Impact100 Owensboro will celebrate 20 years of collective giving on March 4 with an anniversary event featuring Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Wendy Steele, the founder of the Impact100 model and president of Impact100 Global.
Steele founded Impact100 in 2001 with the first chapter in Cincinnati. The organization gained national recognition after People Magazine featured the story in 2003. Steele was named a 2024 USA Today Woman of the Year and was recognized by Forbes in 2021 as one of 50 women over 50 making a global impact. She has been featured in several books and recently published her own, Invitation to Impact, which explores the power of collective giving.
Coleman is a lifelong Kentuckian, educator, basketball coach, writer, and founder of a nonprofit. As the state’s highest-elected teacher, she is a vocal and passionate advocate for public education. Her nonprofit, Lead Kentucky, aims to ensure Kentucky’s college women are prepared, encouraged, and empowered to seek leadership positions on their campuses and later in their professional lives
“We are honored and beyond excited to host both Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman and Wendy Steele at an Impact100 event,” said Beth Clements, President of Impact100 Owensboro. “Both of these women are leaders in moving communities forward and they want to help celebrate what we have accomplished locally. Wendy has an energy and passion for philanthropy that motivates everyone to thoughtfully consider how each of us can give back to our community.”
Impact100 Owensboro was established in 2005 by Martha Clark and Marianne Smith-Edge, becoming the organization’s first chapter in Kentucky and the seventh in the United States. In its first year, 150 women joined, and the first $150,000 grant was awarded in 2006.
Members of the local chapter have since donated more than $4.3 million in transformational grants to nonprofits. The group operates on a collective giving model, with each woman contributing either $500 as a half-member or $1,000 as a full-voting member. Every dollar goes directly to nonprofits in the Owensboro area.
“The members of our local Impact chapter have been generously giving in this way for 20 years, and I know they are committed to continuing the effort,” Steele said. “We are a diverse group of women, and I personally am very thankful for Wendy’s vision. Collective giving offers us all the chance to be philanthropists and make an impact.”
The most recent recipients of the organization’s two $100,000 grants in October were the Help Office of Owensboro and the H.L. Neblett Community Center. Over the past two decades, 39 different organizations have received funding.
The local chapter also sponsors a program called Next Generation, or NextGen. It follows the same collective giving model, but the members are high school-aged girls. The initiative started in 2017 through the efforts of former board member Sara Hemingway and her daughter. To date, NextGen participants have contributed $71,400 to local causes.
The 20th-anniversary event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the RiverPark Center. For tickets or for women interested in becoming a member, visit the Impact100 website at impact100owensboro.org.
