NonProfit NewsPod: Impact100 Awards $500,000 to Five Local Nonprofits

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this Nonprofit Podcast News Pod, where we amplify the voices of nonprofit leaders making a difference in their communities. I'm joined by Serena Paulson, president of Impact100, to give us a recap of their incredibly successful awards event this year. Serena, welcome. 

Sarina Paulsen: Good morning. 

Jeff Holden: So it was just a little over a week ago that a few milestones were made right here in Sacramento philanthropy.

But before we share the story, not everybody may know what Impact100 is and who the organization is. Could you just give us a brief overview of what it is you're made up of and how you work, and the fact that this is a, a relatively new organization in town? 

Sarina Paulsen: Yes. Thank you, Jeff. I just can't stop smiling today 'cause we have so many things to be proud of.

As you mentioned, we're a four-year-old organization [00:01:00] comprised of all women here in the Greater Sacramento area, and the premise of our organization is that when every woman becomes a, that becomes a member donates the $1,000 for her membership dues, when we have 100 of those, we generate $100,000 grant to lo- to award to a local nonprofit in our region.

So this year we had well over 400 women strong members, and so this is our, obviously our biggest year yet. But over those four years we've, we've awarded almost $1.5 million to nonprofits in our region. 

Jeff Holden: And this is relatively unprecedented too, if I'm not mistaken, in the organization, which is nationwide, has multiple markets.

Sacramento is one of the fastest growing and sustaining markets 'cause each year you've been giving greater awards to nonprofits every single year. 

Sarina Paulsen: Yes, we've seen growth year over [00:02:00] year. Impact100 is a global organization with I think over 80 chapters now, and because of the, the growth that you've mentioned, we were actually awarded the opportunity to be the host chapter for the Global's Conference next year.

So we, we are, we've been on a growth trajectory. Our members are very passionate about continuing to grow the number of members we have because as I mentioned, that's directly tied to the amount of grant dollars that we can award. 

Jeff Holden: And so what would technically be the fourth year, this year, the award was the greatest, and what was that number?

Sarina Paulsen: We awarded a half million dollars, so $500,000. Five $100,000 grants to nonprofits. 

Jeff Holden: It's just simply amazing to see what Impact100 has done in this market. And, and not only that million and a half, but each year to have grown, to see a greater contribution, to see more applications each year. And these aren't just [00:03:00] applications.

You actually support organizations through the process. There's training and coaching and things that go on all throughout this, this application process for those who stick with it and advance. And, and so tell us, you distill that 180-plus applications you got this year into 10 finalists, correct?

Sarina Paulsen: That's correct. So one of the things that is so unique about our organization is that not only is, is our organizational structure that we generate these grants from our membership dues, but it's also a member-led organization. The entire grant review process is facilitated by our members. Those that wanna be involved serve on a focus group, and they read all 187 applications that we received this year.

They-- We have a rubric that they use to score them. We're really looking for transformational projects, and obviously we want them to be sustainable. So those are really kind of the two [00:04:00] overarching focus areas that we have, um, with regards to how we review and score the grants. And then when they narrow it down to their semifinalists, those semifinalists go through a robust financial review process.

The members then go to conduct a site visit, and then they come back together and vote on who they would like to push forward as their finalist. And because of the amount of money that we had to award this year, we actually had 10 finalists, two per focus group. And those focus groups are arts and culture, education, environment, health and wellness, and family 

Jeff Holden: And what happens on the evening of the awards is, first of all, a new venue this year because you needed to go to someplace a little bit larger to accommodate the attendees and the guests that were coming to see if they might wanna join the organization, the nonprofit groups.

W- where was it held this year? 

Sarina Paulsen: We held it at the Center [00:05:00] 2300, and Bella Brew supported, supported the, the venue as well. So it was, it was an amazing venue, and when you walked in to the room... I mean, I, I mentioned that we're looking for transformative projects. Well, the room was transformative, right? When you walked in, it felt like you were entering a completely different space, and the excitement and the passion and the h- the, the philanthropic spirit, I guess, would be the best way to describe it, was, you know, palpable in the room for sure.

Jeff Holden: Totally agreed. And, and a full stage and lighting and it, it was just spectacular. Of, of all the venues over the course of the years, it certainly was, you know, the biggest, the best, and I think that's what we can come to expect from Impact 100 as these awards progress in the community, the recognition.

