We are excited to celebrate this week at our Giving Tuesday Event – our celebration of what our member’s generosity and the work of our partner nonprofits has accomplished. As we reach the end of 2019, my heartfelt thanks to each of you for making the mission and values of Impact 100 come to life, highlighted below.
Awarding transformational grants to nonprofits in our communities.
Just this year, by collectively pooling our donations, Impact 100 awarded $436,000 through four grants of $109,000 funded by our members.
Providing avenues to our members to learn about nonprofits in our communities.
Together with our 2019 Grant Recipients, we are expanding after school tutoring and educational resources for you in poverty (NEST Community Learning Center) and opportunities for at-risk youth to complete collaborative projects and develop 21st century skills (ABC/Fourthwall) while increasing access to pharmaceutical care for neighbors in need (St. Vincent de Paul Community Pharmacy) and growing on-the-job personal coaching for individuals to retain their jobs and advance in the workplace to reach economic self-sufficiency (Cincinnati Works).
Learning via the grant review process and our grant finalists is core to the Impact 100 experience.
Empowering women to be philanthropic decision makers.
As we come to the end of our 18th year, it’s inspiring to see all that Impact 100 has been able to accomplish in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, & Eastern Indiana community thanks to you: our contributors, donors, sponsors, grant reviewers, event organizers, financial overseers, note takers, webmasters, and every role imaginable in between. YOU have been empowered to say yes to various volunteers roles that fit your availability and that is a beautiful part of the Impact 100 process! YOU have been empowered to make a stop-and-wait gift that, when combined with others, makes a transformational impact.
Collaborating within our membership and community.
We are in the last month of our 2020 membership drive which will allow us to continue providing support and hope in our community through transformational grants. You can help us grow and improve by introducing a friend or colleague to Impact 100 – there is no better time than now! Memberships are due by December 31st for grant recipient selection privileges in 2020. Please share the Impact 100 story, and help us recruit others to reach more broadly into our region.
A celebratory part of our past year was recognizing a $5 million grantmaking milestone in partnership with the City of Cincinnati and Mayor Cranley, receiving the Torch Awards for Marketplace Ethics with the Better Business Bureau, and expanding our Advisory Committee roles in Governance and Finance, engaging broad skill sets of our members in efforts to uphold another Impact 100 value:
Ensuring that 100% of membership dollars go directly into grants.
Which is why our Sponsorship drive for 2020 has been shared with all of you: to invite you to help support prudent fiscal operations that match operational needs as our membership grows. Take a look at how you can help Impact 100 in upholding this value by sharing 2020 Sponsorship opportunities here.
Sharing GRATITUDE.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve as a volunteer president of Impact 100 for the last 2 years. I’ve seen the values of Impact 100 every day through members and, in particular, our Board of Directors, recognized within this newsletter.
Empowering, learning, awarding, collaborating, and ensuring:
all verbs that guide this organization and our members. Each are evidenced via the careful Impact 100 volunteer-led operations, rigorous grant review process, and grant awarding & effectiveness measurement that creates an organization I trust wholeheartedly with my philanthropic contribution.
This organization has provided one of the largest learning and training grounds I have experienced in my life: both personally and alongside wonderful women who carry the torch and bring their expertise. We leave you in the very capable hands as Sarah Grace Mohr and the 2020 Board of Directors who will build and grow upon these values and this work.
With gratitude this holiday season,
Clare Zlatic Blankemeyer