Membership closing soon
In just two weeks, Impact100 Philadelphia's membership will close for the coming year. It's fantastic to see donations online, and a full PO Box nearly every day. Thank you to all who are joining us!
What our grants fund
Impact100 members describe many reasons they like collective giving. They meet interesting women they wouldn't otherwise encounter. They learn a tremendous amount about nonprofits in the region, about philanthropy, and about the power of working as a collective to magnify individual contributions. But always, at the heart of why members join, is the knowledge of what our large collective grants make possible.
Here are the stories of three 2020 grantees and what they've already accomplished with Impact's grants.
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Rock to the Future, $37,000 Operating Grant in 2020 |
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Founding Executive Director Jessica Craft updated us recently. She said, "When COVID-19 forced school closures, we knew we needed to find a way to continue providing programs for our students. Our team members learned new technology and identified community needs, our students and their guardians provided feedback, and now more than 130 students from underserved communities are participating in weekly music, leadership, and educational programming and receiving digital inclusion support at no cost. And enrollment continues to grow."
RTTF has introduced new music classes like game design and music scoring, music and art, hip-hop, musician collaboration, and power of songwriting. Through these classes, students are also discussing current events and social justice while creating original music. RTTF started giving instruments to students not only to use at home but to keep forever, and more than 100 instruments have been distributed so far.
When a City contract was lost due to Covid-19, Jessica said Impact100's funding "was essential for us to continue meeting our students' individual needs during the pandemic through free music and youth development programs." Impact100’s funding also allowed RTTF to start a virtual volunteering program for one-on-one academic, music, and mentoring support, which allows them to connect a growing pool of volunteers from Philadelphia and beyond with students needing extra help. Impact's grant also enabled RTTF to hire their first bi-lingual Spanish team member as the Youth and Family Coordinator and to start their virtual volunteer program.
Anyone interested in volunteering with Rock to the Future, please contact Impact100 Grant Champion Marjorie Stein at steinfine1@aol.com.
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ACLAMO, $100,000 Core Mission Grant in 2020 |
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Executive Director Nelly Jimenez spoke at our Annual Kickoff September 10. She told how ACLAMO switched into emergency mode in March when the pandemic hit. "We knew this was a recipe for disaster," she said, as ACLAMO's community — low income residents in Norristown — were confused and frightened, and didn't have access to information. A high number of ACLAMO clients are essential workers, earn minimum wage, and don't have internet access at home. Nelly said, "This storm has affected everybody, but the perfect storm happened in communities that were already vulnerable before the pandemic hit... These communities were already in trouble." ACLAMO quickly adapted, recording informational videos in Spanish and creating or changing programs to meet clients' needs. Just in the six weeks before Nelly's Impact talk, ACLAMO had:
- delivered 12,370 meals to children and 5,800 meals to seniors
- provided groceries to 705 families
- disbursed $43,000 in rental and utilities emergency funds
She invited us to join them on Tuesdays in the morning or afternoon with food distribution which they do with help from the donations of a local church,
Nelly concluded by saying, "We cannot go back to 'normal.' It's up to you, to all of us, to make our country a safer and better place for everyone."
ACLAMO welcomes volunteers to help with its regular food distribution; to teach a regular English class for an extended period of time; to serve on the board of directors; or to assist with marketing and raising money for laptops. Anyone interested in volunteering with ACLAMO, please contact Impact100 Grant Champion Joan Ryder at jryder7@gmail.com.
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Women's Center of Montgomery County, $100,000 Core Mission Grant in 2020 |
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Executive Director Maria Macaluso spoke in October about the Women's Center's significant adaptations since receiving Impact's grant in June. Among other services, the Women's Center:
- Adapted volunteer training and graduated the first class of 15 virtually-trained volunteer counselors (who included an Impact100 member)
- Created (and posted on the website) educational self-help videos to provide clients with legal assistance about divorce, child custody and other needs
- With a legal aid partner, hosted a series of workshops giving pro bono legal assistance to women who can't afford an attorney, or who need general guidance during tough times
- Expanded the Community Education department to include a full-time medical advocate and a financial empowerment trainer
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Launched Teen Talk, a crisis hotline for teens and Teen Text Line for teens experiencing dating violence
- Following an increase in domestic violence cases at Abington Lansdale Hospital, created an on-call advocate position 24 hours a day to make sure that victims and health care providers have access to an advocate
- In July and August, provided domestic violence services to 990 unduplicated adult victims
Maria said, "All of this and more began with the belief and confidence that we could overcome the darkness of Covid-19 and the challenges it presented to victims and our work. It all began with your gifts of funding, of support, of faith in our abilities."
Anyone interested in volunteering with the Women's Center, please contact Impact100 Grant Champions Connie Heppenstall at chhepp@gmail.com or Kathleen Moore at moorekm1224@gmail.com.
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Programs
TONIGHT, November 17, 6 pm - Impact100 Info Session
An informal conversation and opportunity to ask questions, meet members, and learn what our organization is all about. Please feel free to invite friends or colleagues! Register here.
Wednesday, December 9, 7 pm - Funding Celebration
This annual highlight, for members only, will be the first chance to hear our membership and funding totals for 2021. We'll gather on Zoom to toast our collective grantmaking in the year to come. Members, please watch for your invitation coming today.
Deadlines
December 1 - Membership closes for the 2021 Grants
December 11 - Application closes for Letters of Inquiry for the 2021 Grants
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Would you like to join us or tell others about Impact100? |
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If you'd like to tell others about our organization, please feel free to forward
this newsletter - and we thank you for spreading the word. The top reason for Impact100's growth since 2008 has been members referring other women as members.
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Women ages 36 and over join for $1,150; of that total, $1,000 is added to the grants pool for 2021 and the balance supports our operating expenses. Women 35 and under join as Young Philanthropists at half that rate, $575, with $500 going to the grants pool.
The deadline to join is December 1.
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We welcome anyone — whether a member or not — to contribute to Impact100 Philadelphia's 2021 grant funding and to leverage a personal donation into large grants that will benefit nonprofits in the region.
Only members may cast a vote for grantees, but everyone is welcome to add to the funds that will support Impact100's 2021 grant recipients.
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