Guidelines

Membership Guidelines:

When you become a member of 100 Who Care Serving Quincy and Adams County, you’re joining with a group of people who are working together to make a big impact for local nonprofits!

Each member commits to 1 year of quarterly $100 donations ($400 in total) to the local nonprofit serving Adams County that is selected by the group’s majority vote. Only members can nominate groups for consideration, and your nominations must either be on the pre-approved list or be screened by the organizers prior to our meeting. While you do not have to be present to nominate a nonprofit, it is preferred that you are at the meeting to “pitch” your nonprofit if it is selected. If you know you will be absent, you can send your nomination along with a written pitch for the group or you can have another group member prepare to make a pitch for you if your nonprofit is selected.

Nomination Guidelines

• Selected charities must be located in and primarily serving Adams County, IL
• Nominations should come from our pre-screened list or be sent to organizers prior to the meeting for approval
• One nomination is allowed per member, and only members can nominate
• Once an organization receives a donation from the group, they must wait 2 years (8 cycles) to be eligible to receive the contributions again
• Foundations and Funds that primarily regrant funds are not allowed
• No religious or political organizations are allowed. Organizations that could be deemed controversial should be avoided; please use your best judgement
• Programs that are hosted by religious organizations but are not generally religious in nature are eligible. An example would be a food pantry program, parochial school fine arts department etc.
• The funds donated to the nonprofits will not be restricted and will be available for operational costs except in the case of service clubs
• A specific service club project can be nominated (example: donation toward a playground that a service club is building) but if funds are awarded, they will be restricted to this purpose

Process:

• Nonprofits should meet chapter guidelines for approval (see pre-screened list here) and only members can nominate a nonprofit for consideration
• At the meeting, one nomination form is collected from each member
• 3 of the nominated nonprofits are then pulled from a container at random
• The 3 members whose nominations are selected have 5 minutes each to pitch their nonprofit to the group and explain why they should receive the $10,000 donation
• Members vote by secret ballot for one of the three nonprofits and the one with the most votes will win the $10,000 donation! Each member writes an individual check to the nonprofit
• All the people in this group are busy, so we’ll make every effort to keep each meeting short and sweet! The goal is 1 hour for 100 people to make a $10,000 impact! 
• In the event that 2 organizations tie for the most votes, there will be a second round of ballots between the two top organizations

Your Membership

• Your membership will automatically renew each year unless you ask to be removed from the group
• If you are unable to complete a year in the group, please inform the organizers. We appreciate you finding a new member to complete your year whenever possible