What's Next?
“What’s Next?” was the theme of our Annual Forum in July. Since I started the year with a post about “Lessons Learned” over our 15 years - I thought I would share a little of my presentation from the Forum…
First - let’s take a look back at what was happening the year we created The BWC.
(click through the slides below)
We Decided to Start Something…
So, with the state of things as they were in 2009, Myrna Marofsky and I decided to start something.
Myrna had the brilliant idea of creating an organization to help women business owners under the $1.0M revenue threshold (under 3% of all women owned businesses) grow. We recognized that the challenges that women business owners faced - particularly those under $1.0M - were further complicated by not finding the right resources, education opportunities and support as they started and worked to grow their businesses.
We knew that each person would define what growth would look like for them. We also knew that the heart of the experience we createad had to do with PEERpower.
And so - our first Circle started in September of 2009.
The Last 15 Years…
15 years later we can proudly say that we have been achieving the goal of helping women in business (owners & professionals) with growth in business, leadership and life. Here are a few call outs:
Mentored and supported over approximately 650 women through BWC Memberships
We’ve given over $51,000 in membership fees since starting The Myrna Marofsky Scholarship Fund in 2020
Offered learning opportunities for the community through our workshops and events
Held 14 years of Forums
Since 2019, we have given 12+ scholarship tickets away for each Forum
So What’s Next for The BWC?
Well, what's next is certainly about more...
More Circles
Besides working on filling our current Circles, we also to want to start a few more like:
Work to FT Entrepreneur
St. Paul/Eastern Circle
Young Professionals Circle
And…
More Educational Opportunities
This means continuing with our series and other learnings.
B*tches With Cash - all about getting more or keeping cash
Leadership - developing key skills as a leader
Life Lessons - working on things for and about you
Project BWC Curriculum - a little something we’re working on for next year…
And more work on our next Forum
Be sure to hold July 14th for our 2025 Forum.
Doing More
In order to continue to continue to provide accessibility and affordability to help women in business grow and contribute to the economy, we have created a non-profit organization.
The Circle Community will give our area’s corporations, individuals and other foundations the opportunity to support BWC’s purpose through their charitable giving.
Funds raised will help us strengthen and grow our offerings to help women grow both their businesses and personally. We’ll do this through 3 pillars – Access, Education & Support.
We are also kicking off our first fundraising effort for The Jackie Wurm Grant Program.
This program is named after a woman who believed and lived the idea of PEERpower. Our focus is on creating grant opportunities for women who could use a small financial boost to take their business to the next level. Along with financial assistance, each Grantee will also receive extra support in establishing how they will spend their grant.
From now until October 15th, we are accepting donations to help us reach our goal of $10,000 to support women owned businesses in their growth and impact to the community.
You can also Text to Give: 44-321 to PEER100
I firmly believe that small actions coming together can create great impact. During the pandemic, I discovered the poetry of Danielle Doby who wrote this:
ripples
when you create a difference
in someone’s life
you not only impact their life
you impact everyone influenced by them
throughout their entire lifetime
no act is ever too small
one by one
this is how to make an ocean rise
— danielle doby
We hope you’ll join us in “raising the ocean”.
