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Women Transforming Sonoma County Through Collective Philanthropy - Dec 2020
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Time flies. As I sat down to write this last newsletter article as your co-president a collage of memories over the past two years filled my mind. The predictable road we anticipated in January 2019 was far from the road we traveled. The COVID-19 virus of 2020 threatened our sustainability. Could we manage to continue our past funding level? Could we manage to stay vibrant and enthusiastic about our mission?
We have achieved that and more. We will end the year with more members (and more funds) than in 2019. Most remarkably we have managed to stay connected. I want to thank all of our hard-working women for their creativity and diligence in keeping us together. I want to thank every member for your commitment to Impact 100 RC. Together we have thrived. It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to work with so many like-minded women who care deeply about philanthropy.
I'm stepping down as co-president but not stepping far. I will be taking over as co-chair of Liaison along with Barbara Hopp who many of you know from Cocktails and Conversation. We will be developing a plan to link our current grant winners with our members in order to provide an opportunity for members to feel more engaged with our agencies while concurrently providing our agencies with the help they need for special projects. Please stay tuned as this plan unfolds.
Many of you have also asked about the progress of the Racial Equity Study Group. We will be finishing the first phase on December 9 that included diving into the issue of racial equity, building awareness and understanding through reading and personal examination. Our next phase will explore best practices in how other organizations are addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As we began to plan this phase, we realized the importance of articulating a shared set of organizational values to frame all our Impact 100 RC work (racial equity and otherwise). Shared values form the foundation for an organization's actions and decisions. As such, we will be identifying the values that have implicitly motivated us in our grant making, our policy and procedures, our committee organization and our interpersonal relations. We will be organizing a small task force to accomplish this goal. We expect to deliver a comprehensive list of these organizational values by our May meeting.
Happy Holidays to you and your family. Stay safe. Be well,
Jan Gilman, Co-President
Impact 100 Redwood Circle
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Stay connected by attending these upcoming
NextGen Hike
Sunday, Dec 20
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Taylor Mtn. North Entrance
Community Grants
Information Session
Tuesday, Jan 5
4:30 p.m.
An overview of the Community Grants process Click here to register
ED TALK
Thursday, Jan. 14 4:30 p.m. Sheba Person-Whitley, Executive Director of Sonoma County Economic Development Board Click here to register
Spotlight: The Intersection of Business & Philanthropy Tuesday, Jan 26
4:30 p.m. Ronit Rubinoff, Executive Director of Legal Aid of
Sonoma County
(2020 Impact Grant Runner up)
General Membership Meeting
Tuesday, Feb. 9
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Update on Forget Me Not Farms Childrens Services
(2019 Impact Grant recipient)
Stay tuned for details!
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Membership
Please welcome the newest members of our circle:
Janie Read
Kathleen Koran
Beth Perot
Cici Piotrkowski
Ellen Lustbader
Carolina Spence
Teresa Norton
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Impact 100 RC Scarves
Prior to the 2020 annual meeting, the planning team distributed an Impact 100 RC scarf to member's homes. If you did not get one, of if you are a new member, please contact Jennifer Girvin
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2021 Community Grants
Nominations Open on Jan. 4 and are Due on Jan. 17 at 5:00 p.m.
Season's Greetings from your Community Grants Committee! Our twenty-five enthusiastic members have been busy preparing for the next cycle of Community Grants, which begins with the New Year. The cycle starts with nominations from our members.
Nominations open on January 4, 2021 and must be received by
January 17 at 5:00 p.m. Your nominating form will be sent to you via eblast on January 4th.
All members in good standing are eligible to nominate. For the nominating process all dyad members may submit a nonprofit individually. January 5, 2021, 4:30 p.m. - mark your calendars for an all-membership ZOOM meeting. If you are a new member, this is a great opportunity to understand the entire process. Continuing members are encouraged to attend for a "refresher". At this meeting , we will present an overview of the Community Grants process. Please b ring any and all questions you might have! Click here to register. As you begin to think about a deserving nonprofit to nominate, we encourage you to consider an organization that has never received a grant, or one that has never been nominated! That said, any organization that has not received a Community Grant in the past three years is eligible to apply.
To be certain that you nominate an organization that will qualify for a Community Grant, we will be reviewing eligibility criteria and guidelines at the Information Session on January 5th. You may review the information in advance by clicking here to access the file. The information is also available on our website. The criteria explain what qualifications are required to apply, as well as what would disqualify an organization from receiving a grant.
