The International Women’s Club of Torino (IWCT) is an English-speaking social club dedicated to creating a support network for women to connect and empower each other in Torino (Turin), Italy.

As a member you enjoy privileged entry to club events and activities as well as exclusive access to our club’s website, social media groups, and weekly newsletter. And, the real benefit of IWCT membership is the support and friendship that comes from joining a group of wonderful women from around the world.

Alongside its perks, IWCT membership comes with rights and responsibilities. As a member, you have the right to engage in club life, including having a say in how the club is run. You can and should participate in and vote at our Annual General Meetings where we elect club representatives and decide on important club business. You also have the responsibility to follow club rules, respect our constitution, and, of course, pay your annual membership fee.

As a non-profit organization, all of the money that we collect is invested back into our club or donated to our charities.

Your membership fees help support administrative costs, such as bank fees, and subsidize club activities, such as guided visits to museums or coffee mornings. Each year at our Annual General Meeting (AGM), club members are presented with our club finances for the previous year and a budget for the coming year. Members vote to approve or amend the budget every year. You can find last year’s AGM Report, including our budget, here.

We have a number of ways to keep you informed:

1. Newsletter: As a member you will receive our weekly newsletter by email. There you will find upcoming activity group meetings, events, and more.

2. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and join our private Facebook Group.

3. Join our IWCT WhatsApp Community where you can find and join all our Activity Groups. 

4. Bookmark the IWCT Calendar and check it often!

It depends on the event or activity! The first step is to check the Calendar. 

For each event, it will tell you how to book or join. If it is an event where booking ahead of time is mandatory, you will see ticket or RSVP options at the bottom of the page. 

If you don’t see any ticket options, you may need to contact the organiser to find out how to join. You can find the organiser’s name and email at the bottom of the page next to the event details and location. Contact them and they will set you up!

As a member, you can join the IWCT WhatsApp Community to find and join all of our Activity Groups. Most activities are organised in their own individual WhatsApp group chat.

If you need any help, please contact the Membership Chair: membership@iwct.it.

We encourage you to become a member after attending two events.

You can find information about our various Activity Groups HERE.

If you have any questions, you can contact the Activity Group leaders directly via email. Their emails are listed in each group description.

You can also contact Helen at membership@iwct.it or Vivien at newcomers@iwct.it for more information.

The easiest way to join an activity group is to join our members-only IWCT WhatsApp Community. There you will find all our activity groups as well as club news and announcements. You can join an activity group by requesting to join the activity’s group chat.

You can also contact the Activity Group leaders directly by email and they can help you join. Each Activity Leader is listed in their group description HERE.

First, you must be an active, paid member. Consider joining today! You won’t regret it. 🙂

For members, please login. Once logged-in you can access and join our IWCT WhatsApp Community HERE. This is best done from a mobile device.

Here you can learn more about WhatsApp and their Communities.

You can find other club members in our Members Directory! Every member has a profile on our website and each profile is listed in our directory. You can find the directory HERE or by clicking MEMBERS under MY PROFILE on the menu.

We are a volunteer-run organisation and we would not exist without the dedication and hard work of our members! Therefore, there are many ways to volunteer with and through the club. 

If you’d like to help run the club or organise fun activities you can volunteer as a Board Member or Activity Leader or committee member. For more information on this, you can contact president@iwct.it.

You can also help us raise money for charity by volunteering at our annual fundraising events in December and May. For more information on this, you can contact fundraising@iwct.it.

Finally, you can volunteer with the local charities that we support. For more information on this, contact socialgood@iwct.it.

Founded in 1960, our club has a long tradition and many women have dedicated their time and energy to the club over the years. An honorary membership is meant to recognise these contributions. For example, an honorary member may have served on our Board, as an activity leader or committee member, she may have organised club events, or she may be a long term member.

Any current member can propose another member to receive this honour through a simple nomination process. Once a nomination has been received, the Board will inform the membership, giving them an opportunity for feedback on the proposed candidate. Based on the feedback, the Board may approve the honorary membership.

We’re sorry you want to leave us and we are sad to see you go. If there is anything you want to talk to us about before leaving, please contact our President at president@iwct.it.

The easiest way to leave the club is to let your membership expire by not renewing it in September. To leave the club at any other time, you can simply send an email to the Membership Chair (membership@iwct.it). Unfortunately, we cannot offer a refund on any already paid membership fees.

We are an entirely volunteer-run organisation with over 200 members from more than 30 countries. Running a club of this size takes serious organisation. To manage all the things we do, like events, activity groups, and fundraising, we have a structure with 3 basic elements: the Board, the Annual General Meeting (AGM), and the President.

The Board is a group of members elected to manage and maintain the club on behalf of the membership. We are required by law to have the following:

• a President who represents the club and oversees the Board,
• Vice President(s) who support the President, take care of activity leaders, and manage the administration of the club,
• a Secretary who keeps all our documents up to date, and
• a Treasurer who looks after our finances.

