As a busy mom of four busy girls, Lindsay Jensen gives a lot. On any average day, she will give a bath, a ride to school – she will even give a timeout or two. But she wanted to give more.
“For me, I don’t have a lot of money, but I wanted to do something. Because I felt like I could do something more,” Jensen said.
An opportunity soon came knocking.
“We had somebody in our neighborhood we wanted to take frozen dinners to and she didn’t have a freezer,” Lindsay explains. “So I thought why don’t we call a bunch of ladies and have them each donate ten dollars to buy a freezer for her. And so that’s what we did.”
The idea almost seemed too simple: a lot of people, giving just a little. Lindsay kept thinking about their simple success and soon – the Ten Club was born.
The women meet once a month. At every meeting, each member donates ten dollars (or whatever they can afford that particular time around). The money is used to fill various needs in the community. Each month they select a particular group, charity or individual to help.
“We try to have a hands-on activity at every meeting, to keep everyone involved,” Lindsay said. “If they are not involved, they don’t have that attachment to the group.”
The Club also invites representatives from the organized charities to join them at the meeting.
“I think it’s important to know what the donations are going toward,” Lindsay explains. “Knowledge is power and when you have knowledge about what you are doing, you feel more from what you have done.”
Member Melissa Spencer first heard about the club three months ago.
“I thought it sounded like a lot of fun,” she laughs. “I love girl’s night out, but wanted to do something more than just go out to eat! This was a good alternative.”
For club member Megan Richards it is a fun way to make a difference.
“I can do ten dollars and I can do one night a month,” she said. “And it’s fun, on top of it all!”
“Ten dollars is going to lunch, it’s not very much,” Lindsay reminds. “But it makes a difference when you multiply that by twenty, thirty, forty – it really can make a difference. You can always give more of yourself – and you can always give ten dollars!”
10 STEPS FOR CREATING YOUR OWN “TEN CLUB”
1. COMMIT
Plan a date, time and location for your first meeting.
2. SPREAD THE WORD
Tell your neighbors, friends, anyone you might think would be interested. Then tell them to tell theirs! Post flyers & send out e-mails. It is a good idea to send out an invitation, with basic information, telling potential members what to expect. Make sure to tell them to bring their $10.00 to the first meeting.
3. E-MAIL
Set up an e-mail address specifically for your Ten Club. E-mail is a great way for people to send questions, comments, and especially for you to communicate with your members.
4. BLOG
Next, it is a great idea for you to set up a blog. This is perfect to document events, and allow people to see what is going on. It is a great place to put all of your club information.
5. CARRY OUT
Have your first meeting and collect the donations for the following month’s service project. Discuss possible projects you can do as a group. This meeting will give you a good idea of the funds you will have to work with.
6. DESIGNATE
Allow everyone to be involved (and save yourself from doing everything!). Find someone who would be willing to manage the blog, check e-mail, contact groups or people needing help, anything else you can think of. Let as many people as possible be in charge of something.
7. SIGN UP
Make a schedule for months to come and pass it around for members to sign up to be over a meeting and project.
8. START TO SERVE
It is very important at each meeting to have a hands-on service project that everyone can be involved. Most larger projects will not require each member’s participation, so these hands-on services will help keep a consistent emotional connection to the club. Some good examples of small projects would be tying quilts, putting together packages, etc.
9. ORGANIZE
After the meeting you will want to make sure you have all member’s information and record of the donations. Keeping up on this will make the process much smoother and you will always know each member is being informed, and the funds are being recorded and tracked.
10. HAVE FUN
Be relaxed and open! This should be a positive experience for everyone. You will have to change and modify often to best fit your group…and that is okay! Just as long as you are all having fun!
THE TEN CLUB BINDER
Because a different club member hosts the meeting each month, The Ten Club found it was helpful to keep all of the club information, donations and projects organized in a club binder. Below are the documents the original Ten Club included in their binder – feel free to download the pages below and adjust to fit your own club needs.
The Ten Club – Cover Page Click HERE to download
The Ten Club – Responsibilities Click HERE to download
The Ten Club – New Member Information Click HERE to download
The Ten Club – Project Ideas Click HERE to download
The Ten Club – Monthly Expenses Click HERE to download
The Ten Club – Finance Tracker Click HERE to download
PRINTING INSTRUCTIONS:
• Open documents using Microsoft Word
• Set margins to ‘Normal’ setting (Top: 1″, Bottom: 1″, Right: 1″, Left: 1″)
If you have any questions, you can e-mail the members of the original Ten Club at the10club@hotmail.com.
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