Our Mission
Impact100 Philadelphia engages people who identify as women in collectively funding high-impact grants that address unmet needs in the Philadelphia region and raises the profile of smaller nonprofit organizations.
Our Vision
Make communities more just, equitable, safe, and healthy for everyone.
Since 2009, our women members have awarded more than $5 million in grants across five focus areas: Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Family, and Health & Wellness. Members say that their Impact experience is gratifying, educational, and fun. They learn about remarkable nonprofit work in our region and spend time with interesting women they wouldn't encounter otherwise. The main reason women join us is to leverage their personal donation into something big and meaningful.
Demographically, we are a diverse group. Members live in areas ranging from New Hope to Lower Merion, from Center City to Berwyn and a few participate long-distance from other states and regions in Pennsylvania. Our ages span six decades. Professionally, we are bankers and lawyers, nurses and doctors, artists and educators, nonprofit managers, stay-at-home mothers and business people of all kinds.
Our History
Impact100 Philadelphia was founded by Beth Margel Dahle and Mary Broach in April 2008. The concept was to harness the power of collective giving by pooling donations of $1,000 from at least 100 women to generate a large-scale grant of $100,000. Impact100 Philadelphia awarded its first grant (totaling $111,000) in June 2009. We are indebted and grateful to the 2008-09 Founding Board for establishing the values and culture that Impact100 still embodies and aspires to today.
Our model in Philadelphia was inspired by the original Impact 100 in Cincinnati, founded in 2001. An inspiration for Cincinnati — as well as for us — was the Washington Women’s Foundation in Seattle, founded in 1996. Women’s collective giving has been a strong and growing movement over the past 25 years.
What We Do
Here’s how Impact100 Philadelphia works:
- To join, a woman must be 21 years or older, and must donate $1,250 by November 15. Of that amount, $1,000 goes straight into the pool of grant funds for the coming year and $250 helps to offset our operating costs. Women who are 35 or younger may join as Young Philanthropists by donating $675.
- Membership is a one-year commitment and there is no obligation to participate beyond donating.
- Grant finalists are determined through a detailed process of proposal review and evaluation by members, and grant recipients are selected by a vote of the membership -- one woman, one vote.
Founding Board
Co-Presidents: Beth Dahle and Mary Broach
Secretary: Ellan Bernstein
Treasurer: Cheryl Haze
Communications: Beth Burrell
Education: Wendy Peck
Grants: Anita Lockhart
Public Relations: Charlotte Schutzman
Recruiting: Jacquie Kelly