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What do you get when you combine 510 women, $510,000 and five nonprofit organizations? You get a huge impact!
Impact Austin, a local philanthropic group of women, recently announced the five Community Partners for its 2009 grant cycle. “When you think that in just six years, 20 Austin area nonprofits have received a grant of no less than $100,000; it makes you stop and realize the power of collective giving can be life-changing not just for one, but for thousands,” said Rebecca Powers, founder and president of Impact Austin.
And that is the mission of Impact Austin: life-change. Since 2004, the passionate Powers and fellow likeminded women have contributed over $2 million to work in the community to benefit local area projects. With its booming success, it’s hard to believe that Impact Austin started with nothing more than an inspiration in Power’s heart.
“I was on my way back from seeing my brother, who was dying of cancer in California, for the last time. On the plane, I read a magazine article about a woman in Ohio who had the idea to get 100 women to donate $1,000 each and give a grant of $100,000 to a nonprofit in their community every year,” Powers said, recalling Impact Austin’s humble beginnings. “It came at the right time when I was looking for something to fill the hole in my heart from losing my brother. I thought, ‘if she can do it, anyone can do it,’” said Powers.
Thus began her journey to forming and recruiting an organization that called fellow women to fulfill a purpose and pursue a mission outside their 9-to-5 jobs, carpool duty and day-in, day-out routine. “I never foresaw Impact Austin in my future,” stated Powers. “I was just a 49-year-old woman from Chicago who had worked for IBM and was recently retired, raising a son and daughter. I wasn’t involved at all in the local community.”
Today, Powers logs in 60-hour weeks, entirely as a volunteer. Recruiting, organizing and leading are her middle names. “I am still learning, but I know this is what I was called to do. It’s fulfilling to make a difference,” Powers said, glowing.
“I think what women really like about Impact Austin is that they see and know where their money is going, and also get reports back from the community about how their contribution is being used,” Powers said. “Every member signs a pledge card that promises $1,000 by a certain date. In some other charity-giving, the funders are often left guessing how their money is being spent, but with Impact Austin, we have a rigorous application process and ask each grant applicant to be specific about the project they plan to start-up or use the grant towards.”
Every year, Impact Austin allots a grant to five different partners representing one of five focus areas in the community: Culture, Education, Environment, Family, and Health and Wellness. “Each recipient makes up an aspect of the community, but it is so hard to whittle it down to our finalists, because we get so many great applicants. This year, we had over 120,” Powers explained.
This year, the five Community Partners and proposed use of Impact Austin’s $102,000 grant to each are: GENaustin (Education) for the expansion of programs to four additional middle schools, where they will offer the clubGEN after-school program to help foster healthy self-esteem in girls; Ballet East Dance (Culture) to build a dance program at East Side Memorial High School to foster a positive after-school group activity and help students acquire self-discipline and confidence; People’s Community Clinics (Health and Wellness) towards its Healthy Babies Initiative to improve the health of children by providing weekly Saturday clinics and increase the number of nursing mothers among their patients; Capital IDEA (Family) for the Rural Workforce project that will transform the lives of up to 50 families living in poverty in Central Texas; and, Youth Launch (Environment) to transform their Urban Roots program from a pilot to action, using sustainable agriculture to nourish East Austin residents with limited access to healthy foods, as well as providing employment, life skills and service opportunities.
Although Impact Austin cannot help every deserving nonprofit, Powers said that the application review process serves as an open door, inviting many of Impact Austin’s own members to learn about nonprofit organizations and volunteer.
“Many of our members realize the value of their membership when they read about a nonprofit’s mission or discover a charity they never heard of before during the grant selection and then find themselves wanting to help out,” Powers remarked.
“I hope we slowly continue to grow and become established as a partner in the community,” Powers said, looking towards the future. “Building the organization is a lot like a tree,” she said. “Impact Austin isn’t necessarily about recruiting more members, more numbers, ‘the leaves’ on the tree, but instead, as the founder, I am more concerned about planting deep roots in the community, so that if you pulled us out of Austin, no one could do what we do. Impact Austin matters to Austin … we are growing to that,” Powers said.
With 237 women already committed to giving for the 2010 grants, a wavering economy is not giving Impact Austin a run for its money. “I am not worried about numbers. There are always going to be 500 women out there who want to help or who are inspired to fulfill a great purpose. Impact Austin seeks to make a difference in individual lives on a daily basis and we are doing just that,” Powers
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www.impact-austin.org