DALLAS – An informal group that calls itself 100 Men Who Give A Damn Dallas is changing the philanthropic scene in this city and now being copied across the state.
"We just don't say 'damn' in our house unless it's for a reason like this," said Marv Bramlett, co-organizer of the group. "This is for such a great cause. For 100 Men Who Give A Damn Dallas you're making a commitment to come out here because you do give a damn."
It’s not a charity and has no bank account. Instead it’s 100 men who agree to meet four times a year and give at least $100 to a chosen charity each time.
"There's power with herd," said Charles Gillis, 100 Men Who Give A Damn organizer. "The model is 100 guys, $100. $10,000."
Last week, the group met for the second time at UT Dallas.
Three charities are nominated to make their pitch to the group.
Children’s Cancer Fund, the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, and Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas. Each had five minutes last week to explain why they should be chosen.
After the "Shark Tank" style pitches, the group votes and then each man writes a check for at least $100 to the winning charity.
Children's Cancer Fund won the most recent stack of checks – more than $11,500 – after the men heard Jeff Serber’s pitch.
His daughter Libby survived kidney cancer when she was in the first grade.
"Some people would stare at me so that kind of made me a little sad,” Libby, now 10, told WFAA.
After a mild but steady fever wouldn’t go away for three weeks, doctors discovered Libby had a three-pound mass on her left kidney identified as Wilms Tumor.
"Only four percent of every dollar earned for cancer goes to pediatric cancer and that number upsets me so much," said Cara Serber, mother.
The money that 100 Men donated to Children’s Cancer Fund will go to pediatric cancer research locally at UT Southwestern and Children's Medical Center.
The entire 100 Men concept originated in Nova Scotia. The Dallas chapter is the first one of its kind in Texas. Now, Fort Worth, Houston, and Ellis County are all starting their own groups. There's a 100 Women Who Care group in the works, as well.