The Non-Profits listed below have received a Community Grant in the last three cycles and, therefore, are ineligible to apply for the 2021 grants. 2020 Recipients: Bird Rescue Center Burbank Housing F.I.S.H (Friends in Service Here) of Santa Rosa Jewish Community Free Clinic Museum of Sonoma County Reach for Home Santa Rosa Foundation - Bear Cub Scholars Verity 2019 Recipients: Lime Foundation PDI Surgery Center Russian River Keeper The Living Room Women's Recovery Services 2018 Recipients: Catholic Charities Children's Museum of Sonoma County Roseland Community Prep Charter School Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation - Children's Center Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Education Program Thank you for your participation in Impact 100 RC! We look forward to Zooming with you on January 5th. Debra Marzak & Carol Newman, Co-Chairs
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2020 Impact Grant Update
On Thursday, December 10th, several Impact 100 RC leaders met online with Melanie Dodson, Executive Director of Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County (4Cs Sonoma County), and other key 4Cs staff members to present them with the agreement for this year's $100,000 Impact Grant.
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The 4Cs will use our grant to expand its Child Care Initiative Project (CCIP). The program aims to recruit, train, and support 90 prospective family childcare providers in areas of our county where the need for quality childcare is particularly dire. "We are grateful for the opportunity you've given us, and we are so excited to work with all of you," Melanie said during our virtual meeting.
Two $10,000 Finalist Merit Grants have been delivered to The Climate Center and Legal Aid of Sonoma County. The Finalist Merit Grants are intended to show our appreciation for the time and effort the two finalists devoted to our rigorous application process and may be used at each organization's discretion.Finalist Merit Grant recipients are not required to use the grants to fund their Impact Grant proposals since the dollar amount of the merit grants represents a small fraction of their proposed project budget.
The Impact Grant Committee is already gearing up for next year's grant cycle. We are drafting our 2021 calendar and reviewing and amending our applications and scoring forms and reviewing our processes.
We have a few openings on the committee for next year. If any of you would like to join the Impact Grant committee, please contact us at [email protected]
Vicki Groninga & Susan Milstein Co-Chairs
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Updates from our Grantees
Food For Thought
Thank you to all of the Impact 100 RC members who wrote holiday cards for Food For Thought clients. We received this very sweet card from FFT!
VOICES
Amber Nakash, Director of Youth Services at VOICES, provided our liaison committee with the following update:
-VOICES has been open throughout COVID.
-The center is open from 12-4pm Tuesday through Friday.
- We have food bags to hand out at the center or to be dropped off at youth's homes.
- Staff are still providing comprehensive services in person, by phone or Zoom.
- We have shifted all of our groups to a virtual platform.
- The education team continues to work with JC students to enroll, acquire technology and navigate distance learning.
- Youth are still needing non-perishable food and gift cards*. It is also starting to get cold, so socks, gloves and beanies are always in demand.
* Gift cards should be sent to: Voices, c/o Amber Nakash, 883 Olive Street, Petaluma, CA 94952.
Russian River Keeper
Russian River Keeper took a break in their busy schedule to clean up their new truck. The truck is adorned on both sides with the logos of the organizations that helped fund it, including Impact 100 RC. "Thank you for this amazing tool," says Don McEnhill of RRK, "it's been working hard on the Walbridge Fire as well as with our trash crews. Please share our heartfelt thanks with your Impact 100 RC members."
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Spotlight Series
Intersection of Business and Philanthropy
Tuesday, January 26 at 4:30 p.m.
Ronit Rubinoff, Executive Director of Legal Aid of Sonoma County
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| | Ronit Rubinoff |
Like Letitia Hanke and Coleen Carmichael, Ms. Rubinoff has marked her own career course, in ensuring access to justice for the most vulnerable - low-income families, single mothers with children and the elderly. As the Executive Director of Legal Aid of Sonoma County for 15 years, Ms. Rubinoff has led the organization with the help of dedicated boards, staff and volunteers to provide justice for thousands in Sonoma County. As many as 3,000 children and 2,000 adults are provided with crisis legal needs each year including: domestic violence, child and elder abuse, low-income housing, disaster recovery and legal obstacles to heath and employment.
In 2005, Ms. Rubinoff was a transplant to Sonoma County as a poverty law attorney with no business experience and few community connections. She has become a well-respected community leader and is currently managing a staff of 30. Ms. Rubinoff has been recognized for her leadership role by the North Bay Business Journal and was selected in 2017 as the Woman of the Year by Congressman Mike Thompson. We are looking forward to hearing her insights and a behind-the-scene look at one of our 2020 grant finalists.
