Fulfilling Our Mission

Impact 100 Owensboro is a simple concept. We combine annual donations from a minimum of 100 members and give large grants each fall to local worthy causes selected by the members.  The only membership requirements are to be female and to donate $1,000 each year.  All of the $1,000 donations go to the grant.  Separate funds are raised to cover fundraising and administrative costs. 

Grant applications are accepted in each of the following focus areas:

  culture
   education
   environment, preservation & recreation
   family
   health and wellness

Members may volunteer to serve on focus area committees to review grant applications and recommend finalists in each area.  Finalists will be presented to and voted upon by all members at an annual meeting in the fall of each year.  Each member casts one vote and the majority decides the grant recipients.  Although members will have opportunities to volunteer on committees, no time commitment is required other than to review the five finalists and vote for the ultimate grant recipients.

 

Impact 100 making a big difference

10/31/2008

Editorial

Messenger-Inquirer

Once again, the women of Impact 100 have stepped forward to help a worthwhile cause in this community, this year donating $128,000 each to the Owensboro Area Shelter Information & Services (OASIS) and Habitat for Humanity for Owensboro-Daviess County.

OASIS will use the money to purchase linens, mattresses and appliances for the shelter, which provides a safe place for victims of domestic violence and offers counseling for substance abuse.

Habitat for Humanity will use its grant for the purchase of a new warehouse and office for the agency at Mosely and 17th streets.

When organizers began to put together an Impact 100 group three years ago, they based it on a simple concept: If one person can do great things, imagine what 100 people with a common goal could do.

At the time it seemed like both a great idea and a great challenge -- bringing together 100 local women to donate $1,000 each that would then be given to a local nonprofit agency through an application process.

Only they didn't just stop at 100. Incredibly, 150 women stepped forward, allowing Impact 100 to deliver a $150,000 to Grandma's Corner crisis day care center. Readers of the Messenger-Inquirer voted Impact 100 as the No. 1 local news story for 2006.

Not satisfied with their efforts, Impact 100 set out to increase its membership in 2007 and ultimately brought together 208 women for the cause. That year, they donated two $104,000 grants -- one to Girls Incorporated and one to the Boulware Center Mission Inc.

And this year, Impact 100 grew its membership to 256 women. Consider that in a time when costs for groceries, gas and just about everything else are rising, at a time when economic uncertainty reigns, these Owensboro women continue to open their wallets in hopes of making a difference.

The tangible effects of their efforts can be seen in a better place to sleep for victims of domestic violence, more office space for an agency making affordable housing a reality, a renovated kitchen for a homeless shelter, upgraded technology for a group of young girls, and new playground equipment for kids to play on when it may no longer be safe for them to play at home.

They are also making a difference in ways that may not be as obvious but are equally important. At last week's Impact 100 awards dinner, Savannah Estes, a 13-year-old girl who has been a member of Girls Incorporated for eight years, thanked the women for all they have done for the 800 members of Girls Incorporated.

And she added that someday, many of those girls hope to be members of Impact 100 themselves.

 

It's hard to put a price tag on what it means to inspire a future generation of women to believe in themselves and to understand the good they can do by giving back to their community. But Owensboro is certainly better off because of their efforts.

 

Impact 100 scores again with grants

10/31/2007

 

Editorial

Messenger-Inquirer

 

Chapter 2 of one of this community's most compelling success stories was written late last week with the decision by Impact 100 to award grants for $104,000 to Girls Incorporated of Owensboro-Daviess County and Boulware Center Mission Inc.

 

We continue to be impressed with Impact 100's determination to do good things for this community by providing financial support to proven, quality organizations. Girls Incorporated and Boulware, the first devoted to affecting young lives and the second to caring for the basic physical needs of food and shelter for young and old, are certainly worthy recipients. The other three finalists for the grants -- the Owensboro Area Museum of Science and History, the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra and the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden -- are also deserving for the educational and cultural benefits they make possible.

 

Boulware, a homeless shelter, is in the middle of renovating the former Passionist nun monastery on Wing Avenue to be its new home. The Impact 100 grant will be used specifically to expand the building's kitchen. Girls Incorporated intends to use its Impact 100 grant to establish a Web site and replace or upgrade computers, furniture, appliances and make other improvements at the Rolling Heights Campus off East 18th Street.

 

Impact 100 is a group of women, each of whom donates $1,000 a year to be put toward annual grants. The concept, though uncomplicated, is highly effective. Groups and organizations compete for the grants. The winners are finally decided upon by a vote of the membership. In just two years, Impact 100 has given $358,000. The organization has greatly exceeded its expectations in membership and money raised.

 

To build on its two-year record of success, Impact 100 has adopted a new goal befitting the energy and determination it has shown thus far. The group's new goal is to raise and give $1 million in its first five years. At the pace it has maintained already, it can meet that goal, and we are confident that it will.

 

New group hoping to hand out $100,000

03/18/06

Messenger-Inquirer
By Renée Beasley Jones
 

One person can do great things. Just imagine 100 getting together with the same mind and heart.

 

A new local charity -- of women only -- has formed on that premise and with a shared desire to make a difference in the community.

