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Dear members and friends:
If you weren’t able to attend the Grant Awards Celebration, we missed you! Almost 250 members and guests attended this spectacular event.
The following is my letter of appreciation, from the printed program. I hope you will take a minute to read it and share in the sense of pride we all feel for this exceptional year. Later in this newsletter you will find a link to watch the full replay.
As our seventh season is about to close, we have reached another milestone with your help. For the first time, we will award four $100,000 Impact Grants, bringing our total to more than $1.8 million in a very short time. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we are so grateful to all 422 members and our business sponsors for your support of this dynamic movement, transforming the philanthropic landscape.
Last year at this time, I reported that the Board adopted a strategic plan that focused on three essential elements, with many actions to support them:
- Improve the quantity and quality of grant applications. Grantmaking is our North Star.
- Continue our membership growth in the “Drive to 500” members, a long-term goal for the chapter, and continue to enhance the member experience.
- Successfully transition to self-administration and adoption of Neon, our platform that integrates membership, events, communications, grants and accounting.
Under the leadership of our Board and their committee members, we made tremendous progress on all fronts. For the first time, our semi-finalists included nonprofits in all five of our grantmaking focus areas: Education; Family; Health & Wellness; Arts & Culture; and Environment, Preservation & Recreation. Many thanks to the new Visioning Team that is playing a critical role in helping nonprofits ready themselves for our grant application process. Lastly, our new Grant Recipient Showcase was a huge success in strengthening the bond between our members and the local nonprofit community.
With 422 members this year, we can see a path to 500 right around the corner. Every time you tell a friend, invite them to an event, wear your Impact100 Martin merchandise or display your car magnet, you help spread the word. Often this is done in a community, under the leadership of our Community Captains. And this year, two captains stepped up to play a new role in helping all the Community Captains share best practices. Three cheers for Judy Zanchi and Sarah Murphy from Harbour Ridge for their new leadership roles.
Having one year of experience in self-administration under our belts, we delivered on all the essential elements of our business model, largely with a volunteer team. As with any new system and changing policies and procedures, we learned a lot and appreciate your patience if you experienced a “speed bump” in our learning curve. We will continue to grow and improve!
Finally, I can’t close the year without thanking Wendy Steele for inspiring us with her ongoing leadership of the Impact100 movement and as the keynote speaker for our Season Seven Kickoff. While here, she had a chance to meet with several of our past Impact Award Grantees and could see firsthand the impact we are having in Martin County. She was moved by what she experienced.
Thank you all for your incredible generosity. Season Seven has been exceptional in every way, but the best is yet to come.
With gratitude for your generosity no matter the form it takes.
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