A new organization is looking for men who want to make a difference in their community.
The 100 Men Who Give a Damn, co-founded by Mike Boake and RJ Sigurdson, launched last week and is currently building its membership prior to hosting its first meeting toward the end of March.
Following in the footsteps of sister organization 100 Women Who Care, the men will meet every quarter, and each member will donate $100 to the chosen charity.
Both Boake and Sigurdson were familiar with the 100 Who Care Alliance because their wives were involved with the local branch of 100 Women Who Care – Boake’s wife, Julie, has recently taken over operations of the chapter.
“I’d seen how they did theirs and I like how low-impact the group is,” said Boake. “Everyone’s schedules are so busy nowadays, and this is four one-hour meetings out of the entire year.”
Besides a low time commitment, he said he liked how the organization works because it’s member-driven and no money actually comes into the organization itself – the group works as a facilitator only.
Members write cheques or give cash directly to the charity chosen by the membership each quarter, he said.
“Sometimes organizations get admin-heavy,” said Boake. “This way, the members know every single $100 goes to the charity of choice, not to little fees within our organization.”
All administrative costs, such as web-hosting or room rental, are being covered by Boake and Sigurdson as part of their commitment to the group, he said.
Prior to the quarterly meeting, members can nominate charities to be selected for the donation, and the three most-nominated groups will be highlighted at the meeting, said Boake. Nominators have the opportunity to pitch their suggested charity, and then the members present vote on which group to support.
At the end of the meeting, everyone pays $100 to the chosen charity, he said.
There’s just one rule – even if a member can’t make a meeting, the payment still has to be made.
“When you sign up for it, that’s part of the rules and regulations that if you miss a meeting you still have to donate $100,” said Boake. “That’s how we make sure we’re always giving everything we can.”
There are more non-profit groups in the area than most people realize, and Boake said they hope to target more than the well-known reactive groups like the food bank or emergency shelter. While they’re eligible and worthy organizations, he said they’d also like to help the lesser-known charities as well.
That’s where the Highwood MLA's connections come in, he said. Though Sigurdson's not aligning 100 Men with his political work, he does have easier access to public lists of registered non-profits in the Foothills, said Boake.
Like Boake, Sigurdson initially got involved after seeing how his wife’s membership in the 100 Women Who Care was benefiting a number of local not-for-profits without taking a lot of time.
However, neither went into 100 Men knowing they’d be forming a partnership.
Sigurdson was inspired at Christmas after a conversation at home about the family’s gratitude and appreciation for what they have, and talking about ways to give back in the community.
“We got into the conversation about the fact there wasn’t a 100 Men Who Give a Damn, so it was shortly after I contacted the 100 Who Care Alliance,” he said. “Just shortly after the holidays they got back to me and said another member had reached out about starting a chapter as well and shared his name and it was Mike Boake.”
The pair already knew each other from around the community and living just blocks away from one another, so it was natural to join together and make it happen, said Sigurdson.
“It seemed that two heads together and two efforts together to start this up, get it moving and move it forward would be more powerful than one,” he said. “It just all clicked at that point and I knew we could really get this off the ground strong.”
With both of their networks in the community the ball got rolling pretty fast, he said. Within three days they had reached their goal of 40 members for the first meeting. It’s given them hope for hitting the 100 mark, he said.
Boake said if the 100 Men Who Give a Damn can reach its goal of the full 100 members, it would be donating $40,000 per year to Foothills charities. However, they won’t stop there. The slate of members can grow as high as the number of interested men in the community, he said.
They hope the launch of 100 Men will also boost the membership in 100 Women Who Care, which has hovered fairly consistently around the 80 mark, he said.
If both groups operated with at least their full complement of 100 members it would guarantee $80,000 per year being donated, he said.
For more information on either group, visit www.okotoks100.com.
