Clinton Township Newsletter

2 2 m a r c h 2 0 2 4 W W W . C L I N T O N T W P N E W S L E T T E R . C O M Getting to 100! It might be a longevity goal for some, but in this case, it's a mission to find 100 amazing local women. This month, C3Q spoke to Colleen Duerr, one of the kind and motivated ladies leading the brand new Impact100 Hunterdon chapter. C3Q: Hello Colleen! Can you tell me a little bit about Impact100, and how you got involved? CD: It's a pretty simple concept. The idea is that one hundred women will come together and each donate $1000 to Impact100 Hunterdon, which will then award a $100,000 grant to a local nonprofit organization. Impact100 is an international organization founded in 2001 with the aim to empower women to do philanthropic work, and it has been successful in giving grants to different nonprofit organizations all over the world. Each woman is a member, and each member gets to vote on a nonprofit project or program to receive the $100,000 grant; it's intended to be a transformative project. We accept applications from local nonprofits in five categories: health and wellness, education, family, culture, and environment, and then the awardee will be announced at a gala in December 2024. It's really a very cool and simple idea; it's basically a giving circle. Often, you wonder what kind of impact your individual donation might have, but if it's put together collectively, it can make such a big impact. I got involved when a friend reached out to suggest me for the leadership team, and I saw how wonderfully successful the Impact100 Garden State chapter was; I was really impressed with the genuine authenticity of the women leading the effort. The grant-writing process for this organization was so clear, warm and inviting, (in comparison to some other grant-writing experiences in my past; grant writing can often be demoralizing and thankless, with no guarantees of success). Impact100's process is so simple and directly interested in serving the community that I was delighted to get involved. C3Q: How many members do you have right now? What are your meetings like, and is there a variety of women? CD: Right now, we are about halfway there, with over 50 members. Our goal is to reach 100 by this April. The leadership team is growing, and looking for more women to help out. We have such extraordinary women involved; truly passionate people who are such good cheerleaders for our group. Bonnie Duncan, former CEO of United Way, and Michelle Heide from the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce, and Jerri-May Grimes of Binnacle House in Flemington... everyone is a delight to connect with. One of the best parts of this organization is the opportunity to connect with others and getting to know new women in our area. It's really a lot about connection; we are well aware that one thousand dollars for most people is a pretty significant commitment. We're trying to encourage people to consider it, without seeming presumptuous... It's an invitation, not a guilt-trip. The idea of membership is that we are trying to create a community here. We have educational events, networking events, and events that are fun, and that give women an opportunity to meet others that they haven't met before. It is empowering. Many women make the financial decisions for their household, and getting them involved in philanthropic work is important for our community. One issue is that it's the 80/20 rule at play; there is generally a small group of people that tend to do much of the work; leaders tend to tap the same helpers who say yes, (and they're good at it!), but there are thousands of people out there who would say 'yes!' if they were just asked. V o l u n t e e r i s m n a t i o n a l l y i s i n d e c l i n e ; t h e n u m b e r o f d o n o r s i s going down, and it's deeply concerning. There's potential here. One of the coolest parts of this project is that it exposes you to local nonprofit organizations. Anyone who joins is going to get to know more about local nonprofits; everyone gets the opportunity to look at the incredible work in our county and to spread the word, and their next step might be to get even more involved with a charity that they connect with. C3Q: I saw on the Impact100 Hunterdon website that you can contribute $250 quarterly for four quarters, which makes it seem more manageable, or that you can even team up with others. How does that work, exactly? CD: The way this works is that each $1000 donation is equal to one member. If there are women out there who say this is too much for me to take on alone, but they are a member of a book club, workout group, pickleball team, etc, they can pull together to get to the $1000 as a group, and send a representative to the vote for which organization gets the grant. We don't want to eliminate anyone; women can be sponsored by an employer, a spouse, a family member, etc. We've had Mother-Daughter teams... we're casting the net as wide as we can. Membership is limited to women, but men or companies can be sponsors or provide scholarships for other women to participate. A grant of this size can be unusual in this area. In Central NJ, we don't often have as much access to large donors, it can be a struggle. In many cases, a lot of the grants that our area competes for, we are in competition with areas of NJ that are very high-needs. O u r h o m e l e s s n u m b e r s a n d p o v e r t y percentages in Hunterdon County are much lower, but the needs are still there. Our problems in this county are well hidden; you might not see the homelessness that you'd encounter in an urban area, but we have plenty of people in need, and in a very expensive area, which is problematic. Impact100 Hunterdon could have a wonderful and far-reaching effect. Overall, I think the idea of connecting with incredibly generous-hearted women working together towards a common goal in Hunterdon County is amazing, and I would love to inspire more women and encourage them, if they are interested, to come to one of our events and have coffee and simply ask questions. Thank you Colleen! We hope to hear more in the future from this fantastic group! You can find more information at: www.Impact100Hunterdon.org. n Rachel Sprague, a resident of Clinton Township, has a degree in journalism from Rutgers. With her husband Russell, Rachel is raising two young children in the Clinton Township School District. She thinks that Clinton Township is a delightful place to live. Welcome to with Rachel Sprague * C linton ree Questions * The brand-new Hunterdon Chapter of Impact100 meets with the aim to empower women to do philanthropic work. Impact100 is creating a community with educational events, networking events, and fun events that give women an opportunity to meet others whom they haven't met before.

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