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January 28, 2018 | Tom Ballard

Still time to join “100 Men Who Care – Knoxville” before February 6 event

100 Men Who CareBy Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA

There’s still time to be one of the inaugural members of a new group called “100 Men Who Care – Knoxville.”

It’s not a new initiative nationally; there are chapters in many cities. Now, as Knoxville continues to build-out its all-inclusive ecosystem to make it an even more attractive city for business executives and entrepreneurs, the city will now be on the national map.

Organized by five individuals including two local entrepreneurs who have been featured on teknovation.biz, “100 Men Who Care – Knoxville” has a single purpose: to create a vehicle through which men who are time-constrained, but desirous of helping others, can do so in an organized way.

In the end, a local charity will walk away every quarter with at least $10,000 (100 men committing $100 per event).

“It has the benefits of a GoFundMe or Kickstarter campaign, but focused locally and on charities that are important to the members,” Brandon Bruce, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Cirrus Insight, told us Friday. He is one of the five organizers.

Ironically, Bruce says he was at least partly motivated by a similar group – “100 Women Who Care” – that his wife (Tricia) has been a part of for several years.

“It was time for Knoxville to have a similar group for men,” he explained. So, Bruce initially partnered with Chris Ayala, another local entrepreneur, to start a chapter. During those initial organizational efforts, they learned that there was a corresponding initiative being led by Pete Atherton, a recent transplant to Knoxville who had led a “100 Men Who Care” chapter when he lived in Maine.

“We joined forces,” Bruce said. The other two members of the local steering committee are Alan Moore and Thomas Krajewski.

The initial meeting of the group is February 6 at the Pour Taproom in the Old City. Registration begins at 6 p.m. with the actual event running from 6:30 to about 7:30 p.m. Individuals interested in joining can sign-up here.

During the inaugural session and each of the quarterly meetings that will follow, three to five members of the local “100 Men Who Care – Knoxville” chapter will pitch their favorite charity. That’s a unique aspect of the chapter’s approach – it is members of “100 Men Who Care” who pitch for the charity, not a representative of the charity.

After the pitches, those in attendance vote for their favorite, and they commit to writing personal checks to the charity that receives the most votes.

“It’s great support for some good causes and no doubt an opportunity for some great collisions to occur among the attendees,” Bruce says.

Is the group limited to 100 members? Absolutely not; that’s the minimum threshold the organizers are seeking.

Visit the “100 Men Who Care – Knoxville” website for additional information. There’s a great explanation of the overall process here and also a good deal of information with links in this flyer (100 Men Who Care).


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