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What is FAWCO? - A Description, History and Summary

What is FAWCO?

FAWCO is the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas. We are an international network of more than 76 clubs in 38 countries worldwide, with a combined membership of approximately 15,000. FAWCO serves as a support network and an umbrella organization for members of American and International volunteer organizations for citizens living and working abroad. FAWCO is particularly active in global issues such as education and literacy, awareness of environmental protection, human rights and women’s and children’s rights in particular, health issues, and specific concerns and issues to U.S. citizens. FAWCO is a United Nations accredited non-governmental organization (NGO), with special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations – ECOSOC.

FAWCO has in recent years concentrated on developing a Virtual Clubhouse for all of its members. The FAWCO website at www.fawco.org, is a busy meeting place for its members to exchange ideas, collect, share and store information, discuss and solve problems, and of course generate enthusiasm and support. FAWCO offers every Member Club a web presence and an opportunity for web hosting and support at an attractive price. The FAWCO website draws our members around the world closer together, directs new members to Member Clubs, and provides an important service to the Member Clubs.

FAWCO’s History

FAWCO was founded in 1931 by Caroline Curtis Brown, then president of the American Women’s Club in London, who believed that enlightened women, working together throughout the world, could do much to achieve international peace. There was real vision behind this effort - the vision that then - as now - there is strength and improved efficiency in numbers. Representatives came to the first meeting in London from Antwerp, Berlin, The Hague, Paris, Vienna and Zurich to discuss the concept of forming an organization

The first Federation Scholarship Fund was started in 1935 and education became an important cornerstone of the organization. The FAWCO Foundation, established as the philanthropic arm of the Federation in 1967, has an Academic Awards program for members and their children, of FAWCO Members Club. The FAWCO Foundation also administers a Development Grant Program for projects proposed by Member Clubs that mainly benefit women and children.

U.S. Citizenship and Voting are key FAWCO issues. FAWCO played an important role in obtaining the vote for overseas U.S. private citizens in 1975, as well as the transmission of citizenship to children born abroad of one American parent.

The FAWCO Emergency Relief Fund deals with world emergencies and disasters that are recognized and proposed by a FAWCO Member Club. After the devastating earthquake in India, FAWCO members immediately responded with donations, small and large, to the AWC in Bombay. FAWCO Member Clubs raised funds for the children of victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. $48,000 was raised for the Beruwala Village Housing Project in Sri Lanka after the 2004 Tsunami.This project was proposed by AWG of Languedoc-Roussillon (Montpelier, France) and benefited the widows and children of fishermen killed. FAWCO also helped rebuild a study center at Dillard University in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

What is involved in FAWCO membership?

· FAWCO has more than 76 completely independent and autonomous Member Clubs.

· A Regular Member Club has a 60% American membership. An Associate Member Club is a club or association that uses English for club business,Americans are active participants in the leadership of the club, and the aims and purposes coincide with those of FAWCO. The rights and responsibilities of regular and associate Member Clubs are identical.

· Membership in FAWCO costs roughly 1 US dollar per member. There are no other financial requirements placed on a Member Club.

· Each FAWCO Member Club has a FAWCO Representative (Rep) who is appointed or elected to represent the Club within FAWCO and serve as a voting delegate at FAWCO Conferences. Each Member Club has one vote.

· Every member of a FAWCO Member Club is automatically a member of FAWCO and is eligible to serve on committees, participate in conferences and regional meetings, and take part in its activities.

What can you as an individual club member, get out of FAWCO?

· “Hands on” information on living, working, studying or just traveling in 38 countries worldwide.

· Member of a non-governmental organization (NGO).

· If you move, you will have an immediate, built-in support network through the local FAWCO Member Club in many countries.

· If you return or move to the United States, you will have the same network by joining the FAWCO Alumnae (FAUSA). Members of FAUSA help to facilitate the repatriation experience of its members and enable them to maintain their international contacts;

· Access to even more information than you would already get through your local Club through FAWCO Committees on women’s health, voting from overseas, educational support for children with special challenges, environmental projects around the world, literacy projects you can support or participate in, what’s going on in Washington DC that directly affects you.

· Possibility to work with women in other countries on FAWCO Committees or get women in other countries interested in your Club’s project, so as to broaden the scope—an example is the AIWC of Casablanca’s Millennium Forest in Morocco.

· Opportunity for you and your children to apply for FAWCO Foundation Academic Awards.

· You can propose a project dear to your heart for a FAWCO Foundation Development Grant.

· Opportunity to attend FAWCO Regional Meetings and Annual Conferences. The 2007 and 2008 FAWCO Conferences were held in Lyon, France and Seoul, South Korea.

What does a Member Club get out of FAWCO?

FAWCO is the sum of its parts and, as such, it represents more than its individual parts. When “FAWCO” speaks for almost 16,000 members, the voice is stronger. And when “FAWCO” asks its members to speak, they tend to do so- Washington was deluged by emails from FAWCO members asking to be counted in the US census and demanding that the Section 911 – the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion be retained. The $48,000 raised by Member Clubs for the Beruwala Village Housing Project speaks for itself.

The Member Club benefits from the same kind of information sharing as an individual and in addition participates in the following:

· Newsletter exchanges with Member Clubs—you have a chance to share ideas, concerns, and experiences with a worldwide network.

· Possibility of taking advantage of FAWCO’s web-hosting offer: an unbeatable price, a superb technical support team and even a set of templates to help get a website started.

· Simple presence on the FAWCO website: a number of FAWCO Member Clubs attribute a certain proportion of their new members to FAWCO website visits.

· Resource information for Club Boards on any issue on the FAWCO website under ‘Club Resources’ on the navbar. Why ‘reinvent the wheel’? FAWCO can help you learn “Best Practices” and stimulate new ideas.

· Support factor- if a Member Club wants to embark on a project, it is likely that someone, somewhere in FAWCO is doing the same thing, and two can work better than one- or if the president, newsletter editor or fund-raiser in one club runs into a brick wall, it is very possible that someone, somewhere in FAWCO has a suggestion that can help. Click on the ‘News from our clubs’ button on the FAWCO website for inspiration.

So what is FAWCO?

FAWCO

Friends

Around the world

Working together

Creating miracles

One by One