Community Service Program
Arts and Culture
Music education, local theatre, public art, and craft programs in Tennessee schools and community spaces.
Living the Volunteer Spirit®
Tennessee women who show up for their communities
GFWC Tennessee connects 32 women's clubs and about 1,100 members across every Grand Division of the state. We raise scholarship funds, stock library shelves, feed neighbors, and stand with survivors of domestic violence. Tennessee clubwomen have been at it since 1896.
GFWC Tennessee by the numbers
32Member clubs
1,100+Clubwomen statewide
277,021Volunteer hours reported
$1,090,409Donated in cash and in kind
Club and member counts are current for the 2026–2028 administration. Volunteer hours and donations are the totals Tennessee clubs reported to GFWC for the 2024–2026 administration, the most recent complete reporting period.
Our Town, Our Sound
Our Town, Our Sound is the President's Project of GFWC Tennessee President Stephanie Haggard.
Tennessee is a music state, so our clubs are putting music to work. Through 2028, every GFWC Tennessee club is finding a way to bring music into the service it already does.
That looks different in every town. A band instrument drive for a middle school that cannot afford one. A benefit concert for a domestic violence shelter. An afternoon of hymns and old country songs at a nursing home where most residents get few visitors. The project belongs to the club. The only rule is that music is part of it.
Turning Good Vibes into Good Works
Turning Good Vibes into Good Works is the theme of the 2026–2028 administration, the two-year term of the current state officers. It carries through every district meeting, conference, and convention this term.
What our clubs are working on
Tennessee clubs choose their own projects inside GFWC's Community Service Programs and Special Programs.
Community Service Program
Civic Engagement and Outreach
Voter education, disaster readiness, safety programs, and support for service members and veterans.
Community Service Program
Education and Libraries
Scholarships, literacy tutoring, book drives, and support for school and public libraries.
Community Service Program
Environment
Stream cleanups, native plantings, recycling programs, and conservation education.
Community Service Program
Health and Wellness
Food security, blood drives, cancer screening awareness, and mental health education.
GFWC Signature Program
Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention
Shelter support, prevention education, and advocacy alongside Tennessee crisis centers.
GFWC Juniors' Special Program
Advocates for Children
Foster care support, school supply drives, and programs that give children a voice.
GFWC Special Program
Epsilon Sigma Omicron
Epsilon Sigma Omicron (ESO) is the Federation's reading and study program, open to every member club in Tennessee. See how ESO works.
What's coming up
State and national dates for GFWC Tennessee members and anyone curious about the Federation. See the full calendar.
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Oct162026
GFWC Southeastern Region Conference
October 16–18 | Chattanooga, Tennessee
Seven states are meeting in Chattanooga, Tenn., for a time of friendship, inspiration, and service.
Clarksville club puts $1,400 into a school music room
The GFWC Clarksville Women's Club funded new equipment for the music classroom at Byrnes-Darden Elementary. Guitars are next.
Spring Station club is piecing quilts for children in crisis
The GFWC Spring Station Woman's Club is partnering with the Spring Hill Library to make quilts for Project Linus Nashville, which gives handmade blankets to children going through trauma or illness. The project is underway, with about twenty quilts expected by the end of 2026.
Southeastern Region registers for GFWC National Day of Service
The GFWC Southeastern Region has registered for National Day of Service on September 26. This fun daily-donation calendar supports the Signature Program: money collected can go to a local domestic violence organization or to the GFWC Success for Survivors Scholarship.
Four ways to belong
Clubs set their own meeting schedule, their own dues, and their own projects, so the right fit depends on your town and your season of life. If there is no club near you, start with our virtual club. We are looking for women to start clubs where there are none, please contact us if you'd like to start a club!
Woman's Club
Open to women of any age
Most GFWC Tennessee clubs are Woman's Clubs. Members meet monthly, choose their own service projects, and elect their own officers.
Junior Woman's Club
For women earlier in their careers and family years
While welcoming women of all ages, traditionally, the Junior clubs meet on schedules built around jobs and school pickup. They also carry Advocates for Children, the GFWC Juniors' Special Program.
Juniorette Club
Ages 12-18
A Juniorette club is sponsored by a nearby Woman's Club and gives teenage girls their own projects, their own officers, and their own budget.
Virtual Club
For women anywhere in Tennessee
GFWC Tennessee Virtual Volunteers meets online. It is the way in if your county has no club, or if a standing monthly meeting will not fit your schedule. Join the Facebook group.
Part of a federation
The General Federation of Women's Clubs is an international women's organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service. GFWC has more than 60,000 members in affiliated clubs in every state, the District of Columbia, and more than 20 countries.
Twenty Tennessee clubs met in Knoxville in 1896 to organize a state federation. One of them, GFWC Ossoli Circle, had been founded in 1885 as the first federated woman's club in the South. Ossoli is a charter member of GFWC, and its Knoxville clubhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tennessee sits in the GFWC Southeastern Region, alongside the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
General Federation of Women's Clubs
The international federation's history, programs, and member portal.
GFWC Community Service Programs
How the five program areas and two Special Programs are structured.
GFWC affiliate organizations
Heifer International, Operation Smile, Shot@Life, St. Jude, and other
partners Tennessee clubs support.
GFWC Southeastern Region
Follow the seven-state Southeastern Region on Facebook.