Anyone who is 19 years or older can become a member.  It is not just for residents of the tri-county area (Richmond, Inverness, Victoria) – you can be from anywhere in Canada and if you want to be a member and help our cause, we would be delighted.  If you are from outside Canada and want to be a member and donate to our cause – we would also be quite delighted that you would want to support us, but the tax receipt would only apply to Canadians.  In all probability, you would not be able to be in attendance and would have to make arrangements to have your cheque received prior to our meeting. 

If a member cannot attend a meeting she should send her regrets to our email address at 100womenruralcapebreton@gmail.com and for delivery of her cheque - she can do one of the following:

1. Arrange a cheque drop-off to a member of the Core Committee before the meeting date. We can only count the votes of members who are present at the meeting; OR

2. Send your blank cheque with another member the night of the meeting. Doing this will make it simple for the organizers as well as the members.

3. Mail to Mary Janet MacDonald, 288 East Street, Port Hood, NS, B0E 2W0 or to Josephine MacEachern, PO Box 203, Mabou, NS, B0E 1X0.

4. E-transfer 100womenruralcapebreton@gmail.com

5. If you do not attend a meeting you are still expected to honour your $100 commitment. Your $100 commitment must be up to date to remain in good standing with your membership.

When your Membership Commitment form is filled in - there is a place on the submission form for you to nominate a charity of your choice if you so choose.  You will need to know the official name of the charity, the name of the contact person, and a contact number.  If you don't know if your charity is registered or not - leave that to us to determine - OR you can check online with Canada Revenue Agency at: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving/charities-listings.html   The core committee will then contact the charity for other detailed information required as we must make sure they are in good standing with Canada Revenue Agency and able to issue official tax receipts. If you would like to BECOME a member so you can support the wonderful and inspiring work done by local charities, please complete the Membership Commitment form under the GET INVOLVED tab in the menu above.

Yes, only registered charities able to issue tax receipts will be sponsored by the group. Cheques are written directly to the charitable organization and NOT to 100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton. Tax receipts will be issued directly by the charitable organization.

Absolutely not! 100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton is organized and operated entirely by volunteers. 100% of the money raised at our meetings goes directly to the selected organizations!  Any small operating costs we may have (printing, website, etc.) we hope to have a sponsor volunteer to cover the costs.  In return, we will place their business name and logo on our website.

The Rural Cape Breton Chapter was first launched in July of 2017 after having an inaugural meeting in June.  The Core Committee members – Josephine MacEachern, Co-Chair, Mary Janet MacDonald, Co-Chair, Beverly MacDonald, Gail MacNeil, Eleanor Ryan, and Janet MacKenzie. Josie had heard of these Chapters popping up all over Canada and met with Mary Janet in November, 2016, to see if it could become a reality in our area.  Bev MacDonald was also interested in starting a Chapter and with the help of the CBRM Chapter, these three women contacted three more women to form the first Core Committee and held the first inaugural meeting on June 19, 2017.  Once it was agreed upon to go forward, the Chapter was launched in July of 2017 with the first meeting being held on Thursday, October 19, 2017 at Dalbrae Academy (Strathspey Performing Arts Centre) in Mabou, NS.

In May of 2018, we were happy to add two more core members to our group - Amanda Mombourquette from Richmond County and Linda MacRae from Victoria County. Amanda is now the Warden of Richmond County so has left our group.

In August of 2023, we welcomed Sherryl Harrison Mousek to replace the vacancy left by Amanda Mombourquette.

The website and facebook page will have the most up to date info at all times https://www.100womenruralcapebreton.com.  New members will receive a confirmation from 100womenruralcapebreton@gmail.com within a week of joining. If you have not received it please contact us. We also update Facebook regularly www.facebook.com/100womenruralcapebreton.com. We will make every effort to reach you but sometimes your security settings prohibit us from getting things to you. If you change your email address please let us know. Should you wish to discontinue membership at any time, please send an e-mail to 100womenruralcapebreton@gmail.com indicating your withdrawal.

If you are unable to attend a meeting and did not submit your $100 ahead of time we will email a reminder and offer you the option to have your name removed from the membership list for the next meeting as this is standard procedure.

