National Charity League, Inc. is a national, non-profit, mother and daughter
philanthropic organization whose purpose is to provide opportunities
for its members to become involved in community service and also to
enjoy and enhance their mother-daughter relationship through educational
and cultural activities. NCL has been serving communities, and
bringing mothers and daughters closer for over 50 years!
About Our Chapter
The San Rafael
Mission Belles Chapter began in May 2002 with a mother who wanted to
introduce her daughters to the importance of community service. She
assembled her friends to listen to the experiences of founding members
from the Marin Chapter of NCL. After hearing the wonderful stories and
opportunities that these women had with their daughters through the NCL
program, seven women stepped forward to begin the process of
establishing a new chapter. Less than two years later, the San Rafael
Mission Belles moved from Provisional chapter status to become the 107th
chartered chapter of the National Charity League.
The structure of an
NCL chapter is organized into two groups. In our chapter, the mothers,
known as Patronesses, meet once a month (8 times per year) and decide on
programs, activities and philanthropic work, as well as understanding
the business of the chapter and strategic direction. Philanthropic
participation with their daughters is a requirement and each member must
fulfill 20-30 philanthropic and league hours per year with 75% of the
required hours spent volunteering as a mother-daughter team. Each
member has some kind of role or position within the chapter which they
must fulfill as part of their yearly participation requirement.
The daughters, known
as Ticktockers, also meet 8 times per year, separately from the
Patronesses. Ticktockers range from 7th grade to 12th grade.
Ticktockers are organized by grade level and have their own set of
elected officers and adult grade level advisors. Their meetings are
designed around the Chapter’s ‘Six Year Plan’ which assigns various
age-related educational and cultural objectives for them to meet through
programs, presentations, and field trips. Each year, Ticktockers are
required to devote 20-30 hours to philanthropic service and league
activities. The overall objective is to provide opportunities to learn
the beauty of giving of themselves to others; to practice social and
leadership skills within their peer groups; and to have an awareness and
appreciation of the various forms of cultural education in our
community.
NCL’s mission lies
firmly in community service, education, leadership training and cultural
awareness, and our goals are carried out through the commitments and
partnerships between mothers and daughters.
The History of NCL
In 1925, a small
group of women interested in philanthropic work founded the Charity
League in Los Angeles. They
worked quietly, doing Red Cross work, making layettes and assembling and
delivering baskets of food to the hungry at holiday times. Sometimes
they brought their daughters with them. By 1938, so many daughters had
become involved that they decided to form their own group. They called
themselves the Ticktockers.
In 1947, these groups
united to become the first mother-daughter charity and took their
present name, National Charity League. The newly formed group decided
to expand its program beyond philanthropic work to include educational
and cultural activities.
Today, there are over
120 NCL chapters nationwide.
If you have questions
about our chapter or about becoming an NCL member, please use the Contact
Us link to the left.