Women's Impact Fund

Meet our fifth 2024 Nonprofit Partner! Camino Community Health was awarded a $26,000 grant for Health. Their mission is to equip people to live healthy lives. Follow us next week as we highlight more incredible changemakers who are shaping a brighter future with their impactful initiatives! 📸Photo credits: Lindsay Kappius Kappiusphotography

We welcome nine new or returning board members as we kick off the first month of the 2024-2025 program year. These women include new and longstanding WIF members and represent the diversity that makes our organization so rich. Their experience includes financial services, healthcare, communications, technology, nonprofit, and equity initiatives. Welcome to Lakisha Rios, MS, Connie Thomas, Tamika Spurlock, Talia K. Moody, CFA, Andrea Smith, Blanca L. Gonzalez, Amy Hutch, Kathleen O'Bannon, and welcome back Michelle Cottrell. We look forward to your leadership in the coming years!

Happy Independence Day! Today we give thanks for all those who work to increase justice and freedom not just here in the United States, but around the world.

Meet our fourth 2024 Nonprofit Partner! Charlotte Is Creative was awarded a $29,000 grant for Arts and Culture. Their mission is to create programs, initiatives, events, and grants that: Connect emerging and disconnected artists creatives, connect Charlotteans to the creative community, connect companies to their employees, and connect their audiences to stories. Follow us next week as we highlight more incredible changemakers who are shaping a brighter future with their impactful initiatives! 📸Photo credits: Lindsay Kappius at Kappiusphotography

Today is the first day of a new program year and we are excited to welcome Katie Susong as our new board chair! Katie begins her two year term with significant leadership in WIF, most recently as Finance Chair & Treasurer. Katie has also held leadership roles in Events and Grants. She is well versed in our strategic plan, having led its measurement over the last year. She brings tremendous energy to the role and we can't wait to benefit from her enthusiasm and good humor. When she isn't hanging with WIF, Katie is a Senior Derivatives Accountant at Wells Fargo and she and her husband have two young kids. Welcome, Katie!!

Today is the last day of our fiscal year, which also means Nikki Emanuel Jarrell's two-year tenure as board chair is ending. Nikki's leadership has been steadfast since she joined the board in 2021. She has been committed to hearing many diverse perspectives as we have considered significant change, remaining open to new ideas and ways of thinking. She is curious and courageous, and manages to be firm and graceful at the same time. We are thrilled that this isn't goodbye as she has one more year on the board, but we couldn't let today pass without saying thank you to Nikki for ALL that she has done for Women's Impact Fund! 🎉

In just a few days, nine women who have nobly served our board over the last 2-3 years are stepping down from their roles. Collectively, they have volunteered roughly 1,800 hours with WIF since they joined the board. They have discussed and deliberated a number of organizational changes in addition to attending monthly board meetings, leading committees, planning events, overseeing nonprofit partners, nominating new leaders, writing newsletter articles, and the list goes on! Thank you to Aimee Greeter, Susan Adams, Claire Magee Ferguson, Alina MacNichol, Markita Payne, Angela Scholl, Jeanette Sims, Christiane Felts, and Michelle Cottrell. We are grateful for you!

Today we had the amazing opportunity to visit the Charlotte Museum of History exhibits and see the infamous Alexander Rock House. It was truly a remarkable experience, and we were grateful to have the chance to learn more about the Siloam School Project, Mary Cardwell Dawson, opera singer, and the National Negro Opera Company as well as tour the house. If you haven’t been, check out this wonderful place!

Meet our third 2024 Nonprofit Partner! Digi-Bridge was awarded a $26,000 grant for Envrionment. Their mission is to spark interest and persistence in STEAM learning, and to ensure students in under-represented communities to have access, opportunities and skills to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Follow us next week as we highlight more incredible changemakers who are shaping a brighter future with their impactful initiatives! 📸 Annual meeting photo credit:@kappiusphotography

Please join us in congratulating the 2024 Spark Award recipients! We look forward to celebrating them and their accomplishments later this fall. We are also excited about expanding the conversation on the importance of funding rest and renewal for social change leaders and seeing the impact of this evolution in our Spark funding model. These inspiring local women are at the forefront of social change in our community, working on issues such as food insecurity, housing justice, reproductive rights, and education. They have demonstrated evidence of community-centered leadership and vision, have experience working in direct relationship with the community being served, and their work is transformative and impactful. We are honored to recognize them with an award. Janeen Bryant, Jessica Lefkowitz, Kenya Joseph, MPH, Kelsey Van Dyke, Charis Blackmon, Courtnie Coble, Tina Marshall, Devonya Govan-Hunt