Happy New Year!
Like many of you, I’ve spent the last few weeks surrounded by family and filled with gratitude. As I love on my adorable 18- month-old grandson, I can’t help but think of all the children who are suffering — going to bed hungry, with just a few items of clothing, maybe not even a stable roof over their heads, and even many who don’t feel loved and supported. Then, I am comforted to know that Impact 100 is chipping away at these inequities and working hard to understand and fund solutions to these and many other struggles in our community.
Thank you for trusting Impact 100 with a portion of your charitable contributions and continuing the journey with us. Thinking of our recent awardees, I know we are making a dent. We will be helping to feed families in Price Hill with the Last Mile Food Rescue Mobile Market expansion. Through Cornerstone Renters Equity, we are helping families grow their financial stability. Upspring is giving more children experiencing homelessness a great after-school and summer experience. And, through CityLink Center and Every Mother’s Advocate, we will play a part in keeping families together, by providing at-risk mothers with skills and resources to care for their children. By bringing life to these expansions and new projects, we are living our dream of being a catalyst for an equitable, thriving community for all.
Believe it or not, 2025 has been in full swing since we started accepting Letters of Intent in November! We are excited to announce that we have 102 amazing nonprofit projects that have applied! This year, we will continue our focus on introducing more trust-based philanthropy practices, trusting those closest to the problems to know the best solutions.
In 2025, we will evolve and continue to improve the experience for our non-profit partners. In 2024, we tried some new things at the Annual Awards Celebration, including the Extend Your Impact, which enabled us to award three $10,000 awards to additional finalists. We’ll continue to look for ways to make the Annual Awards Celebration meaningful to everyone.
We can’t do any of that without you, our members. Join us as we work to improve the member experience and expand our diversity. We need diversity — particularly of race and age – for long-term sustainability and to ensure we hear all perspectives and ultimately make the biggest impact.
Membership success is dependent on everyone feeling a sense of belonging. That’s why we’ve added a concentrated effort on “belonging” to our DEI and “B” initiatives. If you are interested in joining planning efforts for DEIB, please consider volunteering for the Equity and Inclusion team here: https://www.viethconsulting.com/projects/moreinfo.php?org_id=ICIN&pid=12841677
Cheers to the New Year! So glad to have you on the journey with us.
Janet Collins