Image above (from left to right): Rise CEO, Beverley Francis-Gibson, Board Member Colleen Kill, and Vice Chair Vicky Bush-Joseph

This month, we’re featuring Vicky Bush-Joseph, Together Women Rise Vice Chair and Chapter Leader of IL, Chicago – 8. Vicky has been a Together Women Rise member since 2018 and became a Rise board member in 2023.  She also serves on Rise’s Community Building and Learning Committee, the Grants & Partnerships Committee, and the Book Club Committee. She is a member of the IL, Western Springs – 1 chapter in the western suburbs of Chicago and the chapter leader for a new downtown Chicago chapter. A retired attorney, Vicky loves to travel with Rise, having participated in five Rise trips to India, Malawi, Dominican Republic, Bhutan, and Guatemala, and is getting ready to go on the upcoming trip to Indonesia. She also loves to read, bike, garden, cook, and eat and drink her way around the world.  

Kia: Vicky, you have been an active member of Together Women Rise for many years.  How did you first hear about our organization? 

Vicky: I got involved with Rise in 2018. I read an article by Nicholas Kristof in his annual giving guide around the holidays in 2017 and he mentioned what was then Dining for Women. I was already involved in several nonprofit organizations at the time, but I learned there was a chapter near me, so I joined. The Western Springs chapter was so welcoming. The next year I went to Bhutan with Rise, met the CEO, and got to know a lot of people who were super involved, and the trip really sucked me into the mission.  

Kia: Yes, I’ve heard the Rise trips are so special! I’m glad you got to experience one early on. So, how did you go from being a member of the Western Springs chapter to starting your own chapter in downtown Chicago?  

Vicky: Well, I first became a Regional Leader for the Midwest in 2021 and learned that we didn’t have an active chapter in Chicago. I got involved in planning the 20th anniversary event in Chicago two years ago, and decided we really needed a chapter there. Although I live in the suburbs and am still an active member of the Western Springs chapter, I decided to start the Chicago chapter to get it going.  

Kia: Wow! That’s so great. What was your experience like starting a chapter from scratch?  

Vicky: We currently meet every other month, but maybe we’ll switch to quarterly. We have anywhere from 8-15 people attending each meeting. I have 40 people on the email list. Not everybody responds every time I send out the notices, but a lot do and even if they can’t attend, they try to come to the next one. No one has asked to be removed from the list, so that’s a good start.  

We have only had four meetings, but there are always new people who come. It’s interesting to see new people all the time. People come when they can, and we are purposefully trying to make it accessible. We have people who are working full time, people with young kids, business owners, retired folks, it’s great. That is part of what I was trying to accomplish. For the most part we try to meet during the workday. We have a brown bag lunch so there is no burden on people to host. I did a Google survey shortly after our first meetings, asking people what times and what days work best. We don’t always meet on the same day of the week, and we mostly have lunch together, but sometimes we do “happy hour” meetings. 

Kia: How did you find a venue? 

Vicky: A friend who works downtown has gotten a conference room for us a few times. Another member had a connection to a place on the river walk, which is really cool. There are some restaurants, some bars, and areas where people can fish. In the summer it is super busy…it’s a beautiful place. We had 10 people show up for that.  

Kia: With rotating venues in downtown Chicago, how do you handle the education portion of the meetings? 

Vicky: I send the video out in advance and share the link for the webpage about the grantee. Since it’s only every other month, I pick the grantee that I think will appeal to everyone. Sometimes I send both, but this month we focused more on RefuSHE. One of our members was actually involved with refugee resettlement efforts in Chicago. She addressed how hard that is even with support. That was super interesting. It’s such a diverse group, but we all have a common interest in helping women and girls. 

We are using spaces not conducive to hosting presentations and watching videos, so it’s a little more like homework. Not everyone watches, but most do. I also ask people a lot of questions, kind of act like a moderator, and we get a good discussion going.  

Kia: How did you decide who to invite?  

Vicky: The list is basically everyone I know who lives or works in the city who has any interest at all in this subject matter. I am involved in a local collective giving group in Chicago so there is some crossover. I’ve added many of those supporters to my mailing list and some of them come because they already understand the power of collective giving. This is an opportunity to give globally, so they liked that idea. I have put stuff on social media, on LinkedIn. I haven’t had people reach out to me through that and have only really been successful when I directly reach out to people. I also send thank you notes to each person who attends. I individualize them. If people say they can’t come but contact me, I write back to them. Little follow-ups make a difference. A month or so in advance I send out the initial invitation, two weeks in advance I send a message with the location and information about the grantee. I ask people to RSVP and send out a reminder a week in advance. When I follow up, I also give the link for people to donate to Rise.  

Kia: What has been a surprise about being a chapter leader?  

Vicky: How easy it is! It doesn’t have to be hard. Especially if you’re not hosting at your own house. Simplify where you can and do what works best for your group. We do things that work best for the group. Being adaptive is important. The beauty of the Rise model is that there are people across the country who feel the same way about helping women and girls and working toward gender equality. Rise connects you with people working toward the same goal. The power of collective giving is huge, otherwise you sometimes feel helpless.