‘We wanted to know that every dime . . . given to a cause was really going to it.’

It was a summerlike day last week when 56 Valley and Westside women gathered for a garden tea in the Encino backyard that Sally Rutter proudly calls her “mini-Descanso Gardens.”

The event was the annual garden party of The DOLLS, a young charity started by a group of women who were disenchanted with the ways of the older charities.

“We are experienced charity volunteers who have despaired at the ‘Big Business’ quality entering many charities, and thus we are committed to channeling 100% of our income to our programs,” Rutter, the president, said by way of introduction.

Most of the group’s 35 members brought guests to the tea, hoping to pull them in as new members.

Many of the women had guessed that the weather would be cool and were sweltering in wool knits. But they carried on. They made paper fans and stayed in the shade of a large lean-to built over a flagstone patio that overlooks Rutter’s koi fish pond and swimming pool.

At one side of the room, three women tended a bar. They busily filled plastic wineglasses from bottles and poured countless glasses of iced tea. But, because of the heat, the women avoided the large silver teapot that stood on a table in the pool house.

They dipped strawberries into a tureen of melted chocolate and ate scones and clotted cream brought the day before from London by one of the members.

“Come over here,” one woman exclaimed. “I have something that will make you think you’ve died and gone to heaven.”

It was a small sweet cake with an orange glaze cut into bite-sized cubes. It was surrounded by other cookies and cakes on a silver platter near the teapot.

The conversation was high-spirited and blended into an indistinguishable din.

Outside the room, several women sat at a table under an umbrella. One at a time they leafed through The DOLLS’ scrapbook. In it were photographs of the group’s first meeting in 1983 and about half a dozen functions that have followed it.

One series of photos showed about a dozen of the women on a trip they took together to Hong Kong.

Half of the plastic-covered pages were still half-empty. That’s how new The DOLLS is.

The Westside-Valley group formed almost by accident, said its volunteer publicist, B. J. Peterson, who wore a wide-brimmed red bonnet.

“There was a group of 19 women breaking away from a larger charity in Los Angeles,” she said. “We had seen quite a lot of charity money going to overhead, first-class furnishings, travel, limousines, office staff. We wanted to know that every dime, every penny, every dollar given to a cause was really going to it. That was one of the important things.”

Finding a name was another.

“We were trying to get something out of “GIRLS,” Peterson said. “Somebody said, ‘Maybe the problem is that none of us are girls.’ ”

The obvious alternative was “DOLLS.” It stands for Dedicating Our Loyal, Loving Service, signifying the group’s combination of volunteer work and carefully chosen charity donations.

Last year the $9,000 raised by the group was divided among scholarships for high school seniors, holiday food and clothing packages for needy families, assistance to terminally ill youths and donations to programs for the elderly and victims of Alzheimer’s disease.

Peterson said The DOLLS maintains no office, has no employees and spends none of its money on overhead. Its members donate all of its legal services, stationery and stamps. They paid for the party themselves.

Its projects aren’t exclusively for the very poor. The group recognizes need among the middle class as well.

Peterson said it decided to help one family whose oldest son was killed in a motorcycle accident. His brother gave up his college savings account to help out with funeral and other unexpected expenses. The DOLLS chipped in to pay back the youth.

“We saw that he got to college,” Peterson said.

The group wasn’t raising money at last week’s party. It was just for fun and to do a little proselytizing.

One member, Mae Sica of Encino, tried to induce a young guest to join.

Sica had guessed cool. She was wearing an elegant, blue and white, wool knit dress and had a matching bush hat. She persevered staunchly in the direct sunlight to work on the young woman, who, in contrast, looked cool and at ease in a white cotton skirt and lavender and yellow plaid shirt. A name tag identified her as Cinnamon Sullivan.

Sica was extolling the organization, which she said she joined to keep busy, to keep good company and to help others.

“Doing good for other people and trying to help people,” she said. “That’s what life is all about. Just love each other.”

Sullivan politely declined the offer. “I can’t,” she said. She explained that she had just started work at a Northridge photo studio.

“I don’t have the time,” she said. “I like my job.”

Sica relented. But a few minutes later, as the party was breaking up, Sullivan made a serpentine dash through the group with a bright smile on her lavender cheeks.

“Cinnamon Sullivan is signing up,” she said with a flourish. The message had taken effect slowly.

The DOLLS got 19 new members at the party. It still has room for more, Peterson said, and has a little list. Some whose names are on the list might be surprised to know it.

“Some of the husbands of this group are wonderful and so supportive that we’re going to enlist them in a men’s support group,” Peterson said. “Of course, that will be The GUYS.”