NoVA Working Moms Network

What We are About
NoVA Working Moms Network is centered around supporting, encouraging, and providing an outlet for working mothers in Northern Virginia. With regular monthly events for mom alone as well as the whole family, our focus is on fun!

Our group membership is limited to 100 members (active + pending) to foster close friendships among our members and their children.

Who We Are

• Active working moms with active families throughout Northern Virginia
• Moms who can have a blast both with their kids... and without them!
• Women who love making new friends and chatting it up with other women
• A diverse group of women who love checking out new activities and new ways to have fun
• Opinionated moms who know how to debate, disagree, and discuss passionately and maturely

What We Do

• Meet at least once monthly at Playgroups with our families at a local park, member's house, or other fun location.
• Meet quarterly for family-inclusive Seasonal Events celebrating summer (our Annual Summer event), fall (our entertaining Halloween Party) and spring (Annual Easter Party and Egg Hunt).
• Have monthly Mom's Night Out (MNO) activities including coffee breaks and wine outings. (no kiddos!)
• Get together locally for fun events around town... or just a lunchtime escape with your fellow moms.

Key Points
Locations: Most of our members are currently concentrated in the Northern VA area (hence the name). Our events are centered in and around Fairfax County and its surrounding areas.

Event Times: All of our members work full- or part-time so the majority of our events are scheduled on weekends and weeknight events.

The Kids: Sure, this group is for moms to hang out, have fun, and become friends, but we aren't moms without the kiddos! The majority of our members have at least one child under the age of 8. This is important for potential members to know because it helps you understand the focus of our kid's events, our message board posts, etc. Does that mean you shouldn't join if your kids are older? No, but it does mean that ultimately you may find this group isn't the best fit.

The Fee: Our group's annual membership fee of $25 allows us to do a number of things we could not as a free group. With such a large group of women, it's essential for us to rent community-type venues to allow everyone to get together at the same time. This means that there's no issue with finding an available house or someone being stuck with all of the cleaning after our more major events. The fee is also used for crafts, favors at our large celebrations, greeting cards for our members going through difficult times, and other miscellaneous party costs.

Okay, I Want to Join -- What Do I Do?
Look up at the top of this page. You should see a button labeled "Join Us." Click it!

Meetup will load a page with a brief questionnaire. This is where we learn about you, so be honest and let yourself shine through! Keep in mind that one potential sign of an active member is the amount of time taken to respond, so lots of abbreviations, fragments, and blanks will make us wonder whether you'll have time for the group. This questionnaire is also displayed in your profile and is a great way for the other members to get to know you better, so details are great.
Make sure you have a photo displayed. The photo doesn't necessarily have to be of you -- it could be your kids, your dog, your favorite flower, whatever, but you must have a photo in order to be approved for membership. 

Then make sure you pay your dues within the 30 day trial period, and attend at least one event every 90 days. We look forward to meeting you!

We can't emphasize enough what a wonderful group this is -- many of our members become very close friends, and this is truly the best support system you could find for a working mom. We'd love for you to be a part of that.

If you have any questions at all about the group, feel free to contact our organizers at the Contact Organizers link at the top of the page.
Can't wait to meet you!
GROUP POLICIES

Active vs. Inactive: 
To help keep our group moving forward, dynamic, and a close network of friends, we endeavor to ensure the majority of the group members are active. We understand that travel schedules, family activities, and life in general can really leave little time for social activities, but as we fulfill our responsibility to provide a social outlet for working moms, we feel our members have a similar responsibility to keep a moderate level of activity. Our organizers have created the following policy to determine inactive members:

If a member has not attended at least one event or logged into the meetup site once per quarter, they will be considered inactive and removed from the group.

Capacity: 
We limit our group to 100 members. Our current members, though, can "sponsor" possible new members even if the group is at capacity -- exceptions will always be made for women directly referred by current members.

Dues: 
Our dues help to cover what we pay meetup.com for the site as well as for our larger events where we have to rent space and provide food, supplies, entertainment, etc. These dues are paid annually through Meetup (via Stripe) and must be paid within 30 days of joining. Dues are nonrefundable.

Member Businesses: 
Many of our members are not only working moms, they're entrepreneurial moms who own their own businesses. We're here to support our members' businesses as much as we can, but we have to balance that with trying to protect our members from those who want to join NoVA WMN solely to advertise. The rule of thumb we're using for promoting member-owned businesses is fairly straightforward: members need to attend two events and put in a request with the organizers prior to advertising with the group. Once cleared, you can provide a logo and link to be added to the Member Discounts/Preferred Vendors page and make a post on the message board. We feel this is a low-maintenance way that our member-preneurs can offer products and services to our member base and our other members can be more assured that they're doing business with a reputable source without feeling "spammed."

RSVP and No Show Policy: 
A lot of thought and time goes into planning all of the events. And even more so in the case of home play dates, the hostess have worked very hard to make this fun for all. As a courtesy to the Organizers and Hostesses and all the moms and kids attending an event, the RSVP policy is as follows:

Please RSVP – Yes, or No whenever possible. Please do not mark yes and in the comment line "maybe", especially with a home play date or any event that has an attendance limit. This is helpful when a headcount is important.
If plans change, please update the RSVP as soon as possible. Also, if it is less than a 24 hour cancellation, members are required to make a courtesy call to the hostess. This way if other arrangements need to be made, the hostess will instantly be aware of it. Hopefully making it possible to formulate necessary changes creating an enjoyable play date for those attending.
If within a 3 month time frame, a member is a no show for an event without cancelling 3 times or more that member will be removed from the group. Habitual last day changes in RSVPs will be considered for removal.

There are exceptions, for example a pregnancy or illness which makes it difficult to know from day to day what life will be like. If there is a special circumstance, please alert the Organizer and/or Hostess in advance.

Attendance at Events: 
Participation is one of the keys to making this a successful group, and members are required to attend at least one event per quarter. And because this is a Mom’s group, posting a “yes” RSVP for an event means that you will be there with your children/family. We have lots of events where entire families are welcome and invited, but you must also come too, (for example, please do not send Grandma with the kiddos and without you). One of the main purposes of the group is for moms to get to know one another, so it’s important that you come with your families.