You are here: /commentary/girls-inc-and-developed-nation-economies
There are many different charities that are aimed at developing women and establishing a sense of confidence and purpose in girls. While many of them are similar, Girls, Inc. is memorable both in name and in purpose.
They have chapters in nearly every state, currently claim 136,000 girls who are members of the club, and Chicago states that 1,100 girls are members of their chapter.
Charity and volunteer work has fallen out of favor in the western hemisphere in favor of causes. This has caused organizations to respond with questions on increasing community involvement and improving the number of opportunities that their members have for mentorship and path selection. This often requires resources beyond what is necessary to provide a place to meet and cover some basic expenses for staff.
The proposal is to provide each member of Girls, Inc. with $50 per month for activities done at their club that is used for the purpose of self development.
How would this budget look in a simplified format?
| Members | Resource | Months | Budget | 4x Multiplier |
| 136,000 | $50 | 12 | $81.6M | $326.4M |
| 1,100 | $50 | 12 | $660k | $2.64M |
| Sponsoring a non-profit in the USA | ||||
The 4x multiplier is for a $200 resource per month which seems like a lot to older people but is possibly not that much of a commitment for those under 50. This is especially true when considering the commitment is for 1 year, and different people would commit during different years. Someone participating would also not be restricted from participating longer, but would be advised to consider the wisdom in participating for more than 5 years.
How does this look on an individual level?
| Monthly Pledge | Months | Commitment |
| $50 | 12 | $600 |
| $100 | 12 | $1,200 |
| $200 | 12 | $2,400 |
| Sponsoring a girl for 1 year in her club | ||
This is a much easier budget to manage and has a much lower level of risk for all of the participants. Again, for many people, the commitment would not be that difficult to make for one year, their questions would be what do they get out of it and how does the proposal work?
The plan would be to search for a local club by state name, city name, or county name such as "Girls Inc Chicago". Then to call and ask if its possible to sponsor one of the girls. The club would need a list of members, and would only provide the answer towards whether a girls is available to sponsor at the moment or not. The goal would be for each girl to only have one sponsor in any given year before any member can receive a dual sponsorship.
The sponsorship would work as a sort of allowance for club activities and the girls would discuss the difficult conversations as to whos sponsored, who isn't and how their budgets are coming along. They can spend individually or as a group with the club leaders guidance. For example an engineering laptop might cost $3k to $5k and they may decide that they only need a few of those to share but they might still want their own laptop. One of the girls may decide they get their own engineering laptop because they use it most often but they share and there are others available for the rest of the team.
They might want shoes or specific t-shirts like a print screen, they may have to decide if that is an environmentally conscious decision, or not.
What the sponsor would get out of it, is a report, in whole or in part, depending on the girl, on what the money went to for the year. They might have used some of it for clothes and shoes, or to pitch in for helping with the club, and some of it they may still have saved because they dont know if they will be sponsored the next year and they still want to participate whether they are sponsored or not.
Each of the clubs would have to decide on their level of comfort with letting the sponsors interact with the girls. A safe bet, is to think of it as a virtual friendship and their might not be a lot of room for emails or personal visits to the club. An event, like a meet and greet with chaperones is more likely but not guaranteed at every club. Even more likely, is a meet and greet without the girls, and a small file of details that are ok to share with other sponsors, if any.
For easier financial management and increased risk reduction, the payments would be required to be monthly for the entire year. Any additional sponsorship, would need to be approved by the club leaders, and each club would make their own decisions.
If successful, the clubs and the organization could make additional changes after the first year.