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Macro Connect Community Corner: Joining 100 Women Who Care in Rochester
What is “100 Women Who Care”?
The group was started in November of 2006 by Karen Dunigan of Jackson, Michigan, as a simple way to raise money efficiently and quickly for local charities.
One of the best parts of 100WWC is discovering causes attendees may not have known about. Attendees come prepared to pitch a nonprofit—especially smaller or lesser-known organizations doing incredible work in our community. 3 are selected by a random drawing to present each meeting. These meetings occur quarterly.
Although it was started in Jackson, Michigan, there are now chapters all over the country. On Monday, February 9th, we drove up to Rochester, Michigan to check out the scene!
In 2026, this Rochester chapter has between 150-160 members. Between 40-50 attended this event. Each member, whether or not they attend, donates $100 to the winning charity!
What did we learn at the event?
Although 40-50 people attended, only 3 worthy organizations are randomly selected. The three lucky winners were Vista Maria, Safe Tonight Shelter (in collaboration with the Pontiac Community Foundation and a church in Pontiac) and Rochester Christian University’s Digital Lab program. The pitches for each were strong. We learned how Vista Maria needs funds to expand their program supporting foster children who age out of the system and need to be able to acclimate to their new adult life. We learned how Safe Tonight Shelter keeps people without homes temporarily safe while they seek more permanent housing. Finally, RCU’s Digital Lab program would use funds to allow them to provide non-profits with professional level marketing and advertising.
Who won?
The women in the room selected the $15,000-$16,000 award go to Vista Maria this time! Reviewing Vista Maria’s website, they have group volunteering events for businesses like ours at Macro Connect! We look forward to supporting them. A nice piece of the 100 Women Who Care group is the winning organization will come to the next event and share how the money was used and who was impacted.
Why do we care?
One of our core values at Macro Connect is Community Minded. This plays out in several ways. Most of our team members are committed to donating time to organizations or people they care about, ranging from coaching and tutoring, to serving on boards, or doing hands-on work like lifting, digging, or sorting!
Each quarter, we also host a company-sponsored volunteer outing, where 8-10 team members will take a field trip. in 2025, we supported the following organizations:
- Capuchin Soup Kitchen - serving food to the homeless.
- Playworks Michigan - building out a new playroom.
- Brilliant Detroit - staffing a children’s book fair, and reading to kids.
- Forgotten Harvest - packaging food for delivery to those in need.
- Focus Hope - packaging food for delivery to those in need.
- Detroit Healthy Housing Center - providing decorated stockings filled with needed and wanted items to their 50+ female residents.
Finally, we provide many nonprofit organizations fully managed IT services. Whether it’s our wonderful education clients, our municipal clients, or the grassroots social service or arts organizations we serve, our friendly team of technicians love our mission-based clients. It’s a win-win!
Do you know a nonprofit organization that could really use help with their IT environment? Or maybe, an organization who is unhappy with their current IT provider? Our sweet spot is serving those with between 25-250 employees. Macro Connect loves mission-based organizations! If you are one, or know of one…