WOMEN TRANSFORMING SONOMA COUNTY THROUGH COLLECTIVE PHILANTHROPY | SETEMBER 2021 | ISSUE 48 |
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We’re Telling our Story; Here’s how you can Help
Does your professional, civic, church or affinity group welcome outside speakers to make presentations during its meetings? If so, you’ll soon be able to put Impact 100 Redwood Circle on your agenda! The Membership Committee is currently creating a Speaker’s Bureau that will be available to community groups at the beginning of 2022. The idea is to tell the Impact 100 story to the widest possible audience. “We’ll be looking to Impact members to connect us to the groups they belong to and care about,” said Sharon Beckman, co-chair of the Membership Committee. “Please talk this up with your organizations now,” she added.
Presentations will be about 20 minutes long and include a Q&A period. The Marketing Committee is working on a PowerPoint presentation to supplement the speakers’ remarks. The presenters are founding Impact 100 Redwood Circle members, Vicki Groninga and Carol Orme, and Thea Hensel, co-chair of the Education Committee. They will be introduced by an Impact member who is also a member of the host group.
The speakers will tailor their remarks to each audience based on recommendations/input from the connecting member. They will talk about women’s philanthropy, give a brief history of Impact100RC, share stories of grantees and describe Impact’s goals of 1) diversifying membership in terms of age, race, cultural background, etc. and 2) growing membership numbers and available funds for grantmaking. “We also want to give a sense of the people behind the numbers,” said Sharon. “Imagine what it means to hear that your nonprofit has been awarded $100,000 or what it means to be a member of Impact and know you helped make that possible.”
The Membership Committee will be scheduling presentations after the beginning of 2022. In the meantime, all members are encouraged to think about the groups they belong to that would welcome an opportunity to hear about the transformative power of collective philanthropy in Sonoma County.
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Update on In-Person Meetings |
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We are once again planning to gather in-person! This may be a committee meeting or our November General Meeting on November 6. We will be following guidelines from the Community Foundation Sonoma County combined with State and Local guidelines as follows:
- All in-person attendees must be fully vaccinated, have a self-certification declaration on file, and preregister for any event.
- Inside gatherings are permitted. Attendees must wear masks at all times. No food or drink can be served inside.
- Outdoor gatherings are permitted. Because all attendees must be vaccinated, outdoor gatherings can be held without masks, thus food and drink can be served.
If you have not yet submitted the self-certification form - click here and take a moment to do it today. You will only need to submit the form one time regardless of the number of in-person events you may attend in the future. Fully vaccinated is 2 weeks following the date of your last dose and protocol for the vaccine you received.
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In Memoriam - Susan Hardy Hoey |
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Susan Hardy Hoey passed away on August 14 after suffering a fall. In addition to being a founding member of Impact 100 Redwood Circle, she was a treasured volunteer at the Bird Rescue Center and at Laguna Laguna de Santa Rosa. She will be missed.
No services were held but there will be a celebration of life when COVID allows. Memorial donations may be made to The Bird Rescue Center.
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DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) - October 6 - 4:30 p.m. |
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Philanthropy Through a New Lens
Growing up, many in our monochromatic neighborhoods had few opportunities to develop authentic friendships with people of color, other ethnicities and diverse cultures. Our campus experiences likely were vastly different from today’s multicultural classrooms.
As Impact 100 Redwood Circle has grown from a tiny nucleus to 249 women, we are gratified that so many commit personal resources to provide grants for crucial services; this helps everyone rise. Members have shown a willingness to expand awareness about cultural tensions that exist in nearly every community.
Fostering this lifelong learning and cultural development through the Impact Bustin’ Bias conversations, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team is excited to explore these issues.
On October 6th at 4:30 p.m., please join us for a virtual presentation by your fellow members and Bustin’ Bias participants who want to share their realizations. Hear their perceptions and epiphanies, and what made their time together rewarding and educational! Experience how learning opportunities can help us fulfill the mission of Impact and help us create authentic relationships that will sustain our efforts.