You are greeted by a volunteer and asked to sign in at the registration desk. We like to keep track of our member’s attendance as you enter so we can reconcile donations more quickly at the end of the evening. There will be a cash bar and some munchies. Please let us know if you don’t want your picture taken or placed on our social media page.

Order of Event:

7:00 pm - Registration, networking and cash bar opens. You choose if you would like to attend the networking - registration must be finished by 7:45 so it is appreciated if you get there early so we can have numbers tabulated for all who are present.

7:45 pm - We take a group photo and then move to the meeting room

8:00 pm - Presentation begins:

• Opening remarks.

• Announcement of our 3 Charitable organization finalists.

• Charitable organization Presentations – 5 minutes each, no PowerPoint or demonstrative materials.

• Voting and tabulation – each member receives a ballot and they vote for the charity of their choice.

• While the votes are counted, members will hear hear from the successful charity from the previous year and how the money helped them complete their project.

• Short entertainment segment.

• Announcement of the winning recipient based on number of votes.

• Announcement of the next year’s venue and date.

• Cash bar and cheque/cash collection.

• Free to stay for more mix and mingle or free to leave.

 In order to be considered at a meeting, the organization/charity must be based in one of the tri-counties (Richmond, Inverness, or Victoria). It must be a not-for-profit or charitable organization eligible to provide tax receipts for donations. It must be previously established for at least 1 year (no start-ups). No national or international charities, programs or organizations will be considered at this time as the current focus is on contributing to our local community. All money given to the winning organization must all be used for a project within the tri-counties. An organization that is selected for the group donation may not be considered again for 5 Years. Members nominate a charitable organization when they complete the Membership Commitment form (see Get Involved page).  Nominations are entered into a draw and 3 are randomly selected and vetted prior to the event. Representatives from each organization are asked to make a 5 minute presentation at the meeting and then group members will vote on the recipient of their choice. The organization with the greatest amount of votes is the recipient of the funds and is removed from the selection process for the next 5 years.

Charities must be nominated by a member of 100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton to be considered. Deadline for nominations for 2024 is August 22nd.  We invite organizations to like us on Facebook. Here, organizations can educate 100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton members and those following us about their projects. Many members are looking for a charitable cause to nominate and find info within our social media discussions and posts. All seven (7) core committee members are paying members but abstain from the nomination process due to the fact that it may be perceived as a conflict of interest.

Our meetings and receptions are members only. We cannot allow anyone under the age of 19 to be in attendance as we are operating a cash bar and it must remain for members only. We are always seeking additional women who care!  So, if you bring a friend along who wants to join, we will have her sign a commitment form at registration when she arrives. She can also register ahead of time by visiting the GET INVOLVED page on our website.

 When a member registers online, there is space on the form to nominate a charity - although it is not a necessity to nominate a charity. The organizers of the meeting will collect the names of the organizations and three organizations will be selected at random two weeks before the event. Members of the three organizations will be contacted and asked to give a short five minute presentation at the meeting as to why their organization should receive the donation and what they plan to do with the money. We encourage members to participate by submitting the names of local, charitable organizations! 

Because the goal of 100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton is to make a large donation on behalf of the whole group, the answer is no. We want to be able to support this endeavor and give $10,000+ dollars at a time to make a large impact in our community with each member’s donation being part of the larger donation. This is the power of joining forces! We also need to be able to track your donations so that you get credit for the donation and remain an active member.

Meetings are intended to be no longer than 1 hour (from 8-9) but we do have some networking time before and after the meeting (from 7-8) to socialize with light snacks and a cash bar. 

100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton collects your personal information (including name, address, email address and phone number) strictly for the purpose of maintaining our membership list. 100 Women Who Care Rural Cape Breton will not sell, give or otherwise share your personal information without your express consent, unless required by law. We do like to recognize our members via social media and other venues. If a member would like to remain anonymous, they must let us know at the time of joining.

This organization depends on donations from sponsors to help us pay for light snacks, cost of venue (if not given free for our use), posters, etc.   We are very grateful to Strathspey Performing Arts Centre for donating the space in 2017, 2018, 2022, and again in 2023, for this worthy community event and to the Civic Centre in Port Hawkesbury for 2019 for allowing us to use the Bear Head room at no cost.

The Core Committee are all members in good standing and pay their $100 but they DO NOT nominate a charity because it could be seen as a conflict of interest.