Ann Marie McGee & Mindi Lewis, Marketing Co-Chairs
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Education Committee
ED TALK - Sheba Person-Whitley, Executive Director of Sonoma
County Economic Development Board
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| | Sheba Person-Whitley |
When: Jan. 14, 2021 at 4:30 - 5:30 PM
In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors asked the Sonoma County Economic Board and the Sonoma County Office of Recovery and Resiliency to collaborate to develop an Economic Recovery Action Plan with broad-based community input. The initial impetus of the plan was to present guidance for Sonoma County's economic recovery from the pandemic. During the development of this plan, disaster struck the county again in the form of the Glass, Walbridge and Meyers fires. As a result, community leaders recommended this plan to include the county's recovery not only from the coronavirus, but from current and future disasters. The three main focuses of recovery are business, workforce and community.
Join us to hear Sheba Person-Whitley explain the basic framework of the Economic Recovery Plan and how the plan will partner with businesses, professional organizations, nonprofits and the general public. Also, learn how the plan contributes to the resiliency of our communities in this county after so many disasters.
Ms. Person-Whitley has a unique perspective on how we support each other and allow new leaders to come forward. Please join us to learn more about her wealth of experience and the innovation she brings to Sonoma County. Click here to see her bio.
Laurie Parish & Thea Hensel, Co-Chairs
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Membership Committee
Over 50 New Members in 2020!
THANK YOU to all of the many members who have renewed your memberships in 2020! And THANK YOU to all of the over 50 NEW MEMBERS who have joined Impact 100 RC this year! Our membership number is nearing 250 members, which is a considerable increase from 2019. For those of you who are due this month to renew your membership and have not yet done so, we are counting on your continued heartfelt support.
When renewing, please do not forget to mail in your renewal registration form with your donation. Click here: to access the membership page and membership forms.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, please call Bev Curry at 707-571-1672.
It is not too late to welcome more new members before the end of this year, and for them to be able to claim the 2020 tax deduction for their total donation. The registration forms and the donations must be mailed in and postmarked on or before December 31, 2020.
The December 3rd Cocktails and Conversation ZOOM meeting was well attended by members and guests. Our next C & C meeting will be in late February. Please check the website calendar for the date and time to be announced. We need members to reach out with an invitation to friends who might be interested in learning more about Impact 100 RC. The more members we have, the more grants we will be able to make to our community nonprofit organizations, at a time when so many are in dire need of help.
Members may also invite guests to attend our February 9th General Meeting. This meeting showcases what our Impact Grant is able to make possible for the betterment of our community.
This year has been challenging in so many ways. It is a credit to the mission of Impact 100 RC and to the generosity of our many philanthropic members that our organization has continued to grow and flourish. May 2021 bring us all together in even greater numbers, in person or on ZOOM, so that we can help to make our community a better place.
As Co-Chairs of the Membership Committee for the last two years, Charlene and I would like to thank everyone on the Leadership Team, our Membership Committee and the general membership for their love and support during our tenure and want you all to welcome Sharon Beckman and Sarah Dove as the new Co-Chairwomen for the 2021 Membership Committee. We could not have found two more experienced and enthusiastic women to carry the torch. Thank you, Sharon and Sarah!
Charlene Staples & Bev Curry, Co-Chairs
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NextGen News
Hikes will be the third Sunday of each month.
NextGen has been actively recruiting new members over the last month, with outreach help from our former grant recipients. We're excited about new connections to SRJC and other institutions and non-profits. Do you know a younger woman who would like to learn more about our grow
ing NextGen program? Invite them to join you at an event or send contacts to Robin Wendler, NextGen Chair: [email protected]
The NextGen hikes are continuing on the third Sunday of the month into 2021. The next one will be Sunday, December 20 from 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon* at Taylor Mountain Regional Park, hosted by Impact 100 RC founder Melissa Kelley. We've moved the start time to 10:30 for the winter months This is an opportunity for younger members to get to know each other , and guests to learn more about our group. See the website for signup info.
* Location Taylor Mountain Regional Park, North Entrance, 2080 Kawana Terrace Rd., Santa Rosa
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Contact our Newsletter Editor:
If you have questions or suggestions for The Impact 100 Redwood Circle Communique, please contact Editor, Jan Houts at [email protected]
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