And to your point, $100,000 is transformational to most organizations, if not all. That's no small sum [00:06:00] of money t- to inject into any nonprofit. 

Sarina Paulsen: Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. You know, when we review these projects and we read these applications, we wish we had unlimited resources to award because there are so many amazing organizations doing, doing very important work in our communities.

And I, I would say that that is, I think one of the things about our process that's really important is that exposure that is, is given for those organizations to our members because our members are reading about potentially needs in the community that they may not have known exist. And so you can't really quantify that part of the process, but I can tell you the visibility, the awareness, the support, all of those things that are being given to these organizations, ch- even if they didn't get to the finalist stage but by just being an applicant, [00:07:00] is noteworthy 

Jeff Holden: Let's talk a little bit about the night of, because that was really the exciting part.

10 finalists, two per category. Do you have the, the finalists there? 

Sarina Paulsen: So our environment finalist this year was Yolo Basin Foundation and Cache Creek Conservancy, with Cache Creek Conservancy being our grant recipient this year. Our health and wellness finalist was 3Strands Global Foundation and Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance, with our recipient being 3Strands Global Foundation.

Our education finalist this year was Food Literacy and Sacramento Literacy Foundation, with the recipient being Sacramento Literacy Foundation. Our arts and culture finalist this year was Celebration Arts and B Street Theatre, with B Street Theatre being the grant recipient. And then the family [00:08:00] finalist this year was Casa Sacramento and Yolo Crisis Nursery, with Casa Sacramento being our grant recipient.

Jeff Holden: Those are such worthy organizations, and I will say I'm really proud that six of your 10 have done episodes on the Nonprofit Podcast Network, and four of the five have also done episodes, which would kind of make sense. But those are so competitive. Those are such wonderful organizations to have them both up to do their presentations with the membership voting.

I can only imagine the, you know, the tension and the anxiety on their part as they're making the presentation because it's really you or the other organization and the power of the persuasion to your story. A- a- and environmental's the only one we didn't have somebody who had been through the studio because we hadn't seen either of those organizations.

But as part of [00:09:00] our relationship with you, everybody that hasn't had an episode gets an episode with preferential placement. So we'll be reaching out to them shortly to let them know that we wanna get them in the studio and share their stories. What an amazing night. What an amazing, amazing number. And I even recall that as you were getting close to the number 440, 450, whatever it was, there were a couple of people that actually stepped up to a high-level sponsorship to get you to that half a million dollars.

You wanna share that? 

Sarina Paulsen: Yes, I do. Thank you. We were really fortunate to have so many people supportive of the work that we're doing. But first I want to recognize our member Elke Von Schlosser, who so passionate about what we're doing that she facilitated a Match Me campaign. So we had the money that we collected from our membership dues, which was, you know, around 417,000, and [00:10:00] then Elke, uh, facilitated a Match Me campaign, which got us pretty close to the $500,000 mark.

But we were short about $20,000. And US Bank and New York Life Foundation stepped in to help bridge that gap and to get us to the $500,000 mark, which was incidentally our goal to hit at five years. And so we actually hit our goal of $500,000 largely because of, of their assistance a year early. 

Jeff Holden: Again, it's just, it's amazing to me to see that the support and the philanthropy was there through your membership first, because you have to have the org- the organization to get it started, and then secondly, for a couple of sponsors to say, "Hey, we'll take you and, and, and get you across that finish line."

And it's, it's such a milestone. And to do that in only four years, I, I'm not gonna burden you with the fifth year expectation like I did last year when we had this conversation of saying, "You gotta get to half a million. [00:11:00] Come on." Because now it really is i- incremental in a lot of different ways of things that have to happen, and one of those is membership.

So before we close, how does one become a member of the organization? 

Sarina Paulsen: So we are... Our membership drive for 2027 is open, and the easiest way is to go to our website at impact100greatersacramento.org. In the top right-hand corner, there's a button that says Become a Member, and that will then walk you through the entire process on how to join.

Jeff Holden: Wonderful. Serena, thank you so much. Congratulations again on, on just an incredibly successful event that continues to serve our community in so many different ways. 

Sarina Paulsen: Thank you so much, Jeff. 

Jeff Holden: Thanks for listening. If you like our program, please subscribe, give us a positive review, and share with someone you know.

This nonprofit podcast news pod is a production of Hear Me Now [00:12:00] Studio.