Our History

Impact100 Nashville was established in the fall of 2014 when Founding President Jolene Skinner shared her prior experiences in the Impact100 Austin chapter with the women who would become the founding board of Impact100 Nashville: Mollie Lacher (past-president), Michele Herlein (current president), Meghan Breinig, Trish Holliday, and Leah Willingham. The founding board of Impact100 Nashville built the infrastructure and enlisted the assistance of other amazing women in the community to make the dream of Impact100 Nashville a reality. Since its inception, Impact100 Nashville has empowered a diverse local group of women of all ages, stages in life, income levels, and backgrounds to come together to fund transformational grants of $100,000 in the Greater Nashville region. To date, Impact100 Nashville has given $279,000 in grant funds to deserving non-profits.

Through collaborative philanthropy, our mission is to build a dynamic and diverse membership of generous women who accelerate positive social change in the greater Nashville area.

For more information about how Impact100 started, see our council story.

 

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The Impact100 Model

The Impact100 model is readily available to all communities who wish to implement it. The model is designed to empower women to see themselves as philanthropists and overcome the barriers women have historically faced in this arena. The model is designed for transformational grant-making within local communities, with a minimum grant size of $100,000.

At Least 100 Women
Come Together

Each Woman
Donates $1,000

$100,000
is donated to a
Local Charity

Become a Member
Focus Area

In 2020, Impact100 Nashville will be recognizing non-profit organizations that seek to end the cycle of any debilitating condition, including but not limited to homelessness, poverty, addiction, hunger, illiteracy, human trafficking, recidivism, etc. Specifically, we are seeking to award this grant to a non-profit organization that offers creative and innovative services to its population and is able to show how results of their services end the cycle for the community it serves.

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How it Works

The annual $1,000 donations of Impact100 Nashville members are pooled into a grant fund to be given away to nonprofit organizations serving the Greater Nashville area. The number and size of grants awarded are dependent on our membership, but our goal is to give incremental grants of $100,000 each year. Grant categories and amounts are announced in the Spring at “The Big Reveal” event, commencing our grants cycle. Nonprofit finalists are chosen by grant committees through a competitive application process, and grants are awarded based on a membership vote at our annual meeting. Every woman who gives $1,000 or more has one vote.

Timeline
Michele Herlein
Chairwoman
Full Bio
Michele Herlein
Chairwoman

Michele is a co-founder of Impact100-Nashville and has been with the organization for over five years. She is a human resources executive at Barge Solutions in downtown Nashville, where she is committed to making a difference in the lives of people both in her corporation and Community. Michele is especially passionate about making a collective impact with other women to transform lives in Nashville.

Kat Howard
Treasurer
Full Bio
Kat Howard
Treasurer

Retail analytics consultant by trade and Mom by choice, Kat is a Sumner County resident originally from a small town outside of Cincinnati, Ohio who is grateful to be part of the great city of Nashville.  Kat loves the difference Impact100-Nashville makes for non-profits in the city and enjoys the women who choose to be involved.

Susan Levy
Secretary
Full Bio
Susan Levy
Secretary

Susan and her family relocated to the Nashville area from their hometown of Cincinnati in 2003. She retired from Ingram Marine Group in 2015 after a more than 40-year career in information technology. Impact100-Nashville provides Susan the perfect opportunity to both give back and pay forward as part of a group of good women collectively accomplishing great things for our community.

Susan Groenwald
Marketing Director
Full Bio
Susan Groenwald
Marketing Director

Susan moved to Nashville in 2018 from her hometown of Chicago. She is a nurse, educator, and author who retired her position as president of Chamberlain University in August 2018. Susan joined Impact100-Nashville in February of 2018 to meet generous Nashville women, to learn more about her new city, and to contribute to the great work carried out by so many non-profit organizations in Nashville.

Meredith Ficken
Grants Director
Full Bio
Meredith Ficken
Grants Director

Meredith is a Business Consultant for InfoWorks, Inc., where she enjoys helping organizations navigate change from both a technology and a business perspective. As a Nashville native, she is excited by the work Impact100-Nashville is making possible in the city where she grew up and is grateful for the opportunity to build friendships with such an inspiring group of women.

Ginger Duncan
Membership Director
Full Bio
Ginger Duncan
Membership Director

Ginger is Senior Consultant and Executive Coach with the Human Capital Group, where she specializes in the development of leaders and teams to gain competitive advantage and deliver sustainable business results. Ginger joined Impact 100-Nashville in 2017 and is committed to increasing the impact of women in the Nashville community through growth of Impact100-Nashville membership.

Sue Herrman
Events Coordinator
Full Bio
Sue Herrman
Events Coordinator

Sue is a client executive managing large client relationships and business for InfoWorks, Inc., a Nashville-based consulting company. Originally from Texas, Sue and her husband moved to Nashville in 1991 and consider this their forever home. The larger impact that can be made when a group of women pool their resources as well as the great work being done in the city by so many worthy non-profits were Sue’s motivations for becoming a member of Impact100-Nashville.

Janet Walls
Corporate Sponsorships
Full Bio
Janet Walls
Corporate Sponsorships

Janet is president and founder of Delta Blvd, a management consulting and executive coaching company she founded in 2007. Prior to starting Delta Blvd, Janet spent 27 years in the corporate world including roles as chief financial office and vice president of operations. She is also on the faculty of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Janet joined Impact100-Nashville in 2017.

Joanne Sowell
Non-profit Community Liaison
Full Bio
Joanne Sowell
Non-profit Community Liaison

Joanne is an attorney, community activist and philanthropist in Nashville, and is passionate about making Tennessee a welcoming and inclusive place to live. Besides practicing law, she has worked at social service agencies, owned a social enterprise and been an active volunteer on political campaigns and in numerous community projects.

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