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Women Transforming Sonoma County Through Collective Philanthropy - April/May 2017
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President's Message
Happy Spring!
In just over a month, Impact 100 Redwood Circle will award its second $100,000 Impact Grant! I hope you're planning to attend this momentous event and cast your vote. I look forward to seeing you on May 6.
I want to thank the Impact Grant committee members, who have been hard at work in preparation for the final vote in May. As I write, the committee is reviewing full proposals from the semi-finalists and scheduling site visits. I'm so proud of the thoughtful, professional approach these women apply to selecting our three finalists.
Meanwhile, Impact 100 RC continues to mature and become more robust. We now have 165 members, compared to 157 founding members last year. Committees are creating governance documents to provide structure for Impact 100 RC, exploring a partnership to expand our educational offerings for members, making plans for the next Community Grants cycle, and much more. Stay tuned for details about these exciting developments!
Do you have a friend who might be interested in Impact 100 Redwood Circle? You are welcome to bring a friend to our May 6th meeting. This meeting is one of the best opportunities to show others the amazing energy that surrounds our collective philanthropy efforts. Watch for emails in the coming weeks to reserve your space.
Please also mark your calendar for July 22. Impact 100 RC member and organizational development specialist Sharon Keating will facilitate a strategic planning meeting for all interested members. We have some important topics to discuss and look forward to your input. We'll send more details closer to the date.
Yours in philanthropy,
Melissa Kelley
President and Co-Founder
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DON'T MISS MAY 6TH!
Yes, Save Me A Seat for the $100,000 Impact Grant Meeting, Saturday, May 6th, Scottish Rite & Masonic Center
Formal communication will be going out to Membership soon, but let's give Carol Newman a head start on your status. RSVP to [email protected] and please indicate:
___ Yes, with bells on!
___ Maybe, but you won't be in suspense long!
___ No, but congrats to all and please take pics!
Many thanks for your great teamwork!
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Coffee & Conversation
Wed, May 24, 10-11:30 a.m.
Flamingo Hotel's Terrace Grill
2777 4th Street, S.R.
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2nd Annual Impact Grant Membership Meeting:
Sat., May 6, 1-4 p.m.
Scottish Rite Center, 600 Acacia Lane, Santa Rosa
Membership Strategic Planning Meeting
Sat, July 22, 9-12 a.m.
Scottish Rite Center, 600 Acacia Lane, Santa Rosa
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Welcome to the newest members of our circle!
Martha Buzza
Beverly Curry
Barbara Haggerty
Ann Hurd
Ilene Kristoff
Jenny Levine-Smith
Phyllis Martin-Vegue
Ann Nolen
Marcia Seim Bossier
Raini Sugg
Joan Tabb-Waisbein
Jeffrey Wellen
Karen White
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Impact Grant Committee Prepares for 2nd $100,000 Award!
Seven semi-finalists for the 2016-2017 Impact Grant submitted their Full Proposal Application (FPA) on March 6. After an extensive review and evaluation of the proposals, the Grant Committee selected five semi-finalists to receive a site visit. Any remaining questions or concerns about the proposals will be addressed during these site visits, which are scheduled for March 27 -April 7.
The committee will meet on April 15 to determine the three (3) finalists for the $100,000 Impact Grant. These organizations will present their proposals to our membership at our May 6 meeting. The membership vote will determine the Impact Grant winner. Proxy votes will be available for those members unable to attend. Details on this will be sent via email.
A detailed summary of each finalist's proposal will be posted on the members-only section of our website at the time they are identified. Please address any questions to the Grant Committee at [email protected]
Co-Chairs Karen Thompson, Laurie Parish and Carol Lynn Wood
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INTRODUCING KELSEY BJUGSTAD
VOICES is expanding the staff of the Education Navigator program with the addition of their new education navigator, Kelsey Bjugstad. A graduate of Sonoma State University with a degree in Psychology, Kelsey has spent the past three years working at Seneca family of agencies. Kelsey will bring strong clinical training, relational skills, and an extensive knowledge of the various issues affecting foster youth at the high school level.
She is well connected in the community and ready to expand the education navigation program
to support more foster youth at the high school level in order to build connections to success when youth reach post secondary education. VOICES is excited to welcome Kelsey onto the team in mid April as she is thoroughly excited to continue supporting foster youth in obtaining their education goals.
TJ McKillop, who many of you have met will be taking on a broader role in the agency that includes supervising Kelsey and maintaining contact with the students in the program. TJ believes that Kelsey is just the person to expand the education navigator program by adding this next dimension. The liaison committee looks forward to meeting Kelsey and excited that the students in the program will now have a second mentor to support and encourage their success in higher education.
