Fairfield County”™s top all-female giving circle is about to go beyond grant funding to develop a knowledgeable, driven army of change agents, with the help of area corporations.
“We have all of these women, our members, who participate in the grant-making process, hearing and seeing the various needs within the community and really understanding social issues at a much deeper level,” Impact FFC”™s co-President Katharine Lumby said.
“So not only are we putting a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand or more dollars back into the community every year to drive change, we are igniting passion within our membership to do the work.”
Impact FFC launched in 2015 with an initial goal of gathering at least 100 women across the county to pool contributions and make significant philanthropic investments. Today, they are 243 members strong with an impressive track record: over $1 million in grant funding over the last five years, including eight $100,000 grants to area organizations.
This year, Lumby and her co-President, Steviann Martines, wanted to explore how to build upon that success by bringing in members who may not otherwise know of them or seek them out.
“We”™ve had a very organic growth for five years, and it”™s very much word of mouth. We don”™t advertise, we don”™t market; it”™s been friends of friends,” Martines said. “This year, we wanted to expand that to include people from every single town, of every race and all ages to join us.”
To reach more women in an active way, the organization”™s leadership team created the Impact FFC Partnership Program, kicking off for 2021. Corporate partners in the new program can choose from three investment levels: $1,500 to sponsor one employee, $5,000 for up to three, and $10,000 for up to eight.
“The concept allowed us to have some level of marketing to companies that wanted to sponsor women,” Martines says. “On the sponsor side, these women can take advantage of leadership development opportunities and enjoy a great learning experience, working alongside professional women from all over Fairfield County with all different types of backgrounds.”
Among the organizations who have benefited from Impact FFC”™s grant programs over the last five years are All Our Kin, an organization that trains, supports and sustains community child care providers in Danbury; Career Resources, a program that helps CRI helps citizens returning from incarceration develop skills for and find employment; and Building One Community, a group that works to advance the successful integration of immigrants and their families in Stamford.
Lumby said with the support of new corporate partners, her organization is excited to grow and make even more of an impact.
“We know the work we do and we”™ve seen the outcomes, it”™s just a matter of getting it in front of people,” she said. “Most of the time when people hear about it, they want in.”