 

Impact 100 Owensboro plans to give at least $100,000 annually to a local nonprofit that focuses on one of five areas: culture, environment, education, health and wellness, or family. The group will be made up of at least 100 women who annually donate $1,000 to the organization.

 

As of Friday, 86 have joined. Others indicated they will.

 

From the looks of things, hitting the critical 100 mark by the March 31 fundraising deadline won't be a problem.

 

Members expect to make their first $100,000 award in October.

 

"Many of us give, but what a great idea to join forces ... making one major contribution to an organization that can really change that organization," said Impact 100 Owensboro co-founder Marianne Smith Edge.

 

The Owensboro group is only the seventh Impact 100 organization in the nation. Others are in much larger cities in Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma.

 

The idea to start a local Impact 100 came last autumn after Smith Edge learned about the group in the Cincinnati area. She shared the idea with co-founder Martha Clark, who is president of the organization.

 

"To me, it's so exciting to think of the difference (Impact 100) will make and the pride we can take in our community," Clark said.

 

Here's how Impact 100 will work:

 

More than 100 women can join. If more than 100 sign on, the annual award may be greater than $100,000.

 

Members can pay quarterly or monthly. Because the organization is just starting and the first award is expected in October, the fundraising deadline is March 31. However, members have until Sept. 30 to finalize contributions.

 

Women don't commit to Impact 100 for a lifetime. Membership is on a year-to-year basis.

 

All the money given by members goes to one local nonprofit each year. None of the grant money goes to administrative costs. Members donate their time to cover administrative duties, and donations from Friends of Impact 100 take care of other expenses.

 

Nonprofits cannot use the $100,000 award for operational expenses. Instead, it will only be awarded to endowments or capital projects.

 

For example, Cincinnati's first grant went to an indigent dental clinic that had a building and dentists wanting to donate their time. However, the clinic had no equipment, which the Greater Cincinnati Impact 100 supplied.

 

Impact 100 Owensboro will audit nonprofits' expenditure of funds. There will be strict accountability, Clark said.

 

Nonprofits will fill out an eight-page grant application. An objective scoring system will determine the top five applicants.

 

A summary of the five finalists will be sent to all members prior to voting, which is expected to take place at the group's first annual meeting in October. "Each member has an equal vote," Smith Edge said.

 

After a nonprofit is selected, it can't reapply for three years.

 

Next month, Impact 100 Owensboro will make public all the information about the grant process. No deadline for this year's applications has been set yet. Nonprofits can find out all the details at upcoming informational meetings, which will be announced later.

 

Julie Crowe, who teaches grant writing at Owensboro Community & Technical College, supports Impact 100 Owensboro. She will volunteer her time, if needed, to help local nonprofits with grant-writing tips.

 

"There are so many bright, smart people in Owensboro with good ideas," Crowe said of Impact 100 Owensboro. "Something like this could really help the community."

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Impact 100 Owensboro is a new charitable organization for women that is forming. Beginning in October, the group plans to give an annual award of at least $100,000 to a local nonprofit for a capital project or endowment. To join this group, visit http://www.impact100owensboro.org/ or call Martha Clark at 682-3272.

Impact 100 Owensboro an excellent idea

 

03/23/06
Editorial

Messenger-Inquirer

 

The best ideas are often the simplest: 100 community-minded women, each contributing $1,000, for a total of $100,000 to be awarded annually to a local nonprofit organization that focuses on one of the following: culture, environment, education, health and wellness or family.

 

Doing that just once will make a difference. Doing it year after year will have a huge, positive impact.

 

It is entirely fitting and appropriate that a new women-only charitable organization has formed and will call itself Impact 100 Owensboro. The group will be made up of at least 100 women who will annually donate $1,000 to the organization. Amazingly, as of last week, the group was only 14 members shy of the 100 goal.

 

Handing over $1,000 is no small commitment. For some it may not be a great burden, but for others it will be a sacrifice. But think of the good it is bound to do. If the organization survives 10 years, $1 million will have been donated to organizations devoted to making Owensboro a better place to live for everyone.

 

"To me, it's so exciting to think of the difference (Impact 100) will make and the pride we can take in our community," said Martha Clark, co-founder and president of the group.

 

We totally agree.

 

The group's other co-founder, Marianne Smith Edge, became familiar with an Impact 100 organization in Cincinnati and proposed that an Owensboro group be formed.

 

There's plenty to like about Impact 100's plans. Each year, one nonprofit will receive the entire $100,000. Members will donate their time to handle administrative tasks, and donations from Friends of Impact 100 will cover other expenses. The grants cannot be used for operational expenses, only for endowments or capital projects, stretching the benefits of each $100,000 gift far into the future. The money will not be handed out in willy-nilly fashion. Nonprofits will be required to fill out a lengthy application, and all expenditures will be monitored. Voting by members of Impact 100 Owensboro will determine which agency or organization receives the money.

 

Owensboro has a rich tradition of its people helping others. Impact 100 Owensboro is a bold, exciting new chapter in that tradition. Bravo to those who brought the idea to life and to each woman who has joined such a worthy cause.