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Women Transforming Sonoma County Through Collective Philanthropy Aug/Sept 2016
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President's Message
Welcome, new and r
eturnin
g members of
Impact 100 Redwood Circle!
After a restful summer hiatus, I'm eager
to launch our second
year of Impact 100
RC. As I hope you know, our first
member event of this year will be an
August 12 meeting at
the residence of
member and networking maven
extraordinaire MK Hicks.
Thank you to MK for opening her
beautiful home to us!
If you have friends who might be interested in Impact 100
RC, the August 12 meeting is a terrific way to introduce them
to our group. Please reply to this message and send your
friend's email address and we'll be happy to invite her.
At the August 12 event, we'll get an update on our year one
Impact Grant awardee, VOICES. You'll also hear a brief
report from each committee about current and upcoming
a
ctivities, and we'll have another opportunity to meet our
fellow Impact 100 members.
If you're interested in participating in Impact 100 activities in
any way, I hope you'll consider signing up for a committee.
Did you know that you don't have to attend committee
meetings to be involved? We always have small tasks, like
proofreading the newsletter, greeting guests at each
meeting, and meeting set up and clean up.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to respond to this
email or to talk to committee members at the August 12
event. I hope to see you there, and I look forward to another
rewarding year of collective philanthropy!
Best wishes,
Melissa Kelley
President and Co-Founder
Impact 100 Redwood Circle
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 Upcoming Events |
Summer Social & Potluck
*
August 12, 4:00-6:30 pm
At the home of MK Hicks
585 Caber Street, SR
Members & Guests Welcome!
Nonprofit Showcase
*
Nov. 2, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
At the Scottish Rite
Center, 600 Acacia Lane
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Welcome to the newest members of our circle!
Ellen Bowen, Lynn Davis,
Marion Dutra, Ann
Fitzgerald, Marsha Jacobs, Andrea Learned, Freida Lummer, Marianne Messer, Marie Mitchell &
Louise Packard
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Mingling at the VOICES BBQ |
Grant Liaison Committee - VOICES
On July 27th, 9 Impact 100 RC members were the guests of VOICES at their monthly summer barbecue. We were all graciously welcomed by Amber and her staff. Most of us admitted to being a bit reticent about talking to the young people. However, Amber and her crew helped out by making introductions and explaining we were members of the group who had contributed a great deal of money so they could get help with the demands of college. What seemed like only minutes later, I looked around to see most of our members in serious conversations with the young people.
The reviews of the evening from both groups were stellar. Amber and her staff would love to have a small group of us attend the next barbecue on August 31. According to Amber, this is the barbecue when Sonoma County Office of Education is prevalent and backpacks are passed out. If you attend, you will join the back to school festivities. You will also find that these young people aren't terribly different than the ones in your own life - only without many of the opportunities our kids took for granted.
In other news, VOICES has hired an Education Navigator, the key facilitator of our grant program. TJ has recently received an MSW in Social Work. He focused his work on the barriers that foster youth face in completing their education. Syncronistically, his thesis studied various methods that could help foster youth complete their education. We found him very engaging and enthusiastic about the VOICES program. TJ and Amber are both interested in any Impact 100 member who might want to learn more about becoming a mentor, coach or perhaps have a special skill that would be helpful for his students.
If you would like information about possible student involvement and/OR if you would like to attend the barbecue (space limited), please RSVP to Jan Gilman
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Grant Committee Update
Late last month, 30 of our members came together to begin planning for our grant making in 2016-17. We are tremendously grateful to Impact member Sharon Keating of the Claros Group for donating her professional facilitation services!
Here are some of the ideas that emerged from this meeting:
- The group was enthusiastic about having two separate grants this year: A $100,000 Impact Grant, and a smaller grant program that will award grants perhaps in the $5,000 to $15,000 range.
- The group recommended having two separate committees for these grants.
- The small grant process will be "right-sized" with the smaller amount of money to be awarded. The application should be simpler than our Impact Grant application, and easier for both the nonprofits and the committee members.
- Last year's co-chairs suggested breaking the Impact Grant process into phases, with some volunteers reading the nonprofits' Letters of Interest, some reading the Full Proposals, and some conducting site visits.
I've heard that many women were interested in attending the site visits last spring. Please sign up to be a site visit reviewer if you wish to attend the site visits. You do not have to work on the entire grant review process to participate in the site visits.
If you want to participate in either the Impact Grant or Small Grant committee, please email [email protected] or sign up at the August 12 event. Last year's committee members report that this experience was tremendously rewarding!
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Renew your membership for 2016/2017!
We are currently processing member renewals for our second year! Renewal reminders will be sent out monthly to all members. We do keep records of the month you joined Impact100. Because this was our inaugural year, we waited for the completion of our first grant cycle before calling for renewals. We wanted everyone to experience our newly developed processes and celebrate our successful first Impact grant.
Our first group of reminders went out early in July for all members who joined us between January and July, 2015. As these members renew their memberships, their "membership month" will be adjusted to match the month they actually renew. For example, if you initially joined in January, 2015, and renew in July, 2016, your new membership month is July. And, if you joined in December, 2015, you will not receive a renewal notice until November, 2016.