We also have Board Members who:

• organise club-wide events
• help folks join the club and manage our membership
• look after our Social Good / Charity work
• develop partnerships with local businesses who want to support us
• coordinate our fundraising events
• create content for our website, newsletter and social media

A board member is a member of IWCT who has been elected to help run the club. Board members serve a 2-year term. They attend monthly meetings where they discuss and make decisions on club business to ensure we have a successful club year. Board members work together as a team to help each other. Being a board member is a fantastic opportunity to learn or develop new professional skills, work in a group of supportive women, and gain a sense of community in Torino.

We have different roles (or chairs) to take care of different things. They are:

• The President,
• The Vice President(s)
• The Secretary,
• The Treasurer,
• The Web and Communication Chair(s)
• The Events Chair,
• The Fundraising Chair,
• The Social Good / Charity Chair(s);
• The Sponsorship Chair(s),
• The Membership Chair.

To become a board member all you need is enthusiasm for the club and its mission, and a willingness to learn! Around March / April each year, we will advertise the open board positions for the following year. You can nominate yourself or be nominated by another member. We will ask for a bit of information about you and your background to introduce you to the membership. The election takes place during the AGM in June and is anonymous. Once you are elected, the previous chair will help you take over and understand your duties. Then, you can have fun and feel good about contributing to a worthy cause.

Being a board member is not for everyone. It is a time commitment and not everyone, however willing and enthusiastic, can do that. But, don’t worry, there are many other ways to help out! We have a number of committees that rely on ordinary members. For example Rules & Regulations, Social Good, and Elections. We also always need help running our fundraising events. 

For more info get in contact with: president@iwct.it or fundraising@iwct.it.

At the end of every club year, we hold an official general meeting for all members. Here, the members hear from the board about the club year and how it went. This takes the form of an Annual Report summarising all events, activities, fundraising, finances and proposals for the next year. This report is required by law.

The AGM is our biggest and most important meeting. It’s the primary opportunity for members to see how the club works. The board reports on the activities and finances of the club and members get to pose questions, give feedback, and vote for or against club business. It is also where we elect board members.

Every year, at the beginning of June.

Since the AGM is so important there is a process we follow to make sure every member can participate.

Life is busy and it’s not always possible to attend every meeting or event. For that reason, and to allow everyone the opportunity to participate, you can choose to vote as an absentee voter. To register as an absentee voter, you must let us know up until 7 days before the AGM. Information on how to register as an absentee voter is sent out every year with the AGM announcement.

You will cast your vote through an online voting tool, but don’t panic! We will explain how it works. If you still have questions before you vote, please get in contact with our President and / or Vice President(s) (president@iwct.it / vicepresident@iwct.it).

Since our club is located in Italy we are legally obligated to follow the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is the world’s strictest data protection law. We have drawn up and implemented our own GDPR policy which guarantees that we protect all your data rights. The complete policy can be found HERE.

Whenever people get together there is potential for conflict. As rare as this may be in our club it is important to have a way of solving any conflict in a constructive and fair way. 

We define a serious complaint as a major breach of club rules or major misconduct by a member. Like other social clubs, we have a person to act as a mediator. That person is called a Trusted Third Party (TTP) and can be contacted under ttp@iwct.it . And we have a process to follow to ensure a fair solution of any issues.

IWCT is part of the great city of Torino and since its founding, it has been part of the club’s mission to give back to this community. We do that by helping organisations that support women and children.

Any support we give is based on five guiding ideas.

We help in 2 ways. We raise money and we let our members know about volunteering opportunities with our local partner charities.

Our next open call for funding applications will be in 2024.

Once we have chosen an organisation, we will begin our two-year partnership and the fun in fundraising begins. We organise events to raise money to support our organisation. We ask the organisation to be present at our events as well as to report back to our members what they are doing and how the money is being spent. At the end of the two years, the organisation will present a final report about what they have achieved with our support.

85% of all funds raised will go directly to our chosen charitable organisation.

10% of the funds goes to FAWCO which is an umbrella organisation for women’s clubs all over the world. Specifically the money given to FAWCO goes to their foundation’s Target Project, supporting a global charity chosen by FAWCO members (including IWCT).

The remaining 5% is carried over for the next charity so they can hit the ground running. 

The Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) is an international federation of independent organizations whose mission is to build strong support networks for its members and to mobilize the skills of its membership in support of global initiatives for education, the environment, health and human rights. Basically, it’s where all the international women’s clubs come together to make a global impact.

All IWCT members are FAWCO members, giving them access to a wealth of resources including professional development opportunities and education awards.

If you know a great grassroots organisation that helps women and children in Torino (city & province), please let the Board know about their work! Our Social Good chair and her team will be available to help them with every step of the application process. Contact: socialgood@iwct.it.