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ED TALK - October 21 - 4:30 p.m. |
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It Takes a village for Kids to Succeed; Let's Move Beyond 20th Century Education!
Laurie Fong, President of the Santa Rosa School Board posits that regular school as we currently know it doesn’t fit anymore. Join us for a lively discussion about the state of education from a dedicated educator who has been supporting children and making them thrive with passion throughout her entire career.
Our students have changed, but our educational systems are lagging. Our societal supports have changed, but our educational systems can't harness them. There are more challenges to a successful graduation, but what future does a high school diploma get you these days? In addition, a new "post-adolescence" appears to last until age 29.
What is going on?
We need to figure out where change is happening and be specific about how we can support it. I have some ideas...
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Sharing Her Story - Diane Ethier |
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Recent Minnesota transplant to Sonoma County, Diane Ethier still hasn’t decided whether to transfer her baseball fandom to the A’s or the Giants but she’s adamant she’ll always root for the hometown team. “I miss my Twins; they’ll always have my heart.” she says.
A native of Minneapolis/ St. Paul and self described “big city girl” she notes that Santa Rosa is “the smallest city I’ve ever lived in.” She’s not complaining though and looks forward to a post COVID world in which she and husband Kevin can explore “this beautiful place, our new backyard” They also appreciate that “art, music, theater and good restaurants are so accessible here.”
Diane’s part time job at an advertising agency became a full time, decades-long career in media and marketing, serving both corporate and public policy interests. She particularly enjoyed the challenges and rewards of launching a new brand , but it was her public policy work that, like her Twins, grabbed her heart. She was involved in Minnesota’s tobacco cessation program, “following the California model; you were way ahead here,” she says. She also worked on campaigns for Minnesota’s health care exchanges, eliminating racism and women’s equity issues. There are a lot of analytics that underlie this kind of work, she explains. “It’s about targeting, researching, knowing your audience.”
If you’re interested in a career in media, Diane has some advice. The most important qualities are “curiosity, ability to dig deeply into things and not being afraid of numbers.” Her journalism degree and theater minor were both assets as “it helps to think and speak in sound bites to sell a message,” she laughs. But she worries about the state of media today with “the blurring of news and opinion.”
Diane stays active through water aerobics at Oakmont, where she and Kevin now live. She also enjoys cooking with the bounty that Sonoma County offers. She’s the local coordinator for AARP Tax-Aide, which provides tax preparation service to seniors, serving 300 to 400 people with free tax assistance.
Her public policy work is a natural fit with Impact 100 Redwood Circle, she says. “We moved out to Sonoma County without a friend or family network. The women I met seemed smart, connected and interesting.” She also appreciates, even virtually, “the opportunity to meet and spend time with like-minded women. I like the concept of giving an organization seed money to test a theory/make a difference.”
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Forget Me Not Farm Update!
The Liaison committee was pleased to learn that everything is in place for the Forget Me Not Farms’ school program to go back in action again. The Impact Grant that they received in November 2019 to create a program for the Roseland School was necessarily placed on hiatus in March 2020 because of the COVID epidemic. Many of us visited the Farm over the past year and learned about the innovative programs they initiated in the interim (bringing first responders, teachers, and medical personnel) to the Farm for R&R.
Now with the school reopening, Forget Me Not Farm is looking forward to receive Roseland children who will be brought from their school in the newly purchased van. Forget Me Not Farm has asked for a year extension to complete their grant. The Liaison Committee agrees that this is an understandable request given the circumstances. We will look forward to reporting their progress through 2022.
4Cs Update!
Interested in learning about the 2020 Impact Grant to 4Cs to support training more child care providers in Sonoma County? On September 23 at 4:30 p.m. there will be a special progress report detailing their activity since they were awarded the grant last November. This is a virtual event. Click here to register for the 4Cs Update.
Beyond the Check!
In other news, please check our pages on Impact 100 Redwood Circle website for volunteer opportunities for both our previous and current Impact Grant winners as well as the 2021 Community Grant winning agencies.
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