FAQs

Women inPower Chapters are a space for women in your community to come together for formal or informal events.  As a Chapter host, you’ll be responsible for setting the agenda for your Chapter. We suggest organizing regular, even monthly, events.  This includes getting the word out, securing space, and choosing the themes or topics to explore with your group. Don’t be afraid to share these duties with a friend or spread them around your Chapter members.

This depends on how the Chapter host(s) decide to invite and recruit participants. Some chapters choose a highly-structured and exclusive process including an application and selection process and also a commitment from participants to attend every meeting. Other chapter hosts choose to organize an event, advertise it broadly, and welcome whoever shows up that month. And of course, there are lots of options in between. You can decide what feels the most comfortable to you. If you choose to run a more structure fellowship, visit our resource page for sample applications, acceptance letters and more.

We know you’re busy so it’s up to you to set the amount of time you spend on your Chapter. We ask that you commit to a regular schedule of events that each run 2-3 hours. In addition, you should plan at least 2 hours of preparation and outreach for each meeting. NOTE: It will take less time if you choose to set all your dates and locations at once or at the same time and place. Otherwise, it will take time every month to find a date and place. Also, the format you choose for each meeting will determine the amount of preparation time is needed. If you choose to host a Chapter conversation, it is simple to select one of the themes we have developed and use the questions for discussion that we suggest. If you have additional time, you might choose to do one of our suggested activities that require about an hour of preparation. And if you choose to have a guest speaker at any of your meetings, that will take a few hours of additional outreach and logistics. You could choose to always follow one format or choose to mix-and-match throughout the year.

Chapter hosts can use our toolkit, list of themes and events and suggested readings (all available on our website.) Chapter hosts are invited to monthly webinars for the Women inPower community. The webinars will be an opportunity to discuss the theme of the month, learn about ideas for implementing it, and share experiences with other hosts. Chapter hosts will have direct access to 92Y staff for one-on-one support. We suggest all Chapter hosts join the Women inPower Facebook group where you can ask questions, trade advice, and collaboratively plan events for their Chapters.

Yes! You can tell your supervisor or Human Resources department that this is a great opportunity to give back to the community, to establish new professional connections, and to develop internal leadership skills by encouraging staff to start a Chapter.

No! It’s free to start a Chapter.

Yes. If charging for events will help you cover some of your out-of-pocket costs, you are free to. We ask that you keep events affordable so that people won’t be discouraged from attending.

Right now! Sign up to host a Chapter and we will reach out. We look forward to meeting you!

Your Chapter is yours to lead and create. We are excited to provide support and tools and cheerleading! You will have control over your programming. We do want to hear from you so we ask that you keep us posted on your progress and share any feedback, concerns and, of course, successes for your Chapter!

Download them here. Use them to create a Facebook page for your chapter (there’s a Women inPower banner that fits the banner of a FB page!) or even a web site or other social media accounts.