine my core belief that giving is a lifestyle, not just a donation. Giving and receiving are not separate things; they are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. If you want better relationships, give more loving actions. If you want a healthier body, give it healthier habits. If you want more personal or financial success, give yourself the habits, hangouts, and friendships that nurture your desired outcomes. If you want to master your mindset, give yourself training, coaching, and a community focused on similar goals and beliefs. If you want better communities, give your time or money or both to the organizations working to make it happen.
In each of these examples, your own giving comes first, and your receiving comes as result. The Giver becomes the Receiver...
Then the first idea struck: Create a venue similar to book club, only instead of reading a new book every month, we would learn about a new NPO. I met a friend for conversation and appetizers at a local restaurant and had barely described the idea when Fate caused an introduction to the Executive Directive of a local NPO I’d never heard of. She loved the concept, asked to go first, and so it began.
It started in my living room, inviting local nonprofits to come tell my friends who they are, what they do, why it is important to the community, and what we could do to help. We each wrote a check for what we would have spent on dinner out. Word of mouth kicked in and the problem of finding local NPOs evaporated.
Within a couple of months, calls began coming in from nearby towns wanting their own chapters and soon new groups began springing up with each chapter choosing its own community-based beneficiaries.
The initial group quickly outgrew my living room and began meeting in boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, and occasionally on-site with the NPO. As the local chapters flourished, they became a combined social and business network for women based on giving first, and we realized we had to develop a better method of networking based on giving first. (It's a beauty!)
We also began hearing lots of stories from women with a common thread - I will give more (money, time, healthy habits, helpful and kind acts) when I have more time, money....you get the picture. So many of us have it backwards. Giving FIRST in whatever ways we can is the catalyst for receiving more. Clearly, an opportunity existed to improve our minds and mindsets. (You'll love the small group model that is now in the works.)
In 2007, I introduced CWC at CEO Space, and in 2008, we received an unsolicited surprise mention in a Time Magazine article about the rise of giving circles. We were flooded with requests from NPOs wanting to know how they could become a beneficiary. Because of the local chapter model, the only answer we had available was to first form a chapter in their area. It felt like the wrong answer.
We needed to upgrade in order to do a better job of giving in every way - growing ourselves, giving, networking.
My hair fell out thanks to chemo so I bought a really cute wig. Then the weirdest thing happened - strangers began asking who did my hair. After the third or fourth incident, I wrote in my journal," Dear god, if you wanted me to change my hairdo, you could have just said so." Then sat staring at that sentence wondering what really needed changing.
What bubbled up was the need to up my giving game. My thoughts initially went to charitable giving...
Even though giving had always been a part of my life, it had admittedly been more haphazard than thoughtful. Conquering cancer created a new urgency for making my giving more focused, systematic, and personal.
I started by looking for causes in my own backyard that tugged at my heartstrings. I’m a reasonably good researcher and was already plugged into to the local fundraising community, but finding local NPOs - those unsung heroes on the front lines every day - turned out to be challenging. If I was having trouble, how on earth did anyone else find them unless they were directly connected to a founder or some other key person?
This searching also caused me to deeply examine my core belief that giving is a lifestyle, not just a donation. Giving and receiving are not separate things; they are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. If you want better relationships, give more loving actions. If you want a healthier body, give it healthier habits. If you want more personal or financial success, give yourself the habits, hangouts, and friendships that nurture your desired outcomes. If you want to master your mindset, give yourself training, coaching, and a community focused on similar goals and beliefs. If you want better communities, give your time or money or both to the organizations working to make it happen.
In each of these examples, your own giving comes first, and your receiving comes as result. The Giver becomes the Receiver...
Then the first idea struck: Create a venue similar to book club, only instead of reading a new book every month, we would learn about a new NPO. I met a friend for conversation and appetizers at a local restaurant and had barely described the idea when Fate caused an introduction to the Executive Directive of a local NPO I’d never heard of. She loved the concept, asked to go first, and so it began.
It started in my living room, inviting local nonprofits to come tell my friends who they are, what they do, why it is important to the community, and what we could do to help. We each wrote a check for what we would have spent on dinner out. Word of mouth kicked in and the problem of finding local NPOs evaporated.
Within a couple of months, calls began coming in from nearby towns wanting their own chapters and soon new groups began springing up with each chapter choosing its own community-based beneficiaries.
The initial group quickly outgrew my living room and began meeting in boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, and occasionally on-site with the NPO. As the local chapters flourished, they became a combined social and business network for women based on giving first, and we realized we had to develop a better method of networking based on giving first. (It's a beauty!)
We also began hearing lots of stories from women with a common thread - I will give more (money, time, healthy habits, helpful and kind acts) when I have more time, money....you get the picture. So many of us have it backwards. Giving FIRST in whatever ways we can is the catalyst for receiving more. Clearly, an opportunity existed to improve our minds and mindsets. (You'll love the small group model that is now in the works.)
In 2007, I introduced CWC at CEO Space, and in 2008, we received an unsolicited surprise mention in a Time Magazine article about the rise of giving circles. We were flooded with requests from NPOs wanting to know how they could become a beneficiary. Because of the local chapter model, the only answer we had available was to first form a chapter in their area. It felt like the wrong answer.
We needed to upgrade in order to do a better job of giving in every way - growing ourselves, giving, networking.
Back to the Drawing Board....
The original idea practically created itself and invited me along for the ride, but creating a version that stayed true to the mission and expanded beyond local chapters has been challenging, partly because I had to take a personal break to help care for my aging parents, meet and marry my great love, and welcome granddoodles. We have four goals:
- Eliminate geographic barriers as much as possible so we can serve women and local nonprofits anywhere in the US.
- Build a community of women devoted to living the giving lifestyle. It's more than monetary donations, extending into every aspect of life including relationships, health, wealth, careers, and parenting. We need to understand that no matter what pat of life we are discussing, giving always comes first. We need to understand that true giving-based living is NOT about becoming a doormat or ditching good boundaries or becoming a pleaser or any of those other nasty little mind games haunting so many women. We need to harness the power of giving-based personal growth and giving-based networking along with our donations. Even more importantly, we need to understand what all that really means.
- Provide a platform for local nonprofits to tell their story to a new audience, to network and connect with women they may not have met otherwise.
- Learn and practice systematic ways to give beginning with small sums and small actions.
The Future
As soon as we figure out the details, Chicks with Checks will be back able to serve more great women and good causes than we ever dreamed possible and YOU can help.
Watch this space and our Facebook page for details.
The Giver becomes the Receiver.
Watch this space and our Facebook page for details.
The Giver becomes the Receiver.
