Reaching a milestone: Impact100 Louisville surpasses $3 million mark in donations

By RUSS BROWN • Photos Provided

When Carey Goldstein agreed to help her mother, Dani Kannapple, launch a Louisville chapter of Impact100 in 2020, she had no idea what she was getting into.

"My mom spends part of the year in Florida and there are a lot of Impact chapters there," Goldstein said. "She thought we could do it here in Louisville and encourage people to be more connected to their giving. I truly thought we were going to have dinner with a few friends, and maybe if we were lucky, raise $100,000 by getting 100 women involved."

Seven years later, Impact100 Louisville reached a milestone, with the 2026 commitment of $527,000 to nonprofit organizations in Jefferson County, meaning current and former members will have donated more than 3 million ($3,115,000) to local nonprofits with unparalleled explosive growth.

"This has gone above and beyond our expectations, and it did so very quickly," said Goldstein, who now serves on the Board of Directors in a co-founder role and chairs the membership and nominating committees.

Incredibly, the Louisville chapter is comparable in size to the metro Atlanta, New York City, and Detroit chapters.

"It's shocking, but shows what passion and engagement women in Louisville have for their community," Board president Kim Hansford said.

Impact100 Louisville's 2026 membership total of 527 translates to five $100,000 grants and $27,000 in merit grants to be awarded later this year. Impact100 Louisville received a record 165 applications and has invited 37 organizations to submit full grant applications. Finalists will be introduced on Oct. 26 in an event at the Keneseth Israel Congregation. Awards will be presented on Nov. 9 at The Olmstead.

Impact100's mission statement says it is a collective force for uniting and empowering women to give together, creating transformational impact, locally and globally. With over 70 chapters around the world, Impact100 Global has given away nearly $160 million collectively since granting its first Impact Awards in 2002.

The Impact100 model of collective giving is simple and effective - 100 women (or more) each donate $1,000 to create a $100,000 Impact Grant for a nonprofit organization in their community. After a detailed screening process, the full membership of Impact100 Louisville votes for the final grant recipients. Impact grants are awarded for capacity building, program support, and innovation.

According to Goldstein, "Women have the power to transform their communities by coming together collectively and collaboratively. When you give $1,000, you hope it makes an impact; when you give $1,000 through Impact100 Louisville, you know it will make a significant impact in our community."

 Hansford, a pediatric dentist and Associate Professor at the UofL School of Dentistry, was an early member of Impact100 Louisville and said she was attracted by a premise that felt so smart and simple.

"At that time we were in the COVID pandemic, and I felt like our city had suffered so much hardship," she said. "I really wanted a reason to connect and find ways to get involved in the good things going on in our community. I felt like Impact100 was really doing 'boots on the ground' work. $100,000 can be a total game changer for a nonprofit, especially in this day and age where funding is so hard to come by.

"We have heard stories of Impact100 being a springboard for groups to receive other funding, and our members are passionate about following the needs of our nonprofit partners. One of the greatest joys has been meeting the wonderful folks working in the city's nonprofit community and seeing them start to interact and work together because of the connections to Impact100 Louisville."

Last year's grant recipients were Louisville Academy of Music (Project: Music for Everyone); Louisville Lightning (Adapted Sports for All); New Americans Initiative (Program Support); Steam Exchange Community Arts Center (Afterschool Art/STEAM classes); Wellspring (Adult Mental Health Crisis Stabilization).

Sara Louise Callaway, Louisville Academy of Music Executive Director, said the 2025 Impact100 grant has made a huge difference for LAM, both for the present and for the future.

"At the Louisville Academy of Music, we teach music in an enriching learning environment that nurtures the whole musician and, in turn, the whole person," Callaway said. "Last year our 30 faculty members taught over 17,000 music lessons to 1,000 students. Thanks to support from contributors like Impact100, 37% of our students received no or low-cost programming. We are so thankful to Impact100 and their belief in our vision to give more students access to a complete education through music. Their investment in our school has been transformational and the impact has been tangible. We are excited to continue building momentum through the grant period and beyond!"

Looking for avenues for future growth, Impact100 Louisville is trying to create interest among high school girls with a unique program titled Impact JR. Each girl pays $100 a year and makes a mini-grant to award to one of the semifinalists. In March, the board matched their contribution, allowing them to donate $7,200 to Kentucky Refugee Ministries.

"We are grateful every day to the women who have chosen to believe in this concept and help move it forward," Goldstein said. "We were lucky enough to create a founding board of women who gave so much of their time and energy to getting this off the ground. And now we are able to take a step back and watch the board evolve and grow and continue to make a difference in Louisville. In theory, while this is a very easy giving model, there is a lot of work behind the scenes. But collective giving has a lot of power and impact."

For more information, contact info@impact100Louisville.org or visit www.impact100Louisville.org.