Southern Indiana Business July-August 2020 | Page 33

Strength in numbers
One woman can make a difference.
But 100 women together can make waves
By Valerie Zell
It’s the guiding philosophy behind Southern Indiana’s Impact 100, a philanthropic
organization in which 100 or more women join forces to fund a large grant that’s then
awarded to a local nonprofit each year. Here’s how it works: Each woman gives $1,000
and gets one vote for the year’s winner. From all the applicants, the nonprofit with the
most votes receives the total amount donated by the women of Impact 100; last year’s
grand total was $106,000.
The organization is 100% volunteer led, which means that 100% of the donations go directly
to the grant. “We want to empower women to see themselves as activists and make a larger
impact,” said Michelel Jadczak, president of Impact 100 Southern Indiana, of the organization’s
unique model.
The idea also was born out of an understanding that the smaller grants that were available
— $100 or $1,000, maybe as much as $3,000 — weren’t enough to make real change. “With
$100,000 at a time, we give [organizations] the influx they need to reach for these very necessary
goals that otherwise wouldn’t be able to happen.”
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