By Jenny Berg
Dear Members and Friends,
As we begin our 25th anniversary year, and I begin my tenure as Impact 100 President Elect, I am so grateful to have been introduced to Impact 100 in late 2003, and to have become a member immediately following.
This work of collective giving and grantmaking has fueled my passion, changed my career, increased my involvement in nonprofits and increased my feeling of belonging and purpose.
Impact 100 is a community of women who learn together, share perspectives, and come with different ideologies, viewpoints, and life experiences, and we ALL have an equal vote in our grantmaking processes.
As we celebrate 25 years, we’re honoring our roots, elevating our impact, and looking boldly toward the future. Over the rest of this year, we look forward to…
Honoring Our Origin Story
Celebrating our “origin story” and founder Wendy Steele, CEO of Impact100 Global.
Reintroducing Our 72 Transformational Grant Partners
Over the past 25 years, Impact 100 Cincinnati has awarded 72 transformational grants to nonprofit organizations across our region.
We’ll be re-introducing you to our past nonprofit grant recipients and sharing their transformational grants through stories, at our events, and within our social media outlets. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see more of our past grant recipients.
Quantifying 25 Years of Collective Impact
For 25 years, Impact 100 Cincinnati has brought women together to do something remarkable: pool their resources and award $100,000 transformational grants to local nonprofits.
As Impact 100 celebrates this milestone anniversary, we are asking ourselves questions: Is it working? And how much of a difference does it really make?
To help us answer these questions, this year we are proud to partner with Michael Jones, faculty member from the Kautz-Uible Economics Institute at University of Cincinnati, who will provide research design, supervision, and final reporting, and will be working with several female research assistants who will carry out the day-to-day work of this study, and be welcomed into our Young Philanthropists program after the study is complete.
This will be presented at our Annual Awards Celebration on September 15, 2026.
Celebrating the Women Who Said “Yes”
This anniversary year is also about celebrating you, all members of Impact 100. Especially our visionary founding members who said “yes” when Impact 100 was just an idea.
Since then, Impact 100 has become a powerful collective giving movement fueled by courage, vision, and belief in what was – and is – possible.
We have transformed nonprofits, strengthened communities, and inspired women’s philanthropic movements across our country (and beyond).
Giving Back Beyond the Grant
This year, we’re expanding opportunities for members to give back directly through volunteer engagement with our nonprofit partners.
Plus, a few other surprises!
Building a Stronger, More Sustainable Future
Most importantly, we are continuing our strategic efforts to build a stronger and more sustainable future for Impact 100, our community and our nonprofit partners.