We encourage all members to renew as you receive these reminders. The sooner we know our membership numbers, the better able we are to budget and plan for our meetings and the all-important Impact grant of 2017. Of course, you can renew and/or contribute at any time! The only caveat we have is that you must have paid by March 31 of any year to vote on the Impact grant award in May. Also, all members who joined by March 31 will be included in the roster that will vote on the smaller grants we are hoping to award in the fall.
Some of you may have received a note requesting that you continue your support of Impact100 by donating at our website. This WILL NOT work. You can go to our website, www.impact100redwoodcircle.org, and download a registration form but you cannot actually contribute via our website. All contributions must be made through the Community Foundation of Sonoma County. Registration forms need to be printed out, filled in, signed and mailed to the Community Foundation.
Your satisfaction with Impact100 Redwood Circle is our first priority! Please feel free to contact Cindy Schmidt or Toni Wilkes with any concerns or questions you may have.
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Events & Education
Summer Mixer, August 12
Thank you, MK! The E&E Committee is excited to host a summer gathering & potluck at the home of MK Hicks on Friday, August 12 at 4:00 pm. As previously communicated, MK has ample room in her spacious backyard to receive both members AND guests.
If you've yet to RSVP and/or invite a guest, please contact Carol Newman at [email protected]. The gathering will be informal and fun, but in the spirit of ongoing education, each committee will provide a very quick update focusing on their accomplishments and future goals. On the social side of the event, what's particularly wonderful about MK's "gathering place" is there are so many different areas for members and guests to meet in small groups and get to know one another at a deeper level, or one can simply hang out and watch the happenings at the spacious bar area where food, wine and keg beer will be served. And should the weather prove toastier than average for this time of year, MK's yard is equipped with an amazing mister system to keep us cool, calm and collected.
Important Notes!
MK's address: is 585 Caber St, Santa Rosa. Please note that there will be two ways of entering MK's backyard: 1) Come up the stairs to the main door and pop through the kitchen to the back yard; 2) If you wish to avoid steps, MK will place a sign to the left of her garage where members can slip into the backyard at ground level.
Potluck: E&E has the beverages covered! Please bring a plate of appetizers or something sweet. The weather is expected to be very pleasant, but it's always a good idea to bring foods that can be kept at room temperature.
Non-Profit Showcase, November 2
A sub-committee of the E&E Committee is about to meet begin the program development for the November 2 Non-Profit Showcase. We can announce at this time that Beth Brown, President and CEO of the Community Foundation, will be the event's key speaker. In addition, members will be invited to nominate organizations to participate in our inaugural showcase. Formal instructions in this regard will be send to Membership in late August. If you are interested in joining the NP Showcase Committee, please contact Gayle Holste
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Improving our Communications Tools
In our inaugural year, the
marketing committee
focused on getting Impact 100 RWC's basic communications tools up-and-running. This included designing and updating the
website, designing and publishing 4 issues of our electronic
newsletter, creating and maintaining a
Facebook presence, working with SRJC to get the Impact 100 RWC
video made, recruiting
photographers for our meetings, and helping with
sponsorships.
Kudos to Gayle Holste who, in addition to co-chairing the E&E committee, "rebooted" the Marketing Committee in January, organized our meetings and kept us moving forward! With the energy and contributions of committee members
Melissa Kelly, Vicki Groninga, MK Hicks, Jan Houts, Linda Higueras, Helga Lemke and Sudha Schlesinger
we were able to get these important communications tools in place.
Marketing Plans for 2016/17
This year, our objective is to focus on developing a more-robust Public Relations (PR) program. PR is a strategic communications process that will help us manage, protect and enhance the reputation of our organization. This process includes:
- Identifying appropriate media targets for Impact 100 RWC
- Building relationships with local editors and partners
- Developing PR materials (i.e. press releases, articles, Q&A) that support our message(s)
While we recognize that many Impact 100 members have relationships with the Press Democrat and other local media outlets, we respectfully ask that ALL press activities/contacts go through the Marketing Committee.
Tell Marketing what you need!
To assure we are aware of and helping ALL committees on their marketing needs, we have started inviting committee chairs to attend our meetings. In July, Toni Wilkes, membership and Jan Gilman, Grants Liaison were our guests. Membership/Toni asked that we update the Impact 100 brochure and create a thank you card for everyone's use (in process). Grant's Liaison/Jan brought us up-to-speed on our VOICES and we discussed ideas for joint promotional opportunities.
If you have ideas, suggestions or questions about Impact 100's marketing activities, contact co-chairs Jan Houts
or Gayle Holste.
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Treasurer's Report
Impact 100 had a great first year, financially speaking. We have two funds hosted at the Community Foundation of Sonoma County (CFSC) - a Grant Fund and an Operations Fund (for our ongoing internal administrative expenses).
- Member donations to the Grant Fund totaled $143,000. $100,000 went to our first Impact Grant (which was, of course, awarded to Voices), and $43,000 will launch our small grants funding. Wow!
- Member donations to the Operations Fund, plus a grant from CFSC, and "below-budget" spending by our committees left us solidly "in the black" as we began our new fiscal year on July 1st.
We expect to receive our final June 30th financial reports from CFSC any day now, and will post more details on the Impact 100 RC website soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Suzy Marzalek
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Help the Marketing Committee:
The marketing committee is looking for 2-3 women who are interested in helping us communicate the mission and activities of Impact100 RWC and our grant-recipient VOICES! Jobs can range from something simple (proof reading our Newsletter or Website) to helping plan and implement our Public Relations program.
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