The Impact 100 movement began in 2001 with a small, but dedicated group of women who were drawn together to dramatically improve people’s lives. This sense of community is still at the core of our giving circle, though our membership has expanded to well over 400 women. With such a large membership there are challenges with locations, diverse interests, and size of venues, but your Impact 100 board is still finding meaningful ways that we can gather, connect and learn from each other. What better way to celebrate our community than to gather together at exciting events throughout the year!
We have added some new events this year, and made a few changes. If you have attended one of our gatherings in the past you know that we always ask for feedback. We are listening, and have made some adjustments based on attendee comments. For example, we are going back to a separate event for Meet the Finalists. Our focus will be to help members connect with our selected nonprofits and better understand their proposed projects.
Our Education event will take a different format and you will hear more about that later in the year. For the beginning of 2024, you can look forward to another Member Connect meeting. This was a new event last year, which allowed members to get to know each other and the organization, and it was widely reviewed as a success.
Of course, our most anticipated event is the Annual Awards Celebration, where we announce the grant recipients that receive $100,000. This is a special night where we celebrate the nonprofits and all of their efforts, as well as the work by Impact 100 Cincinnati members to research, review and grant our collective dollars to incredible organizations.
While you mark your calendar and plan out your year, consider attending one or more of our events to enhance your experience with our community. And while you are planning, it may help to know that most of our events involve a fee to attend. This is one of the ways that we ensure that all of our membership dues fund grant awards. Of course, we have generous members that have donated to an “angel fund,” which allows us to assist with event fees if this is a barrier to attending.
Since 2021, we have seen a significant increase in food and venue costs, but we are striving to keep fees reasonable. The Impact 100 board sees an investment in events as an important way to enhance your membership experience, so we will continue to recruit sponsors and find other ways of managing these expenses.
In the meantime, please know that nearly all of our events are open to guests, and this is often a great way for you to introduce the Impact 100 concept to your friends and family. Check the list below for an old favorite or a new event that you haven’t tried, and look for invitations in your inbox soon!
· Grant Review Team Kickoff Jan. 11
· The Big Reveal (announce the grant pool) Jan. / Feb.
· Member Connect March 12*
· Education Event April / May
· Meet the Finalists June 24*
· Annual Awards Celebration Sept. 19
· Giving Tuesday Dec. 3
*targeted date, watch for invite