Co-Chairs Jan Gilman & Barbara Ramsey
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Our Feb. 8 meeting:
80 people, only 8 ounces of trash!
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Education & Events
Impact 100 RWC is going zero waste!
Since last year, your E&E committee has been making an effort to generate as little trash as possible.
To reduce waste we have have taken the following actions:
- We provide water pitchers instead of water bottles at meetings
- We use donated cloth napkins at our events instead of paper napkins
- We reuse our decorations
- We provide donated platters to eliminate plastic catering trays
- We recycle as much as possible
- We donate leftover edible food
- We compost food scraps at the end of each meeting
- We bring our own dishtowels and sponges for cleanup (no paper towels)
- We are continually trying to reduce the amount of leftover food by accurate ordering
Our February 8
th meeting was our biggest success yet, as shown in the photo above. All these
efforts save our precious natural resources and help reduce greenhouse gases. See Liz Bortolotto (
[email protected]) for more specifics if you are interested.
Thank you, ladies, for helping make this event the most waste-free yet!
Co-Chairs Liz Bortolotto & Gayle Holste
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Membership Update
As of March 31
st , our renewal and new member rolls are closed for the 2016/2017 cycle. We hope that you made the "cut" and look forward to seeing you at our May 6
th Grant Award Ceremony where we will hear presentations from our three finalists and cast our votes.
Please feel free to invite interested guests to attend and experience the joy of the day! Keep an eye out for the final invitation that will indicate our guest capacity.
NEW MEMBER REGISTRATION
: Speaking of guests...should the Grant Award Ceremony inspire your guest to join, we will have a table with registration materials for new members only. We will not be accepting renewals on May 6th. Please contact us if you have questions about renewing your membership
CARPOOLS:
At our last meeting, there was keen interest in members seeking to carpool. If you need a lift or can provide a lift, please sign up with us. We endeavor to continue to reduce our carbon footprint. You will find a sign-up sheet at our table. We will match women by areas and provide introductions.
CONVERSATIONS ABOUND
: Hats off to Barbara Hopp and Sudha Schlesinger who continue to coordinate Coffee/Cocktails and Conversation get-togethers. Nine women gathered at Dry Creek Hyatt for coffee and over fifteen women at Legends for libations. A combination of founding, new, and prospective members deepened their knowledge of our organization and one another. And all of the prospective members joined or are in the process!
At this writing, we stand 165 members strong with new memberships and renewals still being counted. (I am composing this epistle prior to out March 31st deadline.)
UPCOMING:
Mark your calendars for our next Coffee and Conversation, May 24th 10am to 11:30 am Flamingo Hotel - Terrace Grill Restaurant.
Your satisfaction with Impact100 Redwood Circle is our first priority! Please feel free to contact Cindy Schmidt ([email protected]) or Toni Wilkes ([email protected]) with any concerns or questions you may have.
Co-Chairs Cindy Schmidt & Toni Wilkerson
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Financial News
We ended 2016 on very healthy financial feet. With $129,000 in our grant fund at the end of last year, the Leadership Team allocated $100,000 for the 2017 Impact Grant and $25,000 for 2017 Community Grants. The Impact Grant Committee is well underway towards presenting the finalists for our vote at the May 6th member meeting. The Community Grant Committee will begin meeting soon to decide how they want to allocate the $25,000 into individual grant amounts, and will be presenting the finalists for our vote in the fall.
On the operations side, we have approximately $8,000 in our account. These funds are used to pay for fees to the Community Foundation for hosting Impact 100 RC and processing/managing our donations and funds, tax reporting, and financial reporting. The operations funds also pay for our website development, member meetings (venue, catering, etc.), marketing expenses, and various other administrative expenses. We are carefully managing our cash flow, and project that we will end 2017 with a small reserve. With that in mind, we are exploring some strategic "investments" (such as software tools) that could help facilitate or simplify our work.
Copies of the financial reports we received from the Community Foundation as of December 31, 2016 will be posted on our website shortly. The March 31, 2017 quarterly report should be available from the Community Foundation in mid May. We will update you when those are available.
If you have any questions about our financials, don't hesitate to contact Suzy Marzalek at [email protected].
Treasurer, Suzy Marzalek
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Help the Membership Committee:
Desperately Seeking a Carpool Facilitator
Don't wish to serve on a committee but would like to lend a hand? Have we got an opportunity for you! The Membership Committee seeks 1 or 2 women willing to assist with reducing our carbon footprint. We will find women who either need a lift or willing to give a lift. You be a matchmaker and handle introductions. After that??? It's up to the members to coordinate the rest. Sooo.....a few emails or phone calls